Gamification to Enhance the Mini-Conference : A Case Study from Researching Digital Cultural Heritage

Recent trends since the COVID-19 era indicate a rapid increase in remotely organized conferences; however, the remote-based nature of these types of events has gained notoriety for a lack of appeal particularly due to long and exhausting sessions without physical contact. On the other hand, previous research has demonstrated several benefits to well-designed games and gamification such as its ability in creating a state of flow by instilling motivation and rewarding its participants for overcoming challenges. As a case study in the cultural heritage sector, we organized a day-long remote conference known as the mini-conference held among members of a consortium to which we belong. The mini-conference applied gamification in combination with other relevant methodologies using online collaboration tools.This remotely organized event employed four (4) collaborative workshops conducted by the different consortium partners. The results of the workshops presented in this paper employed gamification and were based on qualitative engagement, group participation and outputs emanating from each of the activities. They point towards the positive effects of gamification in drawing interest and enhancing engagement among the remotely located participants.The contributions made by this paper include unique insights to the ongoing research on remotely organized conferences, especially through the purview of gamification. In addition, the paper also sheds light on methods that could be employed by museums within the domain of cultural heritage. These might be relevant to the “post-COVID-19 era” in which hybrid engagement consisting of physical and remote collaboration is becoming the norm