1. Digital Heritages Commons of Culturally Diverse Communities
Dr. Alda Terracciano
Honorary Research Associate - UCL
Artistic Director – ALDATERRA Projects
Chair of FUTURE HISTORIES

2. Living as an activist | artist |academic
First independent archive of African, Asian and Caribbean performing arts in the UK
Arts organisation producing work based on cross-fertilisation between different disciplines and art forms, exploring intersection between memory, migration and digital innovation
PhD in Theatre History - research interests include black theatre, archives and the potential of digital technologies to accelerate processes of democratisation in arts and society .

3. The role of the archive
‘Archival turns' in the arts and sciences in tandem with the expansion of digital economy have resulted in the emergence of the archive as one of the key concepts and objects of critical heritage studies in the 21st century.
Engagement with archives and cultural heritage material through arts and participation can impact on the formation and articulation of individual and collective identity, memory, cultural values and power relations.
Potential of the archive of being a place where knowledge is structured around process, a playground for experiencing and producing knowledge in the sense of ‘coming to knowing’.

4. Current research on arts & culture engagement with digital technology
From 2015 Digital Cultural Survey (ACE, Nesta, AHRC) on uses of digital technologies, involving 900 cultural organisations:
Almost three-quarters report a major positive impact of digital technology on their ability to deliver their mission;
Almost 80% viewed it as important for preserving and archiving, and 74% for their operations;
Heritage organisations (which includes museums) remain less active and report less impact than others: 60% report a major positive overall impact from digital technology (compared with a sector average of 72 per cent). Heritage organisations have scaled back educational activities, only 40% are now producing content for schools, down from 65% in 2013.

5. Trends in digital economy & cultural diversity
The impact of digital technology on organisations has increased, as a result of competence in their use of digital technology more than for the number of discrete digital activities produced.
Organisations are not equally benefiting. National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) are more digitally active, experience fewer barriers, have better access to skills, are more likely to be engaged in R&D activities, and report positive impacts. There is also evidence that the gap between NPOs and the others is widening.
Current research confirms that super-diverse cities (Vertovec) in first world societies are facing difficulties in coming to terms with their own histories, in ways which reinforce the social values of co-operation and cultural pride, while recognizing and dealing with an often intolerant and violent past.

6. The need for Digital Heritages Commons
The creation of Digital Heritages Commons responds to the need for respect and mutual co-operation between ethnically diverse populations in large metropolitan areas.
New forms of collaboration between arts producers, heritage specialists and culturally diverse audiences can enrich the Digital Economy (DE) by devising alternative self sustainable business models needed in times of austerity.
Distribution and communal ownership of information resources and technology can contribute to methodological shifts reflecting polymorphous differences and democratic decision making processes.

7. FUTURE HISTORIES archives digitisation & online access
Future Histories website (
- more than 600 digitised items
The National Archives website (
- 4 online catalogues of black and Asian theatre archives
Trading Faces online exhibition (
- 108 theatre and dance productions (including 650 digitised items and 327 references to further resources available in external repositories)
- 2 narratives of black abolitionists and 2 of contemporary people trapped in enforced labour and human trafficking

8. ALDATERRA Projects community arts & heritage projects
(2012 on-going) intergenerational creative engagement programme that aims to develop a deeper understanding of the diverse cultures in the UK, challenge cultural stereotypes and lower cultural barriers
(2013) Connected Communities project involving 60 year 2 and 4 children to explore the local Brazilian cultural heritage through documentary practice and oral history, archives, art, dance and music workshops.
(ongoing) Digital arts and heritage project in collaboration with Al-Hasaniya Moroccan Women’s Centre and MCWG to explore the living heritage of members of the Moroccan communities in West London through memory sessions focusing on the everyday life.

9. Challenges
To engage members of communities who do not normally interact with virtual technologies to contribute to the creation of Digital Heritage Commons.
Digital abundance increases the necessity to find new ways of identifying, preserving and making accessible materials. Crucially this is not only a technological challenge but also a social and ethical one.
To ensure equitable partnership between community groups and mainstream institutions including respect of intellectual property
To ensure an effective synchronization of activities amongst partners and a diversification of the workforce to facilitate knowledge transfer
To plan for digital sustainability
Current research on computational capital points to a re-thinking of commodity as an integrated product made of chunks of subjective time that are re-bundled through a computational process. In this sense capital remains a process in which human time (that is sensual labor, attention, cognition, or neuro-power) underpins an economic system working on the processing of increasingly bigger data.

10. Questions
How, why and on what grounds can Digital Heritage Commons transform the way people think about themselves, their communities, their environment, their pasts, their aspirations and their futures?
How can migrant communities contribute to the creation of Digital Heritage Commons, a globally connected intercultural landscape and a broader, more inclusive understanding of local urban spaces?

11. THANK YOU