Assessing the MaDiH CKAN catalogue as an engagement tool for the Jordanian cultural heritage community

Abstract

MaDiH (Mapping Digital Cultural Heritage in Jordan) was a two-year UK-Jordanian project that aimed to identify essential systems, datasets and standards to contribute to the long-term sustainable development of Jordan’s digital cultural heritage. The project launched an online catalogue and prototype repository using the Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network (CKAN) platform to present the collected data that was produced by the local and international research community on Jordan’s cultural heritage. This paper assesses the usability of the MaDiH CKAN catalogue using qualitative and quantitative methods. A thorough analysis of the project’s user engagement activities and online presence was undertaken to identify current and potential future uses of the CKAN catalogue by its research community. The preliminary analysis indicated that the largest user group were mid-senior to senior academics/professionals from the cultural heritage sector. Therefore, representatives of this group were selected for further usability analysis through semi-structured online interviews, in order to validate the research outcomes and get deeper insights into the research domain. The findings offer significant insights for similar digital cultural heritage initiatives in Jordan, as well as recommendations for the future development of the MaDiH CKAN catalogue as a National Heritage Portal repository.

Keywords:

• MaDiH
• Jordan
• digital cultural heritage
• CKAN
• data management
• user analysis

Acknowledgements

The MaDiH (مديح): Mapping Digital Cultural Heritage in Jordan project was funded by the Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development in Jordan AHRC Newton/Khalidi call. Ref. AH/S011722/1.

The MaDiH (مديح): Mapping Digital Cultural Heritage in Jordan project is dedicated to Dr Andrea De Silva Zerbini (07.07.1984–12.07.2019), our inspiration and driving force. The project team would like to thank all of our partners, and in particular the Jordanian cultural heritage community who have offered essential support, encouragement and advice over the course of the project. Many thanks go also to the dataset owners and creators who shared their information with us, and to workshop participants and others for their valuable feedback. We also thank the reviewers for their useful comments.