Digital Spatial Representations: New Communication Processes and 'Middle Eastern' UNESCO World Heritage Sites Online (original) (raw)

Abstract

“Middle Eastern” UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage web sites and related Internet web sites suggest a new kind of marking or inscription process related to “Middle Eastern” cultural and historical sites, which enchase a chronicle of site inscription. Consequently, UNESCO conceptions of ‘World Heritage” and World Wide Web technologies are articulating with “Middle Eastern” historical and cultural sites to create new forms of representation of “Middle Eastern” heritage with global implications. UNESCO’s formulation of ‘World Heritage” is expressed both as part of a concept of ‘local’ heritage administered by the state and as part of a worldwide system of ‘common heritage,’ now accessed through the Internet. UNESCO’s designation, in combination with the new Internet technologies, mark and transform the representation of these “World Heritage” sites by inscribing a layer of ‘representation’ accessible around the world and by many different audiences and individuals. Specific local histories and archaeologies come together in the context of UNESCO and information technology to shape a concept of “World Heritage” which complements, supports, and rearticulates with concepts of local heritage. “Middle Eastern” UNESCO World Heritage sites, such as those in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Turkey are represented in new ways, now accessible worldwide, inscribing information as interactive representations, which are hypermedia-oriented, potentially immersion-based, narrative, and integrating various forms of media (Packer and Jordan 2001: xxx-xxxi). The Internet then makes these productions accessible to computer users world-wide transforming the concept of ‘World Heritage” both locally and globally.

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