A REVIEW OF INTANGIBLE DIGITAL CULTURAL HERITAGE: KNOWLEDGE STRUCTURES AND RESOURCE CONCEPTUALISATIONS IN GLAM INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

This systematic review explores the evolving landscape of Intangible Digital Cultural Heritage (IDCH) within Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (GLAM). As cultural heritage increasingly shifts toward digital forms, traditional object-centric curation paradigms encounter epistemic friction when managing living, performative expressions such as oral traditions, rituals, and community knowledge. Using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) framework, this paper synthesizes academic literature published between 2023 and 2026 to analyze how GLAM institutions apply knowledge structures and resource conceptualisations to preserve and represent IDCH. The review reveals a significant structural tension between static, institutional metadata standards (e.g., Dublin Core, MODS) and the dynamic, context-dependent nature of living heritage. While semantic web ontologies (e.g., CIDOC CRM) and linked open data provide relational depth, they frequently marginalize community-led epistemologies and collective intellectual rights. This study synthesizes a comprehensive theoretical framework integrating Digital Curation Theory, Knowledge Organization Systems, and participatory heritage paradigms. It maps the operational limitations, ethical anxieties, and technological dependencies of current digitization strategies. Based on these findings, we propose an "Ethical-by-Design," decentralized, and community-driven digital curation infrastructure. This model balances institutional interoperability with local cultural sovereignty, providing an actionable roadmap for future heritage science informatics.