Leo Cao was a fellow at CAIS from October 2024 to March 2025. In his fellowship project, he examined the impact of digital platforms such as Google Arts & Culture on the German cultural sector. Against the backdrop of the growing importance of digital platforms for online cultural mediation, the research explores the opportunities and challenges of collaboration between cultural institutions and technology companies such as Google. The article “Google Arts & Culture and the platformization of cultural heritage: Convergence, gamification, and shifting positions of institutional partners,””now published in the Convergence Journal, builds on this research.
Abstract
This study examines the history of the Google Arts & Culture (GA&C) platform through a web archival analysis of its websites, mobile applications, and institutional communications. By reconstructing a historical timeline, it analyzes how the platform’s sociotechnical design and institutional positioning have shifted over time. Methodologically, the study combines web and app archival analysis, partner-facing email records, as well as interviews with a GA&C employee and institutional representatives. The findings reveal three interrelated dynamics. First, GA&C emerged through a process of convergence, consolidating diverse digitization, preservation, and storytelling initiatives under a unified corporate brand. Second, particularly on its mobile app, the platform has increasingly prioritized user-facing engagement strategies, including gamified and AI-enabled experiences, diverging from earlier institution-centered design principles. Third, despite its self-presentation as a technological facilitator, GA&C has exercised sustained editorial power by curating content, defining thematic priorities, and shaping cultural narratives. These dynamics position GA&C as a networked and platformized memory institution whose governing logic increasingly prioritizes user engagement over institutional needs. The study offers a historically grounded account of platformization in the cultural sector and highlights its implications for institutional participation and cultural mediation.
Cao, T. L. (2026). Google Arts & Culture and the platformization of cultural heritage: Convergence, gamification, and shifting positions of institutional partners. Convergence The International Journal Of Research Into New Media Technologies. https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565261431167