The Impact of Digital Technologies on the Promotion of the Emirates Intangible Cultural Heritage
El-Sayed El-Aswad
Independent Scholar - Bloomfield Hills, Mi, USA
MEMORIAMEDIA Review 4. Art.3. 2019
photo: El-Sayed El-Aswad
Digital technologies have become increasingly worldwide and effective means of obtaining, safeguarding, promoting and exchanging significant elements of intangible cultural heritage. By applying qualitative and quantitative approaches, this research has investigated the impact of digital technologies on the transformation and promotion of Emirati intangible cultural heritage as well as the impact of intangible heritage on the way digital technologies are used by Emirati people. This study proposes that Emirati intangible cultural heritage is fluid with its content mediated, safeguarded, and reinvented by the application of digital technologies at both formal and informal levels. Further, this paper aims to explore the awareness and appreciation that Emiratis have of their culture as examined by the frequency of their use of digital technologies, the involvement of family members in circulating their heritage, and the efforts of governmental and non-governmental organizations that aspire to meet national and international standards for safeguarding Emirati heritage.
Keywords: digital technology, intangible heritage, UAE, Arab world