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UCL Information Studies researchers create apps to remind Europeans just how much history they share

The CrossCult digital apps are enabling visitors to exhibitions to better experience Europe’s shared history.

Information studies and European history app

8 February 2022

European national histories are often taught as isolated narratives that emphasise conflict rather than cooperation. But thanks to the EU-funded CrossCult project, new apps are reminding Europeans actually how much history they share.

Visitors to venues such as the National Gallery can access the apps as part of their visitor experience. Rather than just guiding people round the exhibitions, the app gets them thinking about wider themes that span cultures, borders, genders or ethnicities. Themes such as migration or the role of women in society.

As UCL Principal Investigator Antonis Bikakis explains, the researchers began with the core principle that history has no absolute truths. “Rather than just reading a simple description of a painting, we wanted to help people engage with the painting differently, to understand the context behind it, to reflect on it at a deeper, more inter-connected level. Drawing on the latest research and technologies like virtual reality, people can use the apps to experience European history in a whole new way.”

The project involved researchers from UCL’s Department of Information Studies, as well 11 other European institutions.

Apps were developed for the National Gallery, Roman spas in Spain, Italy and Greece, the Archaeological Museum of Tripoli, and the cities of Luxembourg and Valetta.

Luc Vandenabeele, the project communications coordinator, said: “CrossCult was an amazing journey. It enabled the humanities and technology to join forces to support reflections on history and an understanding of our common European past.”

UCL Innovation & Enterprise helped with advice on intellectual property to support the launch of the apps.

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