Anamnese In Nexum: The Digital Platform as a participatory engine for Intangible Heritage valorization
by Ana Raquel Gouveia, Isabel Cristina Carvalho and Paulo Maldonado
Contemporary challenges in cultural heritage demand strategies transitioning from static preservation to active appropriation. The “Anamnese In Nexum” project explores how Transmedia Storytelling (TS) and Augmented Reality (AR) activate Narrative Portals (NP): hybrid interfaces connecting physical territories to their community’s intangible memories.
Central to this ecosystem is the digital platform, acting not just as a repository but as a relational device enabling the (re)signification of space through active participation. Designed under participatory design principles, this interface allows for the asynchronous submission of testimonials in video, audio, or text formats. This ensures the archive’s construction does not rely solely on synchronous, face-to-face interventions. By decentralizing the collection process, the platform serves as the “fuel” for the AR experiences presented in situ, transforming the community from passive receivers into co-creators of their cultural narrative.
The Stories Gallery materializes collective intelligence, where fragmented individual memories merge into a unified “nexus”. Through an intuitive interface, users access “personal universes”—such as first-person video testimonies collected in Golegã—which function as emotional anchors. This digital space shortens intergenerational and geographic distances, allowing heritage to be experienced by local residents and remote users alike, fostering a sense of co-presence from afar.
Data analysis from public exhibitions validated the need for this accessible submission platform, designed to reduce technological friction and stimulate the community’s narrative impulse. By allowing inhabitants to define what is relevant to preserve, the project ensures the authenticity and resilience of the cultural legacy. Ultimately, this method of expanded mediation demonstrates that heritage value resides not only in physical artifacts but in the network of affection and voices that the digital platform connects and perpetuates across time.
