Abstract
Community-led and participatory approaches to heritage storytelling have recently been advocated, yet ordinary citizens often lack the skills to actively participate in such endeavours. Meanwhile, outsiders and younger individuals struggle to empathize with local traditional cultural heritage practices, resulting in superficial encounters with the heritage and diminished appreciation for its emotional and historical depth. In response, this study examines a human-AI co-creation process developed through a series of workshops held during the Kawagoe Festival 2024 in Japan. It investigates how generative AI (GenAI) can serve as co-creative agent, empowering older citizens and non-experts to create emotionally resonant digital storytelling based on their personal experiences. We observed older citizens co-creating with GenAI to translate their memory fragments into visual media and refine them using culturally resonant narrative structures. The outputs were showcased in a participatory exhibition, inviting non-local audiences to reflect on intergenerational memory and AI-enhanced heritage storytelling. Post-exhibition interviews demonstrated that this approach significantly enhanced emotional engagement and appreciation for the region's cultural traditions. The study demonstrates how GenAI can lower barriers to creative participation, amplify underrepresented voices, and contribute to more inclusive and emotionally resonant heritage storytelling. Furthermore, our work provides practical insights for researchers and practitioners seeking to integrate GenAI into community-led cultural preservation initiatives.
Keywords
Community empowerment; Participatory archival; Gen AI; Human-AI co-creation; Heritage storytelling
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.715
Citation
Song, Z., Wagner, C., Chen, S.,and Sato, C.(2025) Amplifying Underrepresented Voices in Heritage Storytelling through Generative AI, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.715
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 6 - Co-creation
Amplifying Underrepresented Voices in Heritage Storytelling through Generative AI
Community-led and participatory approaches to heritage storytelling have recently been advocated, yet ordinary citizens often lack the skills to actively participate in such endeavours. Meanwhile, outsiders and younger individuals struggle to empathize with local traditional cultural heritage practices, resulting in superficial encounters with the heritage and diminished appreciation for its emotional and historical depth. In response, this study examines a human-AI co-creation process developed through a series of workshops held during the Kawagoe Festival 2024 in Japan. It investigates how generative AI (GenAI) can serve as co-creative agent, empowering older citizens and non-experts to create emotionally resonant digital storytelling based on their personal experiences. We observed older citizens co-creating with GenAI to translate their memory fragments into visual media and refine them using culturally resonant narrative structures. The outputs were showcased in a participatory exhibition, inviting non-local audiences to reflect on intergenerational memory and AI-enhanced heritage storytelling. Post-exhibition interviews demonstrated that this approach significantly enhanced emotional engagement and appreciation for the region's cultural traditions. The study demonstrates how GenAI can lower barriers to creative participation, amplify underrepresented voices, and contribute to more inclusive and emotionally resonant heritage storytelling. Furthermore, our work provides practical insights for researchers and practitioners seeking to integrate GenAI into community-led cultural preservation initiatives.