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Digital Interpretation & Storytelling for Museums and Heritage Trusts

Audience focused digital interpretation that deepens understanding, engagement, and connection, grounded in story, place, and learning rather than technology hype.

Museums and heritage trusts are under increasing pressure to engage wider audiences, demonstrate relevance, and extend interpretation beyond the gallery or site, while maintaining scholarly integrity and public trust.

We work with museums and heritage organisations to design thoughtful digital interpretation that complements collections, exhibitions, and learning programmes, using digital only where it genuinely adds value.

Participants working together on a heritage interpretation activity with archaeologists during a field visit

Using old maps to make discoveries

DIGITAL

HERITAGE

A considered approach to digital interpretation

Digital should not replace exhibitions, objects, or expertise.
Used well, it can:

  • Extend interpretation beyond physical spaces.

  • Add context, voices, and layered storytelling.

  • Support learning and engagement for diverse audiences.

  • Increase access to collections, stories, and place.
     

Our work is shaped by curatorial values, educational outcomes, and public engagement, not by trends or technology for its own sake.

Visitors engaging with digital interpretation in a museum exhibition space during a public opening event

Digital Heritage Workshops in Bradford: Bringing Cultural Heritage to Life with VR and 3D Creativity - Part

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Common challenges museums face

We regularly hear the same concerns from museum and trust teams:

 

  • Digital projects that feel disconnected from collections or curatorial voice.

  • One-off pilots that do not embed or last.

  • Pressure to engage new audiences without diluting scholarship.

  • Limited internal capacity to develop or manage digital storytelling.

  • Tools that are expensive, over-engineered, or quickly obsolete.
     

Our role is to help museums navigate these challenges with low risk, proportionate, and meaningful digital approaches.

Our approach

We focus on interpretation first, medium second.

Every project is shaped by a small set of principles:

  • Story before technology: the narrative determines the medium.

  • Rooted in place and collections: not abstract digital layers.

  • Designed for learning and engagement: across ages and backgrounds.

  • Scalable and sustainable: from pilots to longer-term programmes.

  • Respectful of expertise: curatorial and educational voices lead.
     

This allows digital work to sit comfortably alongside exhibitions, learning programmes, and public engagement strategies.

Students taking part in a hands-on digital heritage workshop focused on interpretation and learning

Teaching LJMU Students How to Create Digital Artefacts for Museums

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What we offer museums & trusts

We support museums and heritage trusts at different stages of exploration, including:

 

  • Digital interpretation pilots
    Small, focused projects to test ideas without committing large budgets.
     

  • Place based digital storytelling
    Contextual layers that connect collections to landscape, buildings, or local history.
     

  • Digital trails and interpretive layers
    Web-based experiences that extend engagement beyond the gallery or site.
     

  • Community linked heritage storytelling
    Projects that bring community voices into interpretation in a structured, ethical way.
     

  • Advisory and concept development
    Helping teams explore what digital could (and should) do before building anything.

Experience & case studies

Our work spans education, public engagement, and cultural heritage, with experience delivering digital storytelling in museum and heritage contexts.

Bradford — Digital Heritage & Learning Programmes

Working in the context of Bradford 2025, we delivered digital heritage workshops and interpretation activities linked to museum and cultural learning.


This work focused on:

  • Story lead engagement rather than technology demonstrations.

  • Linking collections, place, and lived experience.

  • Building digital confidence through creative interpretation.

The Opening of Bradford Digital Stories at the National Science and Media Museum

The Virtual Museum — Place-based Digital Interpretation

We have supported the development of The Virtual Museum as a model for extending interpretation beyond physical walls, using digital storytelling to connect audiences with heritage, place, and narrative in accessible ways.

Across our projects, digital is treated as an interpretive tool, not a spectacle, designed to support understanding, curiosity, and connection.

Interpretive display introducing a virtual museum experience that extends heritage storytelling beyond the physical site

Collaboration with Fireground Museum in Rochdaele, for the 'Virtual Museum'

Museum visitors exploring digital storytelling elements alongside physical exhibits in a gallery setting
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Form

Designed to fit museum culture

Our work is:

 

  • Low-risk and proportionate.

  • Compatible with existing interpretation and learning strategies.

  • Designed to be shared internally and with partners.

  • Built to support long-term thinking, not short-term novelty.
     

We understand museum governance, public accountability, and the need for careful decision-making.

A practical starting point

If you are exploring digital interpretation and want a grounded, realistic perspective, we’ve produced a short guide for museum and heritage professionals:

Digital Interpretation Without the Hype

Enter your details below to receive Digital Interpretation Without the Hype, a practical guide for museum and heritage professionals.

We’ll only use your details to send the guide and relevant follow-up. No spam.

Talk to us

If you’re considering a digital interpretation project, pilot, or exploratory phase, we’re happy to have an initial conversation, focused on ideas, not selling solutions.

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AVimmerse Ltd

First Floor, Swan Buildings/20, Swan Street, Manchester, M4 5JW

Company Number: 12188277

VAT Number: 488 8431 33

Copyright © AVimmerse Limited 2025, All Rights Reserved.

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