Towards Critical Heritage in the wild: Analysing Discomfort through Collaborative Autoethnography

Abstract

As we engaged in designing digital interventions for intercultural dialogues around public cultural heritage sites, we saw an opportunity to surface multiple interpretations and points of view of history and shine a critical lens on current societal issues. To do so, we present the results of a collaborative auto-ethnography of alternative tours accompanied by intercultural guides, to explore sensory and embodied engagements with cultural heritage sites in a southern European capital. By focusing on the differences in how we experienced the heritage sites, we analyse the duality of discomfort, a common concept in HCI, in that it can both be deployed as a resource for designing systems that can transform people's understanding of history or it can be a hindrance for engagement, having an unequal effect on individuals. CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → Field studies; • Applied computing → Arts and humanities.

Empowering Young Voices: Prototyping Method for AR in Decolonisation Discussions

“…One might argue social platforms have the capacity to create distress among users. This clearly needs additional considerations when using social connections to sensitive topics but as Bala (2023) concludes, the use of discomfort in designing systems can improve a greater understanding of history as it can highlight the inequality between users, cultures, and environments. Furthermore, harnessing digital experiences within physical public spaces can offer benefits such as involving audiences in sorting, arranging, selecting, and empathising leads to new opportunities for the interpretation of issues and new perspectives.…”