Hierarchical Modelling of Smart Digital Cultural Heritage Spaces: An XML-Based Approach

Extensible Markup Language or XML was created with the aim of making information self-describing. In contrast to Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), XML is not seen as a markup language but rather as a toolkit for creating mark-up languages. Immersive technologies provide Cultural Heritage spaces with the opportunity to implement a smart digital immersive user journey, but an inclusive design should be prioritised as it is a fundamental right for all individuals to participate in cultural life as stated by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). A well-formed XML schema can allow museum curators to implement a smart digital immersive system and strategically position technological devices to optimise interactivity in the user journey. An objective of this paper is to review the theoretical background of XML and determine its suitability to model smart digital Cultural Heritage spaces. Design Science Research (DSR) will also be analysed and applied to the design of an initial XML schema to provide a hierarchical structure for a smart digital immersive user journey. The schema will be applied to an artificial Cultural Heritage setting which is manually designed in this paper to illustrate an example of a smart digital immersive environment and does not represent a real location. The results indicate that XML can support Cultural Heritage professionals to digitise their user experience in a way that is human-centred and harnesses the beneficial aspects of digital technologies.