A Digital Approach in Promoting and Preserving Information on Cebu’s Tangible Cultural Heritage Sites (TCHS) by Demelo Lao and Pauline Louie A. Saraña
Paper presented during the Asian Universities Digital Resource Network (AUDRN) – International Research Conference on Local Knowledge 2020, held on 7-8 February 2020 at the Father Saturnino Urios University (FSUU), Butuan City, Agusan Del Norte
Abstract
TCS offers a glimpse of people’s way of life in the distant past, which also influences greatly the cultural aspect of a place. Although the Philippines has RA 10066 (Philippine Cultural Heritage Act), specifically for preserving and promoting Philippine cultural heritage, it seems that is not enough for preserving information on cultural heritage as well as promoting and increasing Filipino awareness on TCHS historical importance, with Cebu as case in point. Hence, this aims to develop a computer-based solution to archive collectively TCHS information of Cebu for informational promotion, preservation, and awareness. The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) implemented with the Agile Software Development Model was applied to create the computer-based information system (CBIS) using the web as a platform. Aside from the core CRUD (Create, Read, Update and Delete) system functionalities, it has navigational features where the suggested route to the heritage sites is provided based on the user’s current location. The CBIS was assessed further for technology acceptance based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). In addition, the inter-rater agreement was measured to determine the degree of concordance among the independent raters’ responses. Results show that among the TAM criteria group, the Attitude Towards using the System’ got the highest and most reliable mean rating (M=6.50, SD=0.51). ‘Perceived Usefulness’ follows next (M=5.83, SD=0.92), and then agreement indices with the ‘Attitude Towards using the System’ criteria group still having the strongest or substantial concordance (Kendall’s W=0.63). The overall mean rating of CBIS for TAM is above 5 on a scale of substantial 1-7 (M=5.94, SD=1.05), while the overall inter-rater agreement for the TAM assessment is relatively fair (Kendall’s W=0.39). With these results, we believe that the developed-CBIS has shown utility and found acceptable as a technology solution. Furthermore, being accessible online promotes easy and convenient access to TCHS information of Cebu, which translates hopefully into informational awareness.