Visualization and Fruition of Cultural Heritage in the Knowledge-Intensive Society: New Paradigms of Interaction With Digital Replicas of Museum Objects, Drawings, and Manuscripts

The knowledge-intensive society paradigm fosters relationships between technology and human actors with data, values, and knowledge that become mutual drivers for social innovation. The cultural heritage sector is naturally influenced by this vision, and museums and cultural institutions have a prominent role in dissemination of cultural values. This chapter focuses on a method developed to combine the power of the computer visualization technology with the cultural elements spread across collections, introducing some notes and remarks on how digital replicas of drawings, manuscripts, and museum objects can be successfully employed to spread knowledge. Through a custom application called ISLe, aimed at visualizing 3D models that accurately replicate the original items, some experiences in the production of digital replicas are introduced, highlighting opportunities and criticalities to be considered in the adoption of technology that can be potentially shared and exploited by many possible figures involved in cultural heritage.