Cultural engagement during the digital age - Prerequisites, processes and outcomes of digital cultural engagement

Abstract

Due to the shift of cultural engagement opportunities into the digital space, it is essential to analyze prerequisites, processes and outcomes of this relative new form of cultural engagement. Two types of opportunities for (digital) cultural engagement were examined, first exploring the amount of participation in cultural activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequently, an opportunity to engage directly with digital culture via a virtual reality art-gallery was developed. In this VR-environment, the textual information accompanying the paintings was altered to study its role as a potential factor influencing this digital cultural engagement opportunity. Individual characteristics such as valuing of culture, openness to experience, positive affect and expertise were understood as prerequisites for utilization. Current motivational and emotional processes were understood as part of utilization and as mediating the relationship between prerequisites and possible positive outcomes of digital cultural engagement. Article 1 focused on the beneficial effects of cultural engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic, exploring what was being used and by whom, by examining the amount of participation in self-initiated as well as digital cultural activities. It was analyzed to what extend motivational (basic need fulfillment) and emotional (aesthetic experiences) processes might mediate the relationship between (digital) cultural engagement and its impact on optimism. Article 2 focused on the influence of expertise, openness to experience and positive affect prior to the VR-visit on positive affect after the VR-visit, expecting aesthetic experiences to mediate this relationship. Here, three types of aesthetic experiences were assessed, deepening the focus on emotional processes of paper one, and broadening the attention to include the psychophysiological measurements heart rate and heart rate variability. Moreover, the influence of these psychophysiological signals on self-assessed aesthetic experiences was investigated in a separate analysis. Article 3 pinned down on the importance of the path between expertise and positive affect after the VR-experience. It was investigated whether positive affect might mediate the relationship between expertise and aesthetic judgement. Moreover, the type of textual information, either stylistic or affective, that accompanied the paintings was expected to moderate the relationship between expertise and positive affect after the VR-experience. Results showed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, both cultural activities were able to increase aesthetic experience and perceived autonomy, but only digital cultural offerings were connected to an increase in perceived relatedness, which in turn was able to increase optimism. Visiting the VR-art-gallery resulted in a decrease in negative affect compared to before the visit. Individual prerequisites were able to impact positive affect after the VR experience. Especially openness to experience and high positive affect before the visit led to an increase in positive affect after the visit when self-assessed aesthetic experience during the visit were high. Women with high expertise reported high positive affect after the VR-visit when they experienced a higher heart rate during the visit, highlighting the potential impact of gender on subjective interpretations of physiological responses in the VR environment. In the VR-gallery, textual information did not moderate the relationship between expertise and positive affect; Rather, the impact of the affective textual information indicate that the VR context might increase the valence of emotionally charged content, indicating that this type of content might enhance digital cultural engagement. Taken together, digital cultural engagement opportunities can have an impact on positive outcomes, but predispositions and processes during utilization, as well as factors shaping the opportunities are vital to understanding the full scope of their impact.