Original title: Valorising Traditional Crafts: Digital Tools and Impact Pathways
Traditional crafts can lose attention as industrial products spread, even though crafts matter to culture and community identity. A European project tested digital tools for cultural experiences, games, retail support, and activities for makers. The team used surveys, interviews, observations, and independent evaluations to assess what changed. They found evidence of stronger cultural connection, learning, and visibility for practitioners, but less evidence about environmental effects and lasting impact.
Imagine a local craft fair where makers show visitors how they work. It is hard to tell whether a busy day leads to new skills, stronger community ties, or lasting support for the makers. In this paper, digital activities are the fair’s added ways to connect with people, and the evaluations are attempts to find out what changes; some effects show up more clearly than others.
Craft practitioners and heritage organizations need ways to keep skills and cultural identity visible while supporting sustainable work. This project finds that usable digital tools can strengthen cultural connection, support learning, and improve practitioners’ visibility, while showing that some longer-term effects are still uncertain.
The abstract reports only short- and medium-term evidence from a multi-site pilot. Environmental and long-term legacy impacts are only partially evidenced. Replications provide initial evidence of transferability, not proof that the approach will work broadly.
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Valorising Traditional Crafts: Digital Tools and Impact Pathways — Danae Kaplanidi, Christodoulos Ringas, Katerina Ziova et al. — Heritage — doi:10.3390/heritage9100405
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.