Heritage and Mobility: How Transmedia Redefines the Relationship to Heritage. The Case of E Strade di San Michele in Balagna
Heritage and Mobility: How Transmedia Redefines the Relationship to Heritage. The Case of E Strade di San Michele in Balagna

Summary/Abstract: This article examines how walking, as both a physical and symbolic act, can serve as a medium for heritage mediation when coupled with a digital device. The study extends previous research on the web documentary E Strade di San Michele in Balagna (Vallecalle 2022) by exploring a transmedia configuration that connects screen-based interaction with in-situ experience. Conducted in partnership with local cultural institutions in Corsica, the experiment combined a printed map, site-specific QR codes triggering audio capsules, and an online platform (M3C) that extends the experience over time. Methodologically, the research draws on the REMIND approach (Schmitt, 2018) adapted to walking, following a three-stage protocol (T1-T2-T3) that captures memory before, during, and after the experience. Through qualitative analysis of audio traces, questionnaires, and interviews, the study highlights how meaning is co-constructed between body, milieu, and device. Results reveal that walking not only transmits content but reconfigures it in contact with the environment: voice becomes presence, light turns into air-color, and the narrative motif becomes a wayfinding cue. This process supports a situated “we” of experience, where collective attention, sensory memory, and local anchoring foster shared interpretation. The article argues that walking functions as a medium in the strong sense - neither mere conduit nor context - but a milieu–technique–relation that transforms what it carries. It concludes by proposing design principles for an engineering of experiential mediations linking digital storytelling and territorial transmission.

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