Research on the Inheritance and Innovation Path of Intangible Cultural Heritage from the Perspective of Consumer Sociology: — Take Changsha Kiln as an Example

In recent years, preservations of Intangible Cultural Heritages (ICHs) have become an important agenda for the relevant researchers, designers, and technologists. Traditional archiving methods to protect and promote ICHs may include the recognitions from governments or representative bodies and the textual or video documentaries. However, barriers between the general public and ICH still exist and affect the accessibility of ICH at both conceptual and practical levels. In this case, an educational approach for disseminating ICH values can be considered. Initiated with this thought, we set out to develop an educational project that embeds ICH knowledge in a gamified learning experience. The project is framed as a service design practice to ensure an integrated consideration of the involved stakeholders, including the collaborated local sector, designers, educators, and target learners. The development process results in a game-based education program that serve both the interests of the promoting bodies and the intended audience. In the program, we incorporate three types of ICH originated locally in Suzhou. This paper, therefore, presents the design rationale and development process of this educational program, as well as the result of an initial test with a group of participants. The participants’ feedback demonstrates the advantages of SD approach in developing a user-centered and service-oriented public course. Meanwhile, the playful elements put the included ICHs into their social context and incentivized the participants in learning the related cultural knowledge.