13 The Digital Turn: User’s Practices and Cultural Transformations Orienting the Heritage Institution towards Participatory Users in the Internet Pille Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt, PhD Pille Runnel, PhD Agnes Aljas, PhD candidate University of Tartu, Estonian National Museum Veski 32 51014 Tartu, Estonia Pille.vengerfeldt@ut.ee Pille.runnel@erm.ee Agnes.aljas@ut.ee 1. Introduction This paper looks at different experiences Estonian heritage institutions have in recruiting active participants in their work. The focus is mainly on providing services through online channels and including active participants in the work on museums, archives and libraries. We base our discussions on the work done in two research projects: Developing Museum Communication in the 21st Century, and The Problems of Transformation and Reception of Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age, which both look at the changing relations between audiences and heritage institutions. We will base our discussion on the empirical case studies, using four different heritage institutions in Estonia as examples and as the basis of analysis – the Estonian National Museum, the Estonian Literary Museum, the National Archives of Estonia and University of Tartu Library. We have combined several research methods and looked at several types of respondents over differ- ent points in time. The paper aims to be a more reflexive overview of audience relations and participation in heritage institutions. In using the notions of ‘audiences’ and ‘users’ interchangeably, we assume that audiences are active despite the communication channels used. In increas- ing use of ICT solutions in heritage institutions, audiences are assigned the even more active role of ‘users’ or ‘produsers’, as used by Axel Bruns. Coming from a media studies perspective we approach the audiences in the heritage institutions from these angles. We place this article at the crossroads of different disciplines in the hope of adding value to the practical applications on which we are working.