Digital Representation of Tourism and Cultural Artifacts

The course examines contemporary methods and technologies for the digital representation, documentation, presentation, and preservation of tourism and cultural assets. It covers technologies related to two-dimensional and three-dimensional graphics, virtual worlds, virtual, augmented, and mixed reality, as well as storytelling, immersive technologies, and entertainment software. It focuses on the creation of virtual tours and interactive applications for tourist sites, museum objects, archaeological sites, buildings, and monuments. At the same time, it addresses issues related to digital repositories, the quality of cultural content websites, as well as practices of digitization and long-term preservation of cultural heritage.

Course Objectives
The aim of the course is to familiarize students with the fundamental concepts, methods, and technologies related to the digital representation, documentation, presentation, and preservation of tourism and cultural assets. It seeks to develop an understanding of the capabilities offered by two-dimensional and three-dimensional graphics, virtual worlds, virtual, augmented, and mixed reality, as well as storytelling and immersive technologies, for the development of innovative applications in the fields of culture and tourism. At the same time, the course aims to cultivate skills for evaluating the quality of digital cultural content and to promote understanding of the principles of digitization, organization, and long-term preservation of cultural heritage.

Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Understand the fundamental principles and technologies of digital representation of tourism and cultural assets
• Distinguish and evaluate applications of 2D and 3D graphics, virtual worlds, VR, AR, and MR
• Design basic interactive and immersive experiences for promoting sites, monuments, museums, and archaeological locations
• Utilize storytelling technologies and virtual tours for communicating cultural content
• Apply basic principles of documentation and organization of cultural assets in digital repositories
• Evaluate the quality of cultural content websites and digital applications based on usability, accessibility, and effectiveness criteria
• Recognize the key requirements for digitization and long-term preservation of digital cultural content

• Introduction to the digital representation of tourism and cultural assets: basic concepts, application domains, and current trends
• Fundamental principles of two-dimensional and three-dimensional graphics: modeling, rendering, visualization, and interactivity
• Technologies of virtual worlds and digital environments
• Virtual Reality (VR): principles, tools, applications, and user experience
• Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR): techniques, media, and applications in tourism and culture
• Technologies of storytelling, interactive storytelling, and immersion in digital cultural environments
• Entertainment software technologies and gamification for promoting cultural and tourism content
• Design and development of virtual tours and interactive experiences
• Digital representation of tourist sites, museum objects, archaeological sites, historic buildings, and monuments
• Methods of digital documentation of cultural assets and organization of content in digital repositories
• Metadata, documentation standards, interoperability, and accessibility of digital cultural content
• Quality criteria for cultural content websites and digital applications: usability, aesthetics, reliability, and user experience
• Digitization of cultural assets: processes, techniques, and specifications
• Long-term preservation, management, and sustainability of digital cultural content
• Case studies and evaluation of contemporary applications in tourism and cultural heritage

Greek Bibliography

Cultural Heritage and New Technologies, edited by Nikolaos Zacharias, Papazisis Publications, 2022

Documentation and Promotion of Culture, edited by Efstratios Stylianidis & Stella Sylaio, Tziolas Publications, 2023

Emerging Technologies and Cultural Heritage, edited by Alexandra Bounia & Despoina Katapoti, Alexandria Publications, 2021

Foreign Bibliography

Kenderdine, S., & Shaw, J. (2015). Museums and Digital Culture: New Perspectives and Research. Springer.
Cameron, F., & Kenderdine, S. (eds.) (2007). Theorizing Digital Cultural Heritage: A Critical Discourse. MIT Press.
Bearman, D., & Trant, J. (1998). Metadata for the Digital Library: Building an International Network of Resources. OCLC.
Silberschatz, A., Korth, H. F., & Sudarshan, S. (2019). Database System Concepts. McGraw-Hill Education.
Remondino, F., & Campana, S. (eds.) (2014). 3D Recording and Modelling in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage. BAR International.
Bekele, M. K., & Champion, E. (2019). 3D Heritage: Research, Documentation, and Applications. Springer.

The course is delivered entirely online, with the exception of one lecture conducted in person, dedicated to the demonstration of relevant technological equipment.

The educational process combines synchronous online lectures with a strong laboratory and applied orientation, focusing on students’ practical familiarization with digitization techniques, methods of digital representation, and specialized software tools. Course material is systematically provided through the e-class platform and includes notes, presentations, examples, and supporting multimedia content.

In addition, selected lectures are recorded and made available to students as reference material for revision and further study. The course also includes guest lectures delivered by experts with specialized knowledge and experience in the subject areas, strengthening the link between theory and contemporary research and professional practices.

The educational material is systematically provided through the e-class platform and includes notes, presentations, examples, and supporting multimedia content.

At the same time, selected lectures are recorded and offered to students as reference material for revision and further study.

During the in-person session, a demonstration of cutting-edge xR technological equipment and corresponding applications in tourism and culture is conducted.

Course assessment is carried out through the development of a comprehensive Project, which integratively covers all the thematic units presented during the course. The Project requires students to practically apply the technologies, methodologies, and tools introduced, drawing on knowledge related to digital representation, documentation, digitization, and the development of interactive applications for tourism and cultural assets. Through this process, both the understanding of the theoretical framework and the ability for practical implementation, synthesis, and documentation of a complete digital project are evaluated. The final assessment is completed with the presentation of the Project during the course examination, where students present their methodological approach, the tools they used, the results of their work, and how they integrated the individual thematic components of the course.