Gamifying Cultural Heritage: the digitization journey of Genoa University Museum System (SMA-UniGe)

The vast collection of paper documents and books stored in university archives worldwide represents a significant, yet often inaccessible, cultural heritage. To address this, the University of Genoa, Italy, is digitizing a variety of materials, including books, manuscripts, archival documents, and museum-related items. Making this heritage accessible requires providing alternate descriptions, metadata, and transcriptions, especially for ancient texts where OCR is ineffective. This paper presents the design of a transcription system for the University Museum System (SMA-UniGe), which is currently under development, featuring user-friendly interfaces and engagement techniques. The system leverages gamification to turn transcription into an engaging experience, aligning with the University’s mission to promote public engagement and contribute to social, cultural, and economic development through knowledge sharing.