Promoting and Disseminating Cultural Heritage Sites to People on the Move

The confluence of mobile communications and digital broadcast technologies is being realised by means of the EU funded project, CISMUNDUS (Convergence of IP- based Services for Mobile Users and Networks in DVB-T and UMTS Systems) has ushered the start of “a new Era” where rich services, such as European Cultural Heritage, can be disseminated to tourists, visitors and people on the move. The CHIMBS (Cultural Heritage Interactive Multimedia Broadcast Services) research project endeavours to create cultural heritage related service scenarios in order to promote and disseminate Europe’s cultural heritage sites to people “on the move” employing the CISMUNDUS system architecture and application tools (DVB-T, UMTS/GPRS), empowering the cultural heritage visitor with real-time, access of a range of synchronised media at remote locations through portable devices. This paper discusses the conceptualisation of the CHIMBS project after giving a brief mention to the current situation of the convergence of cultural heritage and IT. The research project also investigates the cultural aspects involved in disseminating cultural heritage sites amongst the European and European Union (EU) citizens bearing in mind the multicultural and polyglot nature of Europe, as well as the commercial aspects of such project, incorporating modes and ideas of reinforcing E-commerce for cultural heritage. Finally it discusses and examines the rationale behind the design of the user interface and presents the insights gained from a survey at the Museum of London in the UK. %U http://www.archimuse.com/publishing/ichim03/090C.pdf