Transmitting the Spirit of Place in the Age of Web Wisdom

The new generation of internet communication is transforming human relations and cross cultural communication in previously unimaginable and dynamically plural ways. The presentation/interpretation of places and indeed of national identity through heritage values and places is no longer predominantly in the hands of governments as a political tool or those of experts in academic research—it’s also powerfully present on Wikipedia and YouTube and every social networking site yet to be imagined. When the YouTube video of the Yolngu Chooky Dancers of Arnhem Land dancing Zorba the Greek went live in 2007, thousands of hits were registered in a matter of hours, and international interest has not abated. The results of recent internet voting for the New Seven Wonders of the World also exemplify these opportunities and challenges of transmitting heritage values. This paper will examine these issues and the impacts which the globalisation of communication will have on transmitting the spirit of heritage place in an age of web wisdoms.