Talk by Prof. Luigina Ciolfi (Sheffield Hallam University)

Prof. Luigina Ciolfi from Sheffield Hallam University will give the talk this week about the CultureLabs project.

Heritage as means of social inclusion: Aspirations and challenges for the CultureLabs project

The EU-funded CultureLabs project (2018-2021) has the goal to develop a platform to support those heritage institutions such as libraries, museums and theatres who wish to work with communities from immigrant, refugees or migrant backgrounds to share cultural heritage and understanding. While the importance and value of culture and heritage for social inclusion, empathy and emotional wellbeing are broadly recognised, the project is tackling difficult challenges in understanding and supporting the process of engagement of migrant communities into the work of museums and other cultural institutions, and how such engagement can benefit also the general public so to engender dialogue and empathy. The talk will provide an overview of CultureLabs current activities and initial results from data collection mapping practices of social inclusion in heritage, and will reflect on several open questions and challenges underpinning the work of the project team.

About Luigina

Luigina Ciolfi is Professor of Human Centred Computing at Sheffield Hallam University. Her research at the intersection of computing, social science and design explores the complex relationships between people and interactive digital technologies. She participated in several national and international research projects focusing on social, collaborative and participatory aspects of digital technology design. An active contributor to the fields of Human-Computer Interaction and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, she authored over 100 academic publications, has been an invited speaker in 10 countries, and held chair roles for numerous international conferences and symposia in her field. Professor Ciolfi is a senior member of the ACM - The Association for Computing Machinery, and of EUSSET - The European Society for Socially-Embedded Technologies.

Full information on her professional activities can be found at www.luiginaciolfi.net.