Shaping a digital transformation ecosystem to elevate heritage

Photo caption — *My Son temple relic site in Duy Phu commune, Duy Xuyen district ( Quang Nam province). Photo: Trong Dat/VNA*

With the application of digital transformation, stories about the culture and history of My Son temple complex are not only brought closer to life, but also contribute to solving the problem of tourism development without conflicting with conservation.

Shaping the digital transformation application ecosystem

Director of the My Son World Cultural Heritage Management Board (Duy Phu Commune, Duy Xuyen District, Quang Nam Province) Nguyen Cong Khiet shared that strongly applying digital transformation for the goal of sustainable development, preserving and promoting heritage values is one of the key tasks that the My Son World Cultural Heritage has proactively implemented, bringing about positive changes.

Ten years ago, when the restoration project of the G tower group ended, Italian experts organized a specialized exhibition room at the My Son Museum in digital form to introduce the research, archaeological and restoration results of the G tower project, which is considered a model of Cham relic restoration work in Central Vietnam.

To digitize artifacts, Italian experts have handed over and trained the My Son World Cultural Heritage Management Board on the software system for archiving artifacts. Accordingly, nearly 1,000 artifacts have been digitized and identified, helping to manage, use, and serve research, display, and preservation more effectively. From this result, up to now, My Son Museum has more than 1,800 artifacts, Sa Huynh - Champa Museum has nearly 700 artifacts digitized. Some valuable artifacts found during the process of coordinating with Indian experts to restore ancient towers continue to be digitized.

According to the Director of the My Son World Cultural Heritage Management Board, the most powerful digital transformation field recently at the My Son temple complex is the promotion and development of tourism products. During the COVID-19 outbreak, tourism was "frozen" for a long time, tours were canceled, virtual reality tourism was the only means to help tourists around the world connect with destinations to visit, satisfying the need to learn and research about heritage.

In that context, to bring the heritage closer to visitors, My Son has opened 4 online explanation programs with 4 topics: "My Son Temple Complex with necessary information and experiences", "Following the history of formation and development of My Son Temple Complex", "History of formation of tower group A, the process before and after restoration", "Spring by the ancient tower". These products are broadcast on technology media such as Facebook and YouTube, creating deep interaction with visitors and are highly appreciated by visitors.

Along with specific products, digital transformation from promoting, advertising, and boosting applications to help tourists and businesses access destination information such as: Using tickets, electronic invoices, internet banking services, and QR scanning at My Son World Cultural Heritage has achieved good results. Since COVID-19, the number of visitors to this place has always been 10% higher than the previous year. In 2024 alone, the number of tourists to My Son will reach over 446,000, including 405,000 international visitors, an increase of over 21% over the previous year, with revenue from tourism and service activities of over 70 billion VND.

Bringing My Son to a new space

Vice Chairman of Duy Xuyen District People's Committee Dang Huu Phuc emphasized that Decision No. 411/QD-TTg dated March 31, 2022 of the Prime Minister on approving the National Strategy for Digital Economy and Digital Society Development to 2025, with a vision to 2030; Decision No. 949/QD-BVHTTDL dated April 22, 2022 of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism promulgating the digital transformation plan of the industry and many digital transformation programs and plans of Quang Nam province have set Duy Xuyen district and My Son Cultural Heritage Management Board the task of promoting digital transformation, applying new technologies for the goal of sustainable development, contributing to the formation of an information society, preserving, promoting and promoting cultural heritage to the public.

In that common development space, digital transformation is an inevitable trend, shaping My Son heritage on the digital map towards a new, more open space. To reduce investment from the State, My Son has promoted mobilization from businesses through socialization activities to promote digital transformation. The ultimate goal is to bring benefits to the community, businesses and the State. This approach has solved the financial problem for the unit in a difficult period of investment resources. Accordingly, advanced techniques and technologies directly invested in the technology infrastructure system have really brought positive results.

Director of the My Son World Cultural Heritage Management Board Nguyen Cong Khiet said that Vietsoftpro Digital Transformation Company cooperated with the Management Board to promote the value of the heritage using digital technology, bringing great benefits. Accordingly, the automatic interpretation system at the heritage site was launched in 2023 with 40 stories and 6 different languages including: Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, French, English, which has become a typical product for the successful digital transformation in the field of tourism at the unit. From here, the treasure trove of information and artifacts about the mysterious My Son was opened, leading historical stories with just one click, one touch to My Son.

From this success, My Son continues to cooperate with its partner Digital Transformation Solutions Joint Stock Company (VR360) to build a 360 virtual reality tourism product. No matter where they are, visitors can visit and interact at locations of My Son temple complex through the Metaverse virtual world system, helping visitors visit and experience as in reality. Users can walk, interact, even take photos in the temple complex with their avatar, move to their favorite location, creating the feeling of being present in My Son. In the coming time, digital transformation will take place more and more strongly in all fields, from conservation to promoting heritage values, managing and protecting heritage landscape forests.

It can be said that digital transformation at My Son World Cultural Heritage has shaped an application ecosystem serving management, operation, service provision, and promoting the development of creative industries in the field of conservation and promotion of heritage values.

Recently, during a working session with experts from the Indian Archaeological Survey (ASI) and Vietnam in implementing the Project to preserve, restore and renovate towers E and F in the My Son World Heritage Site, phase 2025-2029, Vice Chairman of the Quang Nam Provincial People's Committee Phan Thai Binh said that My Son Temple Complex was recognized as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). These unique cultural values and noble titles need to be promoted and exploited effectively, contributing to the socio-economic development of the locality, while at the same time, preserving and preserving for the future. Therefore, shaping a digital transformation ecosystem to elevate heritage is a top priority to both protect and promote heritage, preserve original elements, and harmoniously solve the problem of tourism development without conflicting with conservation.

Source: https://baobinhphuoc.com.vn/news/19/172679/dinh-hinh-he-sinh-thai-chuyen-doi-so-de-nang-tam-di-san