From Dust to Data: Crowdsourced Logics of Architectural Memory

The chapter examines the evolving relationship between digital heritage, authenticity, and collective memory. It traces how virtual communities, crowdsourcing practices, and immersive technologies transform heritage from fixed material objects into participatory processes of cultural production. The discussion situates a case study of Kashgar within broader debates on staged authenticity, urban renewal, and digital re-creation, highlighting how demolition and reconstruction coexist with new forms of virtual representation. A virtuality experiment at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa demonstrates how user-generated content generates alternative knowledge of heritage. By analysing these indexical traces, the study argues that authenticity in digital heritage emerges less from faithful replication than from collective authorship and negotiated meaning. The research argues a shift toward participatory architectures of memory, where heritage knowledge is continually reassembled across physical and digital domains.