New project to measure the value of digital culture and heritage to society

The University of Portsmouth is leading a new project to help evaluate the contribution of digital culture and heritage to society. This interdisciplinary project addresses key questions relating to the valuation of cultural and heritage assets, and the ways in which the digital and physical consumption of such assets might be valued.

The project  is one of six research projects that will contribute to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s (DCMS) Culture and Heritage Capital Programme. They are supported through £3.1 million research funding by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and DCMS. Portsmouth will receive £377,423 for the three-year project, which started this month.

The University of Portsmouth project, with contributions from academics at the University of York, will combine techniques from behavioural economics with accounting valuation methods and arts and humanities research. It will review economic and cultural values of digital culture and heritage assets.

Participants will be given the opportunity to experience a range of cultural and heritage activities, including live performances, museums and a library, in both physical and digital forms, such as online streaming or virtual reality. The results of the research will help to assess values for digital versions of cultural and heritage assets that are often very difficult or impossible to measure.

From this, the project team will develop a narrative framework of valuation methods for cultural and heritage assets in digital forms.  This will include ‘born digital’ assets with no physical equivalents. An industry and policy symposium event will be held at the end of the project to present and discuss the project findings and agree on future research directions.

Project lead Dr Karen McBride, Associate Professor of Accounting and Accountability in the Faculty of Business and Law at the University of Portsmouth, said: “Access to culture and heritage has many benefits, such as improving our wellbeing, providing education, and contributing to local identity. However, there is no agreed approach to measuring the contribution of the cultural and heritage sector, especially in digital forms, which means that it is often understated.

“Our project will help government bodies such as the DCMS to improve their understanding of the value of digital cultural and heritage assets.  Having more accurate valuations of these resources will assist in improving the diversity of output, which will help make both the industry and wider society more robust and resilient to future shocks and offer opportunities to reach wider and more diverse audiences.”

Arts and Heritage Minister Lord Parkinson said: “Culture and heritage bring a huge range of benefits to people’s lives, not only by creating jobs, offering great days out and inspiring pride in local places, but also by helping our education and wellbeing.

“It’s important that we can measure these benefits so that we can make the most effective decisions to maximise their potential – especially where taxpayers’ money is being invested. These cutting-edge research projects will help us work towards that goal.”

AHRC Executive Chair Professor Christopher Smith said: “The culture and heritage sectors are a vital part of our economy, but we do not have a clear or agreed set of criteria for measuring all their relevant benefits, including the undoubted impacts of intangible benefits. This has a significant impact on policy making.

“This project will help give us a better basis on which to evaluate the contribution of culture and heritage to society, and is part of AHRC’s commitment to developing sound evidence to inform innovative and globally respected policy for our cultural and creative economy.”