RETOLD (Creative Europe)

User research, 3D digitisation training
2020 – 2024

Open-air museums are rich repositories of cultural heritage, but their vast collections of buildings, crafts, and traditions often remain under-documented and inaccessible to the public. Led by EXARC, the RETOLD project aimed to address this by developing standardized workflows for 3D digitisation, documentation, and sharing of cultural heritage assets. A key challenge was ensuring that these workflows were user-friendly, scalable, and aligned with the needs of diverse stakeholders, from museum volunteers to digital heritage professionals.

Supporting project partners EXARC, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Complexul National Muzeal ASTRA, Steinzeitpark Dithmarschen, Nüwa Digital Media, Museumsdorf Düppel, XYZ Technical Art Services focussed on exploring 3D digitisation and potential re-use in AR and XR applications with museums.

In preparation for the creation of standardised documentation workflows, we conducted in-depth user research to identify the needs, pain points, and opportunities for open-air museums and cultural heritage professionals in adopting 3D digitisation. This research informed the development of accessible, practical workflows and training materials, such as photogrammetry workshops and sample scripts for video documentation.

Museum curators from the RETOLD project testing the project's documentation app.
Museum curators from the RETOLD project testing the project’s documentation app.

Our user research and training services played a central role in enabling open-air museums to adopt 3D digitisation as a standard practice for documenting and engaging with museum visitors. By providing tailored training and actionable insights, we helped bridge the gap between traditional heritage documentation and cutting-edge digital technologies.

We delivered specialized training sessions to empower museum staff and volunteers with the skills needed to take first steps to document, digitise, and share cultural heritage assets. Our training focused on practical, hands-on approaches to ensure long-term sustainability and self-sufficiency, such as a case study with Steinzeipark Dithmarschen, where museum staff captured building reconstructions at the museum through photogrammetry, hosted them on an online platform and embedded 3D and AR presentations on the museum website.

Museum curators from the RETOLD project testing the project’s documentation app.

The RETOLD project’s outcomes, including enhanced cooperation among museums, improved public access to cultural heritage, and the creation of reusable digital assets, demonstrate the transformative and creative potential of digitisation in preserving and sharing tangible and intangible cultural heritage in small and medium-sized museums.

Read more about the project on the official website:

RETOLD