The use of immersive experiences and digital technology in the preservation of intangible cultural heritage - ‘Dongba’

College of Design, Rangsit University, Pathum Thani, Thailand

^* Corresponding author: yatong.s66@rsu.ac.th

Abstract

Recently, some precious cultures have been forgotten, ‘Dongba’ as one of the Intangible Cultural Heritages (ICH) is experiencing a disappearance in the modern world. ‘Dongba’ culture includes various elements, such as scripts, graphics, and craftsmanship. To restore the ancient circumstances, scriptures, voices, and movements, to assist the audience in entering the immaterial memorial heritage world, and to explore the civilization of such an ancient tribe culture is the primary purpose of this essay. In this paper, the author attempts to build a conceptual structure of combining digital media and immersive experiences with the ‘Dongba’ and some related cultures. The conceptual design structure will be used in various conditions, for example, education, exhibition, tourism, advertisement, and more commercial purposes. Immersive experiences based on digital technology are a growing trend in the contemporary world. There is a design project for an immersive experience using 3D (Three-dimensional) sculpt modeling technology, providing a conceptual approach for future design and research. The outcome of this research will be 3D models rendering which represent three different elements of the ‘Dongba’ culture, demonstrating that immersive experiences can be an advanced method for preserving intangible cultural heritages, not only just ‘Dongba’ culture.