AI IN CULTURAL HERITAGE (GLAM) ANALYSIS
Conversational agents as relational mediations for GLAM: a conceptual framework
This paper introduces a design framework, based on technological mediation theory, to analyze and rethink how Conversational Agents (CAs) can shape heritage relations within Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (GLAM). It examines eighteen archetypal CA projects, tracking the co-evolution of interaction paradigms and relational configurations, and suggests new forms of heritage relations.
Executive Impact: Key Findings from GLAM AI Research
Understanding the current landscape and potential of AI in cultural heritage through quantitative insights.
78+
GLAM AI Initiatives Tracked
18
CA Projects Analyzed
7
CA Archetypes Identified
100%
Projects Exhibiting Alterity Mediation
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Theoretical Foundation
Current Landscape
Future Directions
Verbeek's Seven Types of Technological Mediation
Technological Mediation Theory (TMT) posits that technologies actively mediate how humans perceive and interact with the world. Verbeek identifies seven types of mediation, which were used to classify Conversational Agent (CA) designs in GLAM:
- Embodiment: Technology becomes part of human bodies, extending capabilities (e.g., reading glasses). In CAs, this could involve guiding physical actions.
- Hermeneutic: Technology represents the world, offering new interpretations or understanding (e.g., X-ray images revealing artifact structures). For CAs, this is when they provide information that informs visitor understanding.
- Alterity: Technology is encountered as a "quasi-other" with whom we interact (e.g., a robot guide). This is the default mediation for CAs.
- Background: Technology fades into the background, conditioning actions and experiences without conscious attention (e.g., ambient lighting).
- Cyborg: Technology fully merges with humans, enhancing sensory or cognitive functions (e.g., cochlear implants). For CAs, this suggests co-perception systems.
- Immersion: Technology merges with the environment, creating an interactive context (e.g., gesture-controlled narration systems).
- Augmentation: Technologies combine Embodiment and Hermeneutic, interweaving human experience with computer-generated representations (e.g., AR goggles). This could extend to social or temporal augmentation by CAs.
Predominant Mediation Types in GLAM CAs
Alterity & Hermeneutic Default mediation modes for 18 analysed CA projects (1997-2025)Analysis of 18 archetypal GLAM CA projects from 1997-2025 reveals that Alterity is the default mediation type (18/18 projects), where CAs are perceived as distinct "others." Hermeneutic mediation is also highly frequent (13/18 projects), as CAs primarily function to represent and deliver information, shaping visitors' understanding of heritage. This highlights a prevalent focus on information delivery over more complex relational dynamics.
Evolution of GLAM CA Archetypes & Mediation (1997-2025)
Early Robotic Guides (1997)
→
Virtual & Avatar Guides (2003+)
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Standalone & Early Online Chatbots (2004-2017)
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Advanced Robotic Guides (2018+)
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LLM-powered Semantic Search (2022+)
→
Speaking Objects & AR/VR Avatars (2024+)
The landscape of Conversational Agents in GLAM has evolved significantly. Initially dominated by physical robotic guides and virtual avatars, the focus expanded to standalone exhibits and early online chatbots. With recent advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs), new forms like sophisticated semantic search agents and interactive "speaking objects" have emerged, alongside enhanced AR/VR avatar guides, pushing the boundaries of mediation types beyond the traditional Alterity and Hermeneutic.
Ideating New Forms of Relational Mediation with TMT
Applying Technological Mediation Theory (TMT) to CA design opens avenues for creating new heritage relations beyond simple information delivery:
- Embodiment: CAs could guide visitors' bodily actions, akin to yoga instructors, subtly altering perception without explicit instruction.
- Cyborg: Beyond merging technology with the human body, CAs could enable "co-perception"—an AI as a co-observer, constructing meaning collaboratively with the visitor, making "seeing" a negotiated act.
- Immersion: While rare currently, future CAs could deeply merge with the environment, creating interactive contexts that are part of the exhibit itself.
- Augmentation: CAs can evolve from enhancing individual perception to becoming "social amplifiers" (sensing emotions, bridging interactions) or "time-weavers" (generating visualizations of timelines, knowledge graphs across time and cultures, proactively).
Implications for Ethical Relational Design in HCI
TMT highlights the profound impact of technology on lived experience, making it a critical lens for ethical design. For GLAM CAs, this means broadening design goals beyond mere usability or historical accuracy to encompass moral considerations. It encourages designers to foreground intentions such as promoting empathy, reflexivity, or cultivating active participation, ensuring technology mediates relations in a meaningful and responsible way within cultural heritage contexts.
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