Dr Ana Slavec, Nežka Sajinčič and Vesna Starman, InnoRenew CoE researchers, recently published an article, “Use of Smartphone Cameras and Other Applications While Traveling to Sustain Outdoor Cultural Heritage”, in Sustainability, an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal.

Because built cultural heritage is subject to deterioration, involving tourists in its preservation via photography and tourism- or game-based apps presents an opportunity to observe, annotate and classify the objects tourists visit. Modern information technologies enable visitors to interact with the site, while tourist apps enable navigation between, further information about or gamification of cultural heritage sites. Tourists could be encouraged to document any damage and submit such photos to the appropriate authorities.

“The article is based on results of focus groups with smartphone users on how they use their camera and other smartphone apps (including location-based games such as Geocaching and Pokémon GO) to interact with outdoor cultural heritage,” Dr Slavec said. “The study was conducted as part of a project on the protection of bronze monuments in the changing environment funded by the Slovenian Research Agency.”