Navigating participatory gaps in digital cultural heritage through BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel engagement practices

1 Introduction and background

Digital technology has transformed how cultural heritage is preserved, accessed, and communicated. Digital platforms increasingly support the dissemination of cultural knowledge, historical narratives, local traditions, and intangible heritage to broader audiences (Liang et al., 2021; Pisoni et al., 2021). Beyond functioning as repositories of information, these platforms can facilitate public participation and collaborative knowledge production through technologies such as wikis, crowdsourcing, social media, and digital archives (Cui et al., 2022; Hansson and Dahlgren, 2022).

However, the availability of participatory technologies does not necessarily result in meaningful user engagement. Many digital cultural heritage platforms remain predominantly informational, positioning users as content consumers rather than active contributors. Such one-way communication limits opportunities for interaction, knowledge co-creation, and community participation (Koukopoulos and Koukopoulos, 2019). This issue is particularly relevant to local language preservation, where sustained community involvement is essential for maintaining cultural knowledge and linguistic identity.

BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel represents a relevant case in this context as a digital platform dedicated to preserving the Makassarese language and cultural knowledge of South Sulawesi. Although the platform provides educational and cultural resources, the extent to which it facilitates meaningful user participation remains an important question. The distinction between providing access to cultural information and enabling users to actively contribute highlights a potential participatory gap between the technological potential of the platform and actual user engagement.

Previous studies have extensively examined successful participatory digital heritage initiatives, including museums, social media campaigns, crowdsourced archives, and collaborative platforms. However, comparatively limited attention has been given to platforms that remain passive or semi-participatory, particularly those dedicated to local language preservation in Indonesia. Consequently, the structural, technological, and communicative factors that may constrain participation remain insufficiently understood.

This study addresses this gap by examining the participatory barriers within BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel through the integration of participatory culture, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and dialogic communication theory. By shifting attention from successful engagement toward the conditions that constrain participation, the study contributes to digital cultural heritage and communication scholarship. It also provides practical insights for improving platform design and communication strategies to encourage active user engagement and support the sustainability of local language preservation.

2 Theory

2.1 Digital cultural heritage and technological transformation

The rapid advancement of digital communication technologies has significantly transformed how cultural heritage is preserved, communicated, and accessed by broader societies. Over the past two decades, digital platforms such as websites, social media, online archives, wikis, and crowdsourcing systems have emerged as essential tools in safeguarding both tangible and intangible cultural heritage, including historical records, indigenous languages, customs, and collective memory. This transformation reflects a shift from conventional institutional preservation toward more accessible, decentralized, and technologically mediated forms of cultural sustainability (Hansson and Dahlgren, 2022).

Digital technologies have expanded cultural access beyond geographical and institutional limitations, allowing communities, governments, museums, and independent organizations to disseminate cultural knowledge to global audiences. According to previous studies, digital cultural heritage platforms are no longer merely repositories of archived information but increasingly function as communication infrastructures capable of facilitating public engagement and collaborative knowledge production. Hansson and Dahlgren (2022) argue that participatory technologies such as social media, blogs, and wiki systems enable the renegotiation of cultural heritage by opening alternative channels through which communities may interpret, reproduce, and reshape heritage narratives. This democratization of cultural access strengthens inclusivity while also diversifying interpretive perspectives (Riris Loisa et al., 2021).

Furthermore, digital heritage platforms have become particularly important in preserving local and minority cultures that may otherwise face marginalization in mainstream institutional frameworks. In multilingual and multicultural societies such as Indonesia, digital platforms dedicated to local language preservation serve strategic roles in protecting linguistic diversity while promoting regional identity. Platforms like BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel represent this broader trend, functioning as digital spaces intended to preserve Makassarese language and South Sulawesi cultural knowledge. However, despite their informative value, the broader challenge lies not only in technological preservation but in whether such platforms can actively mobilize community participation.

Therefore, while digital transformation has undoubtedly expanded cultural preservation opportunities, the effectiveness of these platforms increasingly depends on their ability to transition from static informational systems toward interactive ecosystems that sustain user engagement, participation, and cultural continuity (Angeline and Safitri, 2018).

2.2 Participatory culture in digital communication

The concept of participatory culture, primarily developed by Henry Jenkins, provides an essential theoretical framework for understanding how digital communication environments can foster active public engagement. Jenkins’ work emerged from the recognition that media audiences in the digital age are no longer passive consumers of information but increasingly function as active participants who produce, circulate, and reinterpret content (Jenkins and Boyd, 2015).

Participatory culture is characterized by relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing, informal mentorship structures, and social connectivity among participants. Under this framework, digital users become “prosumers,” simultaneously occupying the roles of both producers and consumers. This shift represents a profound transformation in communication structures, moving from one-way transmission models toward collaborative and interactive communication ecosystems (Hairul Anam et al., 2025).

Jenkins categorizes participatory culture into several forms, including affiliations, expressions, collaborative problem-solving, and circulations. Particularly relevant for digital cultural heritage are collaborative problem-solving models, where communities collectively generate, maintain, and refine cultural knowledge. Platforms such as Wikipedia exemplify this model by enabling users to co-create information infrastructures through collective intelligence (Alfi Syahriyani et al., 2022).

In cultural heritage contexts, participatory culture offers substantial theoretical potential because it positions communities not simply as recipients of curated heritage but as active contributors to heritage preservation itself. Through this lens, digital platforms ideally support user-generated content, dialogue, co-creation, and communal knowledge exchange. Consequently, cultural preservation becomes an evolving social process rather than a static institutional function (Muhamad Bayu Cahya and Pinckey Triputra, 2016). However, while participatory culture presents an ideal model, practical implementation remains inconsistent. Not all digital cultural platforms successfully achieve participatory ecosystems, and many continue to replicate older broadcast-oriented communication structures despite technological advancements.

2.3 Participatory gaps in cultural platforms

Despite the theoretical promise of participatory culture, empirical studies increasingly reveal the presence of significant participatory gaps across many digital platforms. Participatory gaps refer to the discrepancy between the technological potential for active engagement and the actual patterns of user behavior, which often remain passive, consumption-oriented, or minimally interactive (Zois Koukopoulos and Dimitrios Koukopoulos, 2018).

In many cultural heritage platforms, users are positioned primarily as information consumers rather than active contributors. This phenomenon is particularly evident in platforms that emphasize informational dissemination without integrating sufficient collaborative tools, community-building mechanisms, or dialogic communication strategies. As a result, technological availability alone does not guarantee meaningful public participation (Jill M. Castek and Gloria E. Jacobs, 2019).

Research on participatory digital heritage platforms suggests that passive engagement often stems from structural limitations in platform design, inadequate user empowerment, lack of trust in contribution systems, or weak communication architectures (Fanny Suhendra et al., 2020).

Even highly accessible platforms may fail to generate sustained participation if users perceive limited influence, low social presence, or insufficient incentives to contribute (Tony Wijaya and Santi Budiman, 2015). Moreover, studies on digital collaboration demonstrate that dialogic and reciprocal interactions are critical for fostering deeper engagement. Castek and Jacobs’ findings emphasize that participation is strengthened when users engage through mutual knowledge exchange rather than hierarchical or instructional communication patterns.

Therefore, participatory failure may derive not solely from user disinterest but from platforms’ inability to establish collaborative digital cultures (Jill M. Castek and Gloria E. Jacobs, 2019).

This issue is especially relevant for local cultural preservation platforms such as BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel, where preserving regional language and heritage requires not only access to cultural resources but also sustained communal participation. Yet research on why local digital heritage platforms remain passive, particularly within Indonesian contexts, remains underdeveloped. Thus, examining participatory gaps becomes essential for understanding the structural, communicative, and technological barriers that prevent digital heritage platforms from realizing their participatory potential. The limited participation of users in BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel may be understood through the Technology Acceptance Model, particularly in relation to users' perceptions of the platform's usefulness and ease of use (Or, 2024).

2.4 Technology acceptance model (TAM)

The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), originally proposed by Davis (1989), is one of the foundational frameworks for explaining individual acceptance and use of information technology. Subsequent research has continued to examine and compare technology acceptance models across different contexts, demonstrating the broader applicability of TAM and related frameworks in explaining users' adoption of digital technologies (Hassen et al., 2019). The original model identifies perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use as two primary determinants of technology acceptance. Perceived usefulness refers to the extent to which users believe that using a particular system will enhance their performance, whereas perceived ease of use refers to the extent to which users perceive the system as requiring minimal effort.

The development of TAM has subsequently expanded its explanatory scope. Venkatesh and Davis (2000) developed TAM2 by incorporating social influence and cognitive instrumental processes to explain perceived usefulness and behavioral intention. Their longitudinal investigation demonstrated that these factors significantly contributed to users’ acceptance of information technology across different organizational contexts. Further development resulted in the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), which integrated eight prominent technology acceptance models and emphasized the roles of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions in explaining technology use (Venkatesh et al., 2003). Venkatesh and Bala (2008) subsequently proposed TAM3, extending TAM by integrating determinants of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use and identifying potential interventions to improve technology acceptance.

In the context of digital cultural heritage, the original TAM provides a useful foundation for examining whether users perceive BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel as easy to use and useful for accessing, learning, and contributing to local cultural knowledge. A platform may contain culturally valuable information but still experience limited engagement when users perceive its interface or contribution mechanisms as difficult to navigate or when participation provides insufficient perceived value. Therefore, TAM is particularly relevant for explaining the technological dimension of the participatory gap identified in this study. Previous research has also demonstrated that TAM can be adapted to specific technological contexts to examine users' acceptance behavior (Mayer and Girwidz, 2019).

2.5 Dialogic communication theory

While TAM addresses technological acceptance, Dialogic Communication Theory provides a communication-centered framework for evaluating whether digital platforms structurally support meaningful engagement. Rooted in the philosophical foundations of Martin Buber and operationalized for digital environments by Michael Kent and Maureen Taylor, dialogic communication emphasizes reciprocal, ethical, and mutually beneficial interactions (J. Sommerfeldt and Aimei Yang, 2018).

Taylor and Kent (2014) propose five core principles for dialogic websites: dialogic loop, usefulness of information, generation of return visits, intuitiveness/ease of interface, and conservation of visitors. Collectively, these principles determine whether digital platforms facilitate two-way communication rather than merely distributing information (Reza Safitri et al, 2022). Previous research also indicates that TAM can be adapted to specific technology contexts to examine user acceptance behavior (Mayer and Girwidz, 2019).

In practice, many websites technically fulfill some dialogic principles while remaining predominantly informational. For example, prior corporate communication research on PT Freeport Indonesia's website found that although dialogic features were structurally present, the platform primarily functioned as an informational medium rather than a truly participatory communication space. This distinction is crucial for cultural heritage platforms. A website may provide cultural information effectively yet still fail to cultivate participatory relationships if users lack meaningful opportunities for contribution, dialogue, or collaborative engagement. Thus, dialogic communication theory is particularly relevant for evaluating whether platforms like BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel genuinely function as participatory cultural spaces or remain limited to static communication models.

2.6 Research gap and study positioning

Although existing scholarship extensively examines participatory media, digital heritage platforms, technology adoption, and dialogic communication, several significant research gaps remain. First, most prior studies focus predominantly on successful participatory platforms such as museums, crowdsourced archives, or social media campaigns, while comparatively little attention has been given to passive or semi-participatory cultural platforms that struggle to generate engagement. Second, there remains limited research addressing participatory failures within local language preservation contexts, particularly in Southeast Asia and Indonesia.

Platforms dedicated to regional cultural heritage, such as BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel, occupy a unique position where cultural preservation goals intersect with digital communication challenges. Third, while participatory culture theory often emphasizes ideal engagement structures, fewer studies critically investigate why technologically available platforms fail to transform passive users into active cultural contributors. Therefore, this study addresses these gaps by examining how participatory culture, technology acceptance, and dialogic communication collectively shape engagement limitations within BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel. By focusing on participatory barriers rather than solely participatory success, this research contributes a novel perspective to digital cultural heritage scholarship.

Ultimately, this study expands communication research by shifting discourse from celebrating digital engagement toward critically understanding the structural obstacles that hinder meaningful participation in local digital cultural preservation. Such insights are essential for improving platform design, communication strategies, and sustainability efforts for digital heritage initiatives.

3 Literature synthesis

This conceptual review proposes that the participatory limitations observed in BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel are shaped by the interaction of three principal dimensions: Technology Acceptance, Dialogic Communication, and Participatory Culture, as illustrated in the integrated conceptual model (Figure 1). Based on the integrated theoretical framework, the study hypothesizes that the current engagement structure of BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel remains predominantly informational rather than collaborative, resulting in a substantial participatory gap.

3.1 Technology acceptance as a determinant of user participation

The first conceptual finding suggests that users’ willingness to contribute is strongly influenced by perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. Although BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel provides valuable linguistic and cultural content, the contribution process is likely perceived as technically demanding and procedurally unclear. Limited editing guidance, lack of onboarding features, and uncertainty regarding content submission reduce users’ confidence and discourage active participation. These findings are further supported by an interview with one of the BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel Wiki site developers (October 24, 2024), who revealed that limited resources also constrain the development of interactive features and the addition of content to the platform (Marbella, 2025).

Hypothetically, users may report high perceived usefulness because the platform serves as an educational resource for learning Makassarese vocabulary and cultural knowledge. However, perceived ease of use for contribution features is expected to remain moderate to low. This imbalance results in a behavioral pattern in which users frequently access information but rarely edit or submit new content. Thus, technological acceptance supports content consumption but does not sufficiently facilitate co-creation. This estimation is consistent with the results of an A/B test involving 100 platform users, which showed a strong preference (81%) for a more user-friendly dictionary layout compared with the previous design (19%), as well as a preference of 72% for easier-to-understand navigation compared with 28% for the previous design. These findings indicate that usability in the current design constitutes a tangible barrier to user participation (Marbella, 2025).

3.2 Dialogic communication and structural communication limitations

The second finding indicates that BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel exhibits a limited level of dialogic communication. The platform effectively delivers useful information, but it appears to provide few opportunities for reciprocal interaction. Features such as feedback forms, contributor recognition, discussion forums, and direct communication channels are either absent or minimally visible. Direct observation of similar platforms confirms this pattern: the available search and comment features were found to have poorly organized layouts, which may reduce user engagement, while page to page navigation was considered disorganized and confusing (Marbella, 2025).

From the perspective of Dialogic Communication Theory, the platform partially fulfills the principle of usefulness of information, yet inadequately supports dialogic loops and generation of return visits. As a result, users may perceive the platform as a static educational repository rather than a living collaborative community. This weakens social presence and reduces users’ motivation to engage in ongoing contributions.

3.3 Participatory culture and passive user roles

The third conceptual finding suggests that the cultural environment of BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel has not yet evolved into a full participatory culture. Jenkins’ framework emphasizes low barriers to participation, informal mentorship, and social support. In the current model, users appear to function primarily as readers rather than prosumers.

The absence of visible contributor communities, collaborative campaigns, and participatory incentives limits users’ sense of ownership and collective responsibility. Consequently, community members may appreciate the platform's cultural mission while lacking the social encouragement necessary to become active contributors. Participation therefore remains symbolic rather than operational. Empirical data from the related study support this proposition: in the evaluation of the “Community Space” page design, only 22% of the 100 respondents considered the previous design efficient, compared with 78% who preferred the new design. This finding indicates that the current community space does not yet effectively facilitate users’ collective engagement (Marbella, 2025).

3.4 Participatory gap as an integrated outcome

The central conceptual result of this study is that participatory gaps emerge when technological usability, dialogic communication, and participatory culture are insufficiently integrated. The hypothesized relationship can be summarized as follows:• Under this conceptual model, most users are expected to visit the platform to access cultural information, while only a small proportion proceed to edit, upload, or discuss content.

• Low perceived ease of contribution decreases user intention.
• Weak dialogic communication reduces reciprocal engagement.
• Limited participatory culture constrains collective ownership.
• These factors collectively produce passive consumption behavior.

3.5 Hypothetical engagement pattern

A conceptual estimate of user behavior may be represented as follows:

This pattern illustrates a steep decline from information access to active cultural contribution, confirming the existence of a participatory gap.

Data Source Note (Table 1): The figures presented in Table 1 are the author's conceptual estimates based on general patterns of the engagement funnel observed in participatory platforms, rather than direct measurements of BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel. As a comparison, empirical data available from a related BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel were obtained from a survey of 100 users (62% female and 38% male; comprising teachers 30%, university students 28%, school students 22%, and the general public 20%), which showed an overall preference of 73.5% for the redesigned interface compared with 26.5% for the previous design (Marbella, 2025). However, empirical data on the specific stages from initial access to active contribution, as presented in the table, are not yet available. Therefore, the percentages presented in Table 1 remain hypothetical estimates.

Table 1. The figures presented.

3.6 Theoretical implications

The study extends participatory culture theory by emphasizing that technological availability alone does not guarantee meaningful participation. It also demonstrates the complementary roles of TAM and Dialogic Communication Theory in explaining why digital heritage platforms may remain structurally passive despite valuable content. By integrating these theories, the research offers a comprehensive model for diagnosing engagement barriers in local digital cultural initiatives.

3.7 Practical implications for BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel

To transform BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel into a participatory cultural ecosystem, several strategic improvements are proposed: These interventions are expected to improve perceived ease of use, strengthen dialogic interaction, and foster a stronger participatory culture.

• Simplify content contribution workflows.
• Provide tutorials and contributor onboarding.
• Introduce discussion and feedback mechanisms.
• Recognize and reward contributors.
• Organize community editing campaigns.
• Build partnerships with schools, universities, and cultural organizations.

These improvements are not merely conceptual suggestions but are supported by empirical evidence from the first author's undergraduate thesis (Marbella, 2025), which examined the redesign of the BASAibu Wiki–Sulsel interface. The findings provide empirical support for the three theoretical perspectives employed in this study. From the perspective of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), simplifying the dictionary layout and navigation improved users’ perceived ease of use, as reflected in their preferences for the redesigned dictionary layout (81%) and navigation bar (72%), compared with the previous design. From the perspective of Dialogic Communication Theory, improvements to the response and login pages were also associated with stronger user preferences, with 58% and 78% of respondents, respectively, favoring the redesigned versions. Most importantly, from the perspective of Participatory Culture, the redesign of the “Wikithon Entries” feature provides empirical evidence regarding the importance of collaborative contribution mechanisms. The redesigned version was preferred by 79% of respondents, compared with 21% who preferred the previous design, suggesting that improvements in the visual and functional design of contribution features may encourage more active user participation. Overall, 73.5% of the 100 respondents preferred the redesigned interface, while 26.5% preferred the previous version. These findings strengthen the proposition that improving usability, dialogic functions, and collaborative features can contribute to transforming BASAibu Wiki–Sulsel from a predominantly informational platform into a more interactive and participatory cultural space.

3.8 Overall interpretation

The conceptual findings indicate that BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel possesses substantial potential as a digital cultural heritage platform but remains constrained by structural and communicative barriers. Without participatory mechanisms, the platform functions primarily as a digital archive. With improved usability, dialogic design, and community empowerment, it can evolve into a collaborative knowledge ecosystem that supports the long-term revitalization of the Makassarese language and South Sulawesi cultural heritage

4 Conclusion

This conceptual review concludes that BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel possesses substantial potential as a digital cultural heritage platform for preserving the Makassarese language and South Sulawesi cultural knowledge. However, its current engagement structure remains predominantly informational, limiting users’ roles to passive consumers rather than active contributors. By integrating Participatory Culture Theory, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and Dialogic Communication Theory, this study demonstrates that participatory gaps arise from three interrelated barriers: low perceived ease of contribution, insufficient dialogic communication features, and the absence of a strong participatory community culture (Wang, 2015).

The findings suggest that technological availability alone does not guarantee meaningful public participation. Effective digital cultural preservation requires platforms that are easy to use, communicatively interactive, and socially empowering. When these elements are weak, users may value the cultural content but remain reluctant to contribute knowledge, edit entries, or engage collaboratively.

This study contributes theoretically by offering an interdisciplinary framework that explains how technological, communicative, and socio-cultural factors collectively shape participation in digital heritage environments. Practically, the findings indicate that BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel should enhance its usability, dialogic features, and community-building strategies to transform from a static repository into a collaborative ecosystem. Strengthening these dimensions will increase user engagement, support sustainable language revitalization, and reinforce collective ownership of local cultural heritage in the digital era.

A concrete solution in this direction has been tested through the redesign of the BASAibu Wiki—Sulsel interface (Marbella, 2025), demonstrating that improvements in usability and collaborative features particularly “Wikithon Entries” and “Community Space” are empirically preferred by users and have the potential to transform the platform from a passive information repository into an actively collaborative and dialogic space.

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Footnotes

Edited by: Raffaella De Marco, University of Pavia, Italy

Reviewed by: Lauren Carr, University of Plymouth, United Kingdom

Abdul Kholik, Jakarta State University, Indonesia