Safeguarding and Accessing Drama as Intangible Cultural Heritage

Abstract

Storytelling, especially in the form called drama, is pervasive across cultures and ages. Though much attention has been devoted to the preservation of the physical supports of drama (e.g., films and tapes), there is a widespread acknowledgement that such tangible heritage is the expression of an intangible notion of drama. This paper introduces the drama as a form of intangible cultural heritage and presents a solution for its preservation in terms of a formal encoding through a computational ontology.After the review of a formal representation of drama, called Drammar, developed in previous works, we show how an abstraction of drama can be encoded into a digital item. We also show how the method proposed is compliant with the major initiatives for the documentation of cultural heritage, namely CIDOC-CRM and FRBR. Finally, we test the applicability of our solution by showing how the major tenets of two well-known theories of drama can be encoded in Drammar and presenting the results of a focus group of drama scholars and practitioners who have accessed the encoding through a visualization system. The encoding and visualization system have turned out to be a promising support for teaching and investigating drama.

How is Intangible Cultural Heritage Valued in the Eyes of Inheritors? Scale Development and Validation

“…In view of previous achievements, ICH can include social value (X. Y. Yang, 2018), historical value (Kwon, 2017; Suarez et al, 2016), aesthetic value (Howard, 2016; Lombardo et al, 2016), spiritual value (Davis et al, 2010; González, 2008), symbolic value (Zhang et al, 2008), educational value (Foster & Gilman, 2015), and scientific value (Gilman, 2015; Sedita, 2012). From the perspective of value measurement, cultural value is not the same as economic value, as economic value is easier to quantify, and cultural value is more qualitative (del Barrio et al, 2012).…”

A Bibliometric Analysis of Research on Intangible Cultural Heritage Using CiteSpace

“…For instance, the traditional Chinese "feng shui" represents the wisdom of the ancients in interpreting nature (S. Zhang, 2018). Third, the rich aesthetic value of ICH has a positive effect on enriching people's spiritual lives (Howard, 2016;Hwang, 2017;Lombardo, Pizzo, & Damiano, 2016). Fourth, economic value is the most important part of ICH in satisfying people's lives and is also the greatest driving force for its continued existence (Fallon, 2016;Lee, 2015;Wright & Eppink, 2016).…”

An Analysis of How Interactive Technology Supports the Appreciation of Traditional Chinese Puppetry: A Review of Case Studies

“…An important outcome of digitisation is a greater potential to promote cultural artefacts among audiences, as well as the creation of new forms of cultural interactivity. Following this radical design evolution, many interactive projects have been developed to disseminate the objectives of traditional societies [13][14][15][16]. Nonetheless, limited attention has been paid to actual, in-depth interpretations and engagement regarding the aesthetics of these artefacts [17].…”