CultureFinder Workshop

Description

This meeting for invited participants will discuss some of the questions raised by CultureFinder, a project supported by the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts. The project, coordinated by the University of Cambridge Museums, is developing a website and mobile app for creating/sharing tours of art and cultural objects. It is intended to assist visitors to Cambridge (and, by extension, any city) in planning their tour whilst introducing the possibility for serendipity and chance discovery.

As well as covering some of the specifics of the project the meeting will lead on to broader questions about the role of mobile technology in cultural tourism. A starting point for the project has been a focus on objects rather than places, presenting users with a range of images of individual artworks and objects in museums and on the street that can be used to build a tour. Is an emphasis on ‘objects not destinations’ an effective way of engaging tourists, leading perhaps to visiting sites that might not otherwise have been considered? Does this approach disrupt a sense of place? Do visitors want to see specific things or are they more interested in generalised experiences and, if so, what role can mobile technology play in this? What new behaviours might be fostered by an app such as CultureFinder?

More information about the CultureFinder project is available on our website, www.culturefinder.org.uk