Augmented reality as mediation between documentary heritage, historical space and public experience: A proposal for a methodological analysis matrix
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3145/infonomy.26.032Keywords:
Augmented reality, AR, Documentary heritage, Heritage communication, Documentary mediation, Historical space, Public experience, Archives, Libraries, Situated documentary heritage, User experience, Information literacy, MethodologyAbstract
This study proposes a methodological model for analysing augmented reality (AR) experiences aimed at connecting documentary heritage, historical spaces and non-specialised audiences from the perspective of communication, documentation and information studies. The article is based on the hypothesis that augmented reality can function as a mediation methodology when its digital layers are built upon verifiable documentary sources, accessibility criteria, interpretative rigour and empirical user evaluation. A qualitative, exploratory and propositional design is adopted, based on a literature review, the analysis of previous experiences in cultural heritage and the methodological transfer of these approaches to situated documentary heritage. The proposal integrates contributions on augmented reality, documentary mediation, heritage communication, user experience, the cognitive walkthrough, information literacy and institutional governance. The result is an analytical matrix organised into six dimensions: documentary, technological, communicative, experiential, institutional and territorial-ecosocial. This matrix makes it possible to examine projects that connect photographs, plans, maps, manuscripts, historical newspapers, administrative records, posters or audiovisual collections with monuments, urban routes, museums, archives, libraries, interpretation centres and heritage environments. The study concludes that augmented reality broadens social access to documentary heritage when it operates as rigorous mediation between document, space and user, contextualises sources, activates cultural memory and generates evaluable experiences of public heritage communication.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Francisco-Javier Gómez-Pérez, Juan-Ángel Jódar-Marín, Milagros Expósito-Barea, Sabina Rosado-Romero
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