O uso da tecnologia digital para a preservação do patrimônio cultural e para o fortalecimento da atividade turística Perdões (MG)

Abstract

The present research investigates the intersection between digital technologies, heritage education, and hospitality in the city of Perdões (MG), with an emphasis on the application of QR Codes as devices of symbolic mediation, understood as shared meanings, social memories, and affective bonds built by the community. The main objective was to analyze how these digital tools can contribute to the preservation and enhancement of cultural heritage by expanding access to information, promoting inclusion and community engagement, and strengthening the local population’s connection with its own history. It is recognized, however, that this history is composed of multiple memories, identities, and interpretations that should not be homogenized, but rather understood in their diversity.The proposal emerged from the understanding that the preservation of cultural heritage requires contemporary approaches capable of dialoguing with ongoing technological and social transformations, especially in small municipalities. In this context, QR Codes are understood not only as informational resources but also as supplementary tools of virtual hospitality, enabling the reframing of heritage experiences through accessible, affective, and inclusive narratives. Methodologically, the research adopted a hybrid action-research approach, combining a literature review, documentary analysis, including consultation of the municipal Livro do Tombo, local heritage protection legislation, municipal archives, records from the Arquivo Público Mineiro (APM), and institutional materials on local heritage fieldwork, the collection of verbal information through semi-structured conversations and questionnaires applied to residents and visitors, in addition to dialogues with cultural agents. The study proposed that the qualified use of digital technologies can support the dissemination of cultural information by adopting the concept of heritage and education from a critical perspective, understood not as the institutional transmission of content but as a dialogical, participatory, and community-based process of constructing meanings about heritage and strengthening cultural tourism, promoting belonging and hospitality at the local scale. The study concludes that the appreciation of cultural identities, the expansion of heritage awareness among residents and visitors, and the strengthening of affective bonds with the municipality’s cultural assets were achieved through the use of simple and accessible digital technologies. Such bonds, however, are not understood as singular or homogeneous, but as expressions of a multiple heritage composed of different layers of meaning that coexist, interact, and at times generate tension within the social context. The research contributes to the debate on the possibilities of educational processes in the field of heritage that move away from the Enlightenment legacy that historically sought to universalize identities and standardize narratives. Instead, the adopted approach values plural memories, collective representations, and community practices of re-signification, recognizing the multiple, situated, and negotiated character of heritage, especially in its interface with tourism.