Research On The Digitalized Development Of Intangible Cultural Heritage Based On The Augmented Reality Technology

Over the long course of history, the Chinese nation has accumulated a considerable amount of valuable, abundant and splendid tangible cultural heritage and intangible cultural heritage (ICH). As an extremely essential cultural heritage form. ICH has been hailed as the cultural gene that represents the diversity of the distinctively Chinese traditional culture. However, the living environment of ICH is faced with grave threat with the rapid development of modernization and accelerated pace of urban-rural integration. On one hand, as constant change continues in the production mode and lifestyle of the people in modern society, the original ecological space which is essential for the inheritance of ICH is hard to sustain, with some no longer in existence due to serious destruction, thus generating grievous living conditions and near-extinction experience for some ICH. On the other hand, in the era of rapid Internet development against the backdrop of economic and information globalization, the cultural products of various countries are instantaneously extended and spread around the globe via the information superhighway. The western developed countries, by virtue of their powerful economic strength and technological means, have transported their cultural products that encompass their own cultural values to the rest of the world in a steady stream, which helps them to realize cultural invasion while reaping tremendous benefits; besides, they plundered the cultural resources of other countries to create cultural products embodying western values. Such cultural development strategy featuring cultural globalization by developed countries will exert severe impact on the cultural and economic development of other countries. The America-based Walt Disney Company utilized its mighty economic strength and digital animation technology to have successfully produced two American animation blockbusters--Mulan with raw materials taken from the legendary story of Mulan, a Chinese state-level ICH, and Kungfu Panda with inspiration drawn from traditional Chinese culture, both of which were, then, promoted in the Chinese market, presenting to us living examples that tangle the whole Chinese nation’s heart. The appearance of such incidents as mentioned above has given all the Chinese people a thought-provoking lesson. ICH can be protected via either rescue or development. Beset with both internal and external difficulties, the issue of how to effectively protect and reasonably exploit and utilize our precious ICH deserves to be contemplated by the relevant experts and even all the Chinese people.Augmented Reality (AR) technology belongs to a hot frontier domain where experts in relevant fields have actively engaged in research. It can superimpose the virtual digital information generated by computers on the real environment and integrate the virtual and real scenarios before displaying the combined version through monitors so as to achieve the result of augmented reality. Such presentation enables the experiencers to perceive not only the information of the real world, but also the virtual digital information beyond the real world, therefore effectively enhancing the experiencers’understanding of the real world scenario. With the development of computer science and technology, the research concerning the AR technology has shifted from application research in such high-end fields as military affairs and aviation to the application R&D in multiple fields represented by education, entertainment, culture and tourism.Based on the rationale of AR technology and basic theories of ICH, this paper proposes a new development model, in which cultural digitalization is implanted in the current tangible mediums and carriers of ICH, aiming at the exploration of digitalized development-oriented ICH protection on the basis of AR technology. In terms of the current digitalized protection of ICH, this paper points out major problems and inadequacies of digitalized exploitation and utilization of ICH, and constructs a theoretical framework of the ICH development model-Cultural Digitalized Implantation Model (CDIM), which is based on AR technology. And under the guidance of this theoretical framework, the Augmented Reality Cultural Digitalized Implantation System (ARCDIS) is presented, centering on digitalized application and development of ICH. In this paper, priority is given to research of theoretical basis and process of the construction of CDIM, as well as to research and design of ARCDIS. Through an application platform of mobile intelligent terminal, it has designed application examples of the system and put them into use. All this is for the exploration of a theoretical approach and a strategy of application of digitalized development-oriented ICH protection on the basis of AR technology. Intangibility is the nature of significance of ICH. And a proper ICH carrier can materialize, visualize and contextualize intangible culture, and can help better interpret, demonstrate and spread it effectively. Therefore, it is an important task to seek for proper ICH carriers for its protection, exploitation and application. The strategy of AR-based ICH development and utilization presented in this paper is to place digitalized ICH content into the current mediums and carriers in a digital form so as to foster an interactive cultural experience with augmented reality, which is conducive to digitalized ICH interpretation, demonstration and spreading.The major work of this paper are as follows:(1) It elaborates the necessity and feasibility of AR-based digitalized ICH development, based on the analysis of the current domestic and international research on digitalized ICH protection and AR technology in cultural sector.(2) It constructs an AR-based theoretical framework of ICH development model--Cultural Digitalized Implantation Model (CDIM), based on the analysis of the major problems and inadequacies of current ICH development models.(3) It presents the Augmented Reality Cultural Digitalized Implantation System (ARCDIS), centering on digitalized application and development of ICH, and also carries on research on it in terms of its general structure and system, hardware and software framework, as well as its major technologies.(4) It conducts an experimental study on CDIM and ARCDIS, and probes into experimental design and application of ARCDIS prototype system in terms of the present ICH protection, development and utilization of folk literature by referring to the legend of the Yellow Crane Tower, which has been placed in the list of the state-level ICH. Furthermore, it has the system tested on the mobile intelligent terminal platform and provides the relevant results.The present study on CDIM and ARCDIS provides a novel idea and means for making innovations on digitalized development-based ICH protection by adopting the latest technologies, thus is a cutting-edge research in the field of ICH digitalized research and application. The present study has laid a theoretical and practical foundation for the further research in this field, the integrated and interactive development between culture and technology, as well as the implantation of culture-related creativity and design services into cultural creativity industry, animation industry and culture-oriented tourism industry.