Opening Doors: How Digital Heritage Connects People Beyond the Walls

1 September 2025

A Digital Dispatch by Sian Jamieson, Partnership Lead

Digital Strategy

Introducing the blog: How Digital Heritage Connects People Beyond the Walls. "Digital tools can open heritage to even wider audiences, making sure the stories we care about aren't just for the lucky few." 7 minute read.

September always brings a little magic with it. The air turns crisper, routines settle back in after summer, and across Scotland, Open Doors Day swings wide the gates to buildings and places we don’t usually get to step inside. From historic houses and castles to hidden archives and tiny community halls, it’s a reminder of how much history sits right on our doorstep.

But here’s the truth: not everyone can walk through those doors in person. Sometimes geography, accessibility, or just life gets in the way. And that’s where digital heritage comes in.

Open Doors Day might be about physical spaces, but digital tools can open heritage to even wider audiences — making sure the stories and spaces we care about aren’t just for the lucky few who can turn up on the day.

TLDR: Digital Heritage — Opening Doors Beyond the Walls

Open Doors Day reminds us heritage isn’t just buildings — it’s people, stories, and shared memory.
Not everyone can visit in person — digital heritage makes those stories accessible year-round.
Tools like virtual tours, digitised archives, storytelling websites, maps, and social media open heritage to wider audiences.
Scottish Historic Buildings Trust and Our Town Stories show how physical and digital work side by side.
Digital heritage is about accessibility, sustainability, and community — ensuring everyone has a way in.

Why Digital Heritage Matters for Communities

Heritage isn’t just about bricks, mortar, or artefacts tucked away in glass cases. It’s about people, stories, and shared memories. And those stories are too important to keep locked up.

Most heritage organisations I know — whether a museum, archive, or local history group — have a few things in common:

Tight budgets.
Small teams wearing multiple hats.
A big passion for their cause.

Digital can’t solve every challenge, but it can extend your reach. A well-built website, a clever social campaign, or a digitised archive can help people who’d never otherwise set foot in your building, connect with your history. And done right, it doesn’t just tick a digital box — it makes your heritage more accessible, more inclusive, and more alive.

What “digital doors” can look like

You don’t need fancy tech or blockbuster budgets to make a difference. Here are a few ideas:

Virtual tours

Even a simple 360° photo gallery can help people explore your space from anywhere in the world. Tools like WordPress plugins or Google Street View integrations make this surprisingly achievable — and for some organisations, the results can be extraordinary.

Take the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust’s Tron Kirk project. Alongside restoring the 17th-century kirk, they’ve created a 3D tour of Marlin’s Wynd, the hidden medieval street beneath the building. Most of us would never otherwise get to see it, but thanks to digital you can step inside from your sofa.

This is what digital heritage does best: opening up fragile or hard-to-access spaces and making them available to anyone with a Wi-Fi connection. For heritage organisations, virtual tours are a cost-effective way to keep history alive and share it more widely.

Digitised archives

Scanning and uploading old photos, letters, or records means they’re not only preserved but searchable — by researchers, schools, or curious descendants.

A brilliant example is Edinburgh Collected, a community archive where anyone can browse and contribute images and memories of the city. Instead of fading away in attics or family albums, these photographs and stories are digitised, tagged, and shared online. A wartime snapshot or handwritten note can suddenly become part of the city’s living history.

This is the power of digital heritage: moving archives from static collections to dynamic resources — sparking curiosity, encouraging collaboration, and helping more people see themselves reflected in the past.

Storytelling websites

A modern, accessible site can bring heritage to life. With open-source tools like WordPress, you can share oral histories, or invite community contributions in ways that are sustainable long-term.

Take Our Town Stories, created for Edinburgh Libraries. The site transforms the city’s archives into an interactive map of stories. You can trace all manner of historical stories, wander through themed collections, or zoom into a single street to uncover its past residents. Instead of heritage being locked away, it becomes dynamic, playful, and personal.

Storytelling websites don’t just preserve history — they invite people in, helping schools, researchers, and residents connect with their city in new ways. For public organisations, they’re a powerful way to keep heritage relevant and engaging for generations to come.

Social media storytelling

Sometimes the smallest digital steps have the biggest impact. “Did you know?” posts, reels of hidden corners, or memory threads can spark curiosity and get people talking.

Projects like Our Town Stories and Edinburgh Collected show how this works. A quirky fact about Edinburgh’s firefighting history or a photo of a long-lost street corner becomes a perfect bite-sized post for Facebook, Instagram, or BlueSky.

The secret is simple: local pride, curiosity, and nostalgia. People love to see familiar places reframed through time, and social media makes it easy for them to tag friends, add their own memories, or share with others. For small heritage teams, this approach is low-cost, sustainable, and community-driven: take one story from your archive, post it, and let your audience carry it further.

Digital Heritage in Action: Scottish Historic Buildings Trust

Take the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust (SHBT), for example. This year they’re opening the doors to two of Edinburgh’s most fascinating spaces: Custom House, around the corner from Pooka in Leith, and Riddle’s Court, tucked just off the Royal Mile.

Both buildings carry centuries of history, but SHBT aren’t just about preservation. They’re about making sure these spaces are alive — used, loved, and shared. Open Doors Day is one way they do that in person. But SHBT’s digital presence is just as important, helping people discover the stories behind the stones, find out about events, and connect with heritage in ways that go beyond a single weekend.

It’s a reminder that the physical and the digital work best when they’re side by side. Step through the doorway, or scroll through the story — either way, you’re part of keeping heritage open to all.

Values that matter

Digital heritage isn’t about tech for tech’s sake. It’s about what matters to people:

Accessibility – Captions, alt text, translations, and clear navigation mean more people can engage with your content. Accessibility isn’t an afterthought; it’s central to keeping heritage truly open.
Sustainability – Open-source tools keep costs down and data ownership in your hands. That’s good for your budget and good for the planet.
Community – Digital doesn’t replace walking through a creaky old doorway or smelling the polish on a centuries-old banister. But it does widen the circle, letting more people connect with your heritage year-round.

Keeping Stories Open All Year Round

Open Doors Day is a wonderful reminder that heritage belongs to everyone. Digital can make sure those doors aren’t just open one weekend a year, but all year round — and accessible to people far beyond the building’s walls.

So whether you’re planning a tour, curating an archive, or just testing the waters with a simple social media series, remember: every digital step you take is another way of saying “Come in, this story is yours too.”

👉 You can explore this year’s Open Doors Day programme here — and if you’re in Edinburgh, don’t miss SHBT’s Custom House and Riddle’s Court, alongside the digital journeys offered through Our Town Stories.

FAQS

1. What is “digital heritage”?

Digital heritage is the use of online tools — like virtual tours, digitised archives, and interactive storytelling — to preserve and share history with wider audiences. It makes heritage more accessible, sustainable, and engaging.

2. Why should heritage organisations invest in digital tools?

Because digital extends your reach. A small team with limited resources can use affordable tools to share stories online, attract new audiences, and make sure heritage is open all year round — not just on special days.

3. How can small charities or heritage groups get started with digital heritage?

Start simple: a few scanned photos online, a “Did you know?” story on social media, or a basic 360° room tour. You don’t need a big budget — open-source platforms like WordPress or CiviCRM make it cost-effective and sustainable.