Genòmena: A knowledge-based system for the valorization of intangible cultural heritage

The Italian nation is famous for its history and cultural heritage. Artefacts and cultural treasures dating back to various periods of the past are often preserved in museums, but traditions, dialects, cultural events are some examples of intangible heritage from the past that cannot be kept in museums. They are the basis of current cultures but nevertheless the historical memory of them tends to disappear since it is difficult to preserve for the new generations. In this paper we present Genòmena, a system that has been designed to store and preserve intangible cultural heritage, thus saving it for posterity. Genòmena allows different types of people to access such intangible heritage via a Web portal. Thanks to its underlying knowledge-base, it is possible to gain information in different ways, like multimedia documents, learning objects, event brochures.