Digital Invasions Within Cultural Heritage: Social Media and Crowdsourcing

The wide diffusion of mobile devices and of digital technologies are dramatically changing the usage scenarios in different contexts. One of them is cultural heritage, where new media are offering huge possibilities for the enhancement and the enrichment of heritage experience, improving the users’ involvement. In particular, tourists equipped with their mobile devices are invading cultural attractions, sharing pictures and comments (together with hashtags and geo-localized positions) on social networks. These represent a source of data, which can be integrated with the official ones provided by GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) and cultural heritage institutions, enriching them. In this paper, we explore how social networks and crowdsourcing activities can be exploited as a source of information for cultural places and pieces of art.