Full Text
TERRITORIAL NARRATIVES IN THE DIGITAL AGE: OPEN-SOURCE ARCHIVES AS CIVIC DESIGN PLATFORMS FOR MEDITERRANEAN MEMORY
This contribution addresses the following research question: How might the participatory design of open-source digital archives—conceived as “digital gardens”—empower civic engagement and support the collaborative preservation of Mediterranean tangible and intangible memory, in response to the challenges of fragmentation and opacity in contemporary digital environments?To explore this question, we present an ongoing research project, TERRAMOSSA: What We Don’t Se(a)e, an open-source digital archive developed within a PhD in Design for the Made in Italy. Structured as a “digital garden,” TERRAMOSSA serves as a dynamic platform for the preservation, reinterpretation, and co-creation of Mediterranean heritage. The project investigates how open data—typically regarded as technical and neutral—can be reactivated as sensitive, emotional, and civic materials, becoming catalysts for participation and awareness. In today’s landscape, marked by the proliferation of media platforms and the convergence of digital and physical (phygital) experiences, the boundaries between designer, user, and public are more blurred and permeable than ever. Visual materials and narratives no longer have a fixed home; instead, they migrate and transform across networks of dynamic screens, public spaces, algorithmic flows, and collective archives, posing the challenge of maintaining both clarity and authenticity. Visual communication today is not just about ethical activism but is increasingly called to serve as the connective tissue between dispersed narratives, decentralized data, and collective identities. Building on Angari’s analysis of hybrid archives, which highlights the risk of semantic reduction when cultural and humanistic content is translated into data for diagrammatic representation, this project follows Manovich’s argument that, traditional forms of data visualization—often focused on isolated objects—may be inadequate for the complexity of visual and cultural media. Instead, Manovich advocates for broader, pattern-based overviews (“novel patterns”) that allow users to compare large sets of heterogeneous media, combining automated image analysis with simultaneous visual exploration. In this perspective, data visualization becomes a tool not just for representing but for discovering new relationships and structures within cultural archives, enabling the emergence of connections and patterns that would otherwise remain invisible in conventional institutional contexts. The research adopts a multi-phase, user-centered methodology that blends qualitative and quantitative approaches to digital archiving and participatory design. Drawing inspiration from Drucker’s digital humanities—emphasizing interpretive and critical engagement with data—and Ortiz’s experimentation with generative and collaborative data navigation, the project integrates human-centered design, digital ethnography, and participatory practices.The first phase involves desk research and benchmarking of best practices in digital archiving and participatory platforms, including reference cases such as The People’s Graphic Design Archive and Smart Forests Atlas. This informs the mapping and compilation of open data, local narratives, and visual materials related to Mediterranean heritage, in partnership with local institutions and public sources. The design and development phase is characterized by iterative prototyping of the “digital garden” platform, leveraging state-of-the-art tools for data visualization and exploration (e.g., Figma, Observable, D3.js). In line with a human-centered and exploratory approach, the project also investigates how advanced artificial intelligence techniques can support the analysis, classification, and navigation of visual and textual data within the archive. Here, AI functionalities—such as pattern recognition, semantic analysis, and the identification of connections within large and complex data sets—are explored not as substitutes for human interpretation but as enablers for discovery and co-creation. The aim is to achieve a balanced synergy between algorithmic support and participatory, community-driven curation, ensuring that technological innovation enhances, rather than replaces, collective engagement and meaning-making.User experience evaluation is conducted through usability testing and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, including local communities, public administrators, and cultural practitioners, focusing on navigation, accessibility, and meaningful engagement. Comparative analysis with benchmark platforms enables assessment of user participation and interaction.Throughout the process, special attention is paid to risks of cognitive overload, loss of authorship, and the mediation of memory and information by artificial intelligence, ensuring that technological advancement remains aligned with the needs of users and the integrity of cultural heritage. All findings and best practices are systematically documented to inform future participatory archiving initiatives and the ongoing development of the platform.Initial findings indicate that, when carefully curated, open-source platforms can become active environments where data is not only represented, but also generated, negotiated, and shared as a living cultural language. The key challenge is to design visual archives that move beyond static display, actively fostering participation, agency, and critical data literacy. Only in this way can data visualization restore meaning and agency to territories and communities, preventing the reduction of knowledge to abstract information flows or graphic stereotypes. In a scenario marked by information fragmentation and the growing influence of artificial intelligence, the research advocates for accessible design practices, ensuring that data is continuously produced, transformed, and reactivated within its original cultural and territorial context, rather than becoming detached and opaque. The project employs visual strategies to highlight issues such as environmental exploitation and the loss of ritual memories in the Mediterranean. The archive, structured as a “digital garden,” is designed as a participatory and flexible platform where visual data, local narratives, and cultural practices can be collected, updated, and linked by users, institutions, and communities. On a practical level, TERRAMOSSA enables collaboration between designers, data professionals, and local stakeholders, offering a replicable model for participatory digital archiving. The project prioritizes clear standards for accessibility and transparency, ensuring that public administrations, cultural institutions, and community groups can easily use the platform. Rather than being just a documentation tool, the archive provides practical resources for education, local projects, and public awareness campaigns, making Mediterranean heritage more visible and accessible, and supporting its ongoing transmission and reinterpretation in contemporary contexts. In a fragmented information ecosystem, this research explores how design can create digital spaces that are both inclusive and critical, environments that foster access and participation while preserving the integrity and context of cultural memory. It is essential to balance narrative authenticity and visual clarity to counteract the risks of manipulation and illiteracy produced by algorithmic speed and opacity. Within this context, artificial intelligence should not be seen merely as a disruptive force, but as a potential co-creator, capable, when critically integrated, of amplifying human interpretation, enabling new connections, and supporting the emergence of shared truths in digital archives. By doing so, the digital archive regains its role as a critical and generative infrastructure for collective culture.
This contribution addresses the following research question: How might the participatory design of open-source digital archives—conceived as “digital gardens”—empower civic engagement and support the collaborative preservation of Mediterranean tangible and intangible memory, in response to the challenges of fragmentation and opacity in contemporary digital environments?To explore this question, we present an ongoing research project, TERRAMOSSA: What We Don’t Se(a)e, an open-source digital archive developed within a PhD in Design for the Made in Italy. Structured as a “digital garden,” TERRAMOSSA serves as a dynamic platform for the preservation, reinterpretation, and co-creation of Mediterranean heritage. The project investigates how open data—typically regarded as technical and neutral—can be reactivated as sensitive, emotional, and civic materials, becoming catalysts for participation and awareness. In today’s landscape, marked by the proliferation of media platforms and the convergence of digital and physical (phygital) experiences, the boundaries between designer, user, and public are more blurred and permeable than ever. Visual materials and narratives no longer have a fixed home; instead, they migrate and transform across networks of dynamic screens, public spaces, algorithmic flows, and collective archives, posing the challenge of maintaining both clarity and authenticity. Visual communication today is not just about ethical activism but is increasingly called to serve as the connective tissue between dispersed narratives, decentralized data, and collective identities. Building on Angari’s analysis of hybrid archives, which highlights the risk of semantic reduction when cultural and humanistic content is translated into data for diagrammatic representation, this project follows Manovich’s argument that, traditional forms of data visualization—often focused on isolated objects—may be inadequate for the complexity of visual and cultural media. Instead, Manovich advocates for broader, pattern-based overviews (“novel patterns”) that allow users to compare large sets of heterogeneous media, combining automated image analysis with simultaneous visual exploration. In this perspective, data visualization becomes a tool not just for representing but for discovering new relationships and structures within cultural archives, enabling the emergence of connections and patterns that would otherwise remain invisible in conventional institutional contexts. The research adopts a multi-phase, user-centered methodology that blends qualitative and quantitative approaches to digital archiving and participatory design. Drawing inspiration from Drucker’s digital humanities—emphasizing interpretive and critical engagement with data—and Ortiz’s experimentation with generative and collaborative data navigation, the project integrates human-centered design, digital ethnography, and participatory practices.The first phase involves desk research and benchmarking of best practices in digital archiving and participatory platforms, including reference cases such as The People’s Graphic Design Archive and Smart Forests Atlas. This informs the mapping and compilation of open data, local narratives, and visual materials related to Mediterranean heritage, in partnership with local institutions and public sources. The design and development phase is characterized by iterative prototyping of the “digital garden” platform, leveraging state-of-the-art tools for data visualization and exploration (e.g., Figma, Observable, D3.js). In line with a human-centered and exploratory approach, the project also investigates how advanced artificial intelligence techniques can support the analysis, classification, and navigation of visual and textual data within the archive. Here, AI functionalities—such as pattern recognition, semantic analysis, and the identification of connections within large and complex data sets—are explored not as substitutes for human interpretation but as enablers for discovery and co-creation. The aim is to achieve a balanced synergy between algorithmic support and participatory, community-driven curation, ensuring that technological innovation enhances, rather than replaces, collective engagement and meaning-making.User experience evaluation is conducted through usability testing and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, including local communities, public administrators, and cultural practitioners, focusing on navigation, accessibility, and meaningful engagement. Comparative analysis with benchmark platforms enables assessment of user participation and interaction.Throughout the process, special attention is paid to risks of cognitive overload, loss of authorship, and the mediation of memory and information by artificial intelligence, ensuring that technological advancement remains aligned with the needs of users and the integrity of cultural heritage. All findings and best practices are systematically documented to inform future participatory archiving initiatives and the ongoing development of the platform.Initial findings indicate that, when carefully curated, open-source platforms can become active environments where data is not only represented, but also generated, negotiated, and shared as a living cultural language. The key challenge is to design visual archives that move beyond static display, actively fostering participation, agency, and critical data literacy. Only in this way can data visualization restore meaning and agency to territories and communities, preventing the reduction of knowledge to abstract information flows or graphic stereotypes. In a scenario marked by information fragmentation and the growing influence of artificial intelligence, the research advocates for accessible design practices, ensuring that data is continuously produced, transformed, and reactivated within its original cultural and territorial context, rather than becoming detached and opaque. The project employs visual strategies to highlight issues such as environmental exploitation and the loss of ritual memories in the Mediterranean. The archive, structured as a “digital garden,” is designed as a participatory and flexible platform where visual data, local narratives, and cultural practices can be collected, updated, and linked by users, institutions, and communities. On a practical level, TERRAMOSSA enables collaboration between designers, data professionals, and local stakeholders, offering a replicable model for participatory digital archiving. The project prioritizes clear standards for accessibility and transparency, ensuring that public administrations, cultural institutions, and community groups can easily use the platform. Rather than being just a documentation tool, the archive provides practical resources for education, local projects, and public awareness campaigns, making Mediterranean heritage more visible and accessible, and supporting its ongoing transmission and reinterpretation in contemporary contexts. In a fragmented information ecosystem, this research explores how design can create digital spaces that are both inclusive and critical, environments that foster access and participation while preserving the integrity and context of cultural memory. It is essential to balance narrative authenticity and visual clarity to counteract the risks of manipulation and illiteracy produced by algorithmic speed and opacity. Within this context, artificial intelligence should not be seen merely as a disruptive force, but as a potential co-creator, capable, when critically integrated, of amplifying human interpretation, enabling new connections, and supporting the emergence of shared truths in digital archives. By doing so, the digital archive regains its role as a critical and generative infrastructure for collective culture.