Digital cultural heritage: some notes from conservative experience.

Already in 1999 the UNESCO World Heritage Magazine defined the Virtual Heritage, recognizing a new cultural reality that needed attention and protection. in the last twenty years, the digital revolution has transformed contemporary society, and today it continues to evolve. In the field of cultural heritage, recent technological discoveries are leading the way for what we can call a fourth Industrial Revolution. Some professions have embraced the innovation, adapting their operating principles (see Seville Principles, Virtual Archaeology). In the same way, the conservation sector should try new approaches. In an evolving cultural landscape, for global tools and needs, the discipline that protects our heritage should design new methodologies. It should therefore increase interest in documentation practices, which, regulated according to correct protocols, would allow for multi-level transmission. The contribution proposes a definition of digital cultural heritage in a conservative context, in which the way understanding the value of preservation is changing, shaping the use of technologies to achieve new goals and to reach a wider audience.