Aligning Cultural Heritage Preservation and Knowledge Transfer in Digital Era Between Champions and Agencies

Culture is the bedrock upon which every country and civilization is built. It cannot be developed in a single week, month, or year. Culture takes a long time to be established in a society. Understanding our cultural background can help us develop a stronger sense of personal identity and foster better communal collaboration. It may play an important role in society by connecting the past, present, and future generations, thus providing a foundation for developing a strong nation and national identity. Furthermore, it may help in alleviating the problems of poverty, unemployment, and inequality in our society. Cultural Heritage (CH) champions educate the community or apprentices ancestors’ traditions, beliefs, skills, and knowledge. However, CH agencies play the most important role in preserving and promoting it. This is considered as a huge concern and responsibility for both parties. Therefore, this study aims to establish a new course of action for aligning CH and Knowledge Transfer (KT) with the perspective of CH-related agencies and champions who practice the heritage. The study also offers key implications for future practice and decision-making of heritage agencies, so as to understand and adopt KT in managing and preserving cultural heritage. As a starting point, this study explains issues or implications without considering the existence of traditional/CH knowledge. An evidence-based empirical approach is employed in examining the evolution and trends of CH researchers. This research also provides researchers and practitioners with ideas that may be used to solve or improve upon the mentioned issues and challenges. As a result, the findings support a shift towards identifying several successful projects and their outcomes, as well as determining the possible solutions that can be tailored to preserve and sustain our cultural heritage.