Heritage and Technology, Bringing Histories to Audiences

In 2022, AVimmerse convened a live discussion bringing together researchers, practitioners and technologists to explore a shared question around heritage and technology, and how digital approaches can help people engage more meaningfully with history.

Rather than focusing on tools for their own sake, the conversation centred on interpretation, public value and long term engagement. It was part of a wider exploration into how digital methods can support storytelling, place and lived experience, rather than replace them.

This page now acts as a record of that discussion and a gateway to the individual perspectives shared during the event.

Heritage and technology, the questions at the centre of the discussion

Across heritage, archaeology and the cultural sector, digital tools are often introduced with enthusiasm, but without enough space to ask harder questions.

This conversation focused on themes that continue to shape AVimmerse’s work today:

• When does technology genuinely enhance understanding.

• How do audiences connect emotionally with history.

• What does good interpretation look like in digital form.

• How can digital heritage avoid novelty and remain meaningful.

• What responsibilities come with translating the past for new audiences.

These questions framed the evening and guided contributions from each speaker.

Technology as a means, not the story

A consistent thread throughout the discussion was the importance of restraint.

Virtual reality, augmented reality, spatial audio, photogrammetry and immersive media all offer powerful possibilities. But their value depends on context, intent and care.

Speakers emphasised that technology should serve interpretation, not dominate it. The most successful heritage experiences are often those that support curiosity, reflection and connection, rather than spectacle alone.

This perspective closely aligns with AVimmerse’s wider approach to immersive heritage and digital storytelling.

A shared conversation from multiple perspectives

Each speaker approached the central questions from a different disciplinary and professional background. Rather than summarising their talks here, each contribution is explored in depth in its own dedicated article.

Thinking and interpretation

Alongside the individual talks, we have also published a reflective essay exploring the wider questions raised by the series, around method, interpretation, and how digital tools shape what we see, hear, and understand about the past.

→ Read the essay on heritage, technology, and interpretation

You can explore each perspective below.

Speaker contributions

Preserving Indigenous Cultural Heritage Through Videogame Technology

A reflection on interpretation, research, and communicating cultural knowledge through interactive media, grounded in work with the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island.

→ https://www.avimmerse.com/post/preserving-indigenous-cultural-heritage-through-videogame-technology

Transforming Shared Experiences of Infant Loss to Empowered Healing Spaces Through Virtual Reality

Exploring how immersive environments can support shared remembrance, healing, and care, drawing on place based work with Cillíní sites in Ireland.

→ https://www.avimmerse.com/post/transforming-shared-experiences-of-infant-loss-to-empowered-healing-spaces-through-virtual-reality

Using Scale Modelling to Assess the Prehistoric Acoustics of Stonehenge

Examining how scale modelling and acoustic research can reveal how sound shaped experience and use of prehistoric monuments.

→ https://www.avimmerse.com/post/using-scale-modelling-to-assess-the-prehistoric-acoustics-of-stonehenge

What Lies Beneath, Visualising and Interpreting the History of Submerged Landscapes

Looking at how digital visualisation and extended reality techniques help interpret submerged and hidden landscapes using survey data.

→ https://www.avimmerse.com/post/what-lies-beneath-visualising-and-interpreting-the-history-of-submerged-landscapes

New Ways of Looking for the Past

Exploring how emerging technologies and new data sources are transforming archaeological survey and how we detect and interpret traces of the past.

→ https://www.avimmerse.com/post/new-ways-of-looking-for-the-past

An Introduction to XR Technology in Heritage

A broader view on immersive technologies, outlining how XR methods such as LiDAR, photogrammetry, and real time visualisation can be applied thoughtfully in heritage contexts.

→ https://www.avimmerse.com/post/xr-tech-heritage

Each article includes the recorded talk and further context, allowing you to explore the ideas in more depth.

From live discussion to lasting work

This event was not intended as a one off moment. It formed part of a longer journey of thinking, testing and learning around heritage, technology and place.

Many of the ideas discussed here now feed directly into AVimmerse’s immersive heritage work, educational programmes and long form storytelling projects. They also connect closely to the themes explored in our wider writing on digital heritage and public engagement.

Together, the thought article, this discussion, and the individual speaker contributions form a connected body of work rather than isolated content.

Continuing the conversation

If you are interested in how these ideas are being developed further, you may also want to explore:

• Our long form reflection on heritage and technology.

• Immersive heritage projects and case studies.

• Ongoing work focused on place, story and interpretation.
  

This page remains as a reference point for where these conversations came together publicly, and where many of them continue to evolve.