Integration of Digital Cultural Heritage Resources in China: Understanding Public Expectations

Abstract

Abstract This paper focuses on the recent development of the National Cultural Information Resources Sharing Project in China. This is a national scale project that was initiated by the Chinese central government and has stimulated immense academic attention. Specifically, this paper attempts to understand people’s expectations and requirements on the project. Moreover, this paper aims to articulate and provide specific and useful suggestions for relevant politicians and project operators so that public expectations and requirements can be carefully met. A survey was used to sample a very large and widely distributed population in China, with a questionnaire designed and disseminated through an online survey service platform. A total of 1,076 usable responses were returned and 29 invalid response cases were discarded, yielding an effective response rate of 97.3 percent. An evident public expectation has emerged from the data collected which shows that the Chinese public primarily expects a comprehensive, convenient and unified one stop online access portal to all types of Chinese digital cultural heritage. This paper is of interest to Chinese government officials as well as professionals working at libraries, museums, archives and other cultural institutions in China. Furthermore, although the context of this study is China, the research findings, insights and experiences gained in this study can be shared across international borders.