The 13th International Symposium on Virtual Reality, Archaeology and Cultural Heritage VAST (2012) Short and Project Papers D. Arnold, J. Kaminski, F. Niccolucci, and A. Stork (Editors) Mobile Technologies and the Use of Augmented Reality for Saving the Immaterial Heritage D. Gheorghiu 1 and L. Stefan 2 1 National University of Fine Arts Bucharest, Romania 2 Institute for Computers ITC Bucharest, Romania Abstract The present paper discusses the importance of immaterial heritage in the contemporary world and its preservation and transmission using AR techniques. A special case of immaterial heritage is represented by traditional technologies, currently undergoing rapid extinction all around the world. One case study presents a series of educational experiments with mobile-learning carried out by the authors in Vadastra village, in southern Romania (project Time Maps – PN II IDEI). Here, with the help of experimental archaeology, technologies such as weaving, ceramics and glass making were recreated under the form of digital films, which were later mixed with VR reconstructions of the ancient geographical and architectural contexts to allow the viewer’s immersion into the cultural formative contexts of the immaterial heritage. The educational results of this IT experiment suggest that AR techniques and mobile-learning can be successfully used to preserve and transmit the immaterial heritage. Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): H.5.1 [INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION]: Multimedia Information Systems - Artificial, augmented, and virtual realities 1. Introduction The concept of “tradition” in a world undergoing rapid changes and seeking a new identity is very topical today. It is a known fact that modern European dwelling designs originate in local and national arts and crafts traditions. In order to rebut a current view that considers tradition an obsolete phenomenon, no longer supporting societal progress, we are proposing a functional project that uses tradition with the double aim of revitalizing it, and using it as a source of new inspiration for modern creations. In Romania, the onset of modernity had a devastating effect on the rural culture. The Romanian village has nearly lost the continuity of its cultural and craftsmanship traditions due to the changes imposed by a Modernity too quickly assimilated. The disappearance of the autarchic economy, the opening to the EU community, and the free movement of the labour force, all led to a depopulation of villages, a process which overlapped with the natural aging of the rural population, creating an imminent gap in the transmission chain of traditional knowledge. All new constructions try to copy cultural models which are decontextualized, and subject to kitsch, due to substitutions of the original materials and the subsequent loss of aesthetic value. As a consequence, all the immaterial heritage of the traditional dwelling or habitat is at risk of being completely lost during the next decade. The Law No. 26 of Immaterial Heritage of 29.02.2008 states the importance of the revitalization, conservation and transmission to future generations of the national immaterial heritage. That is why a project dedicated to the cultural memory and the salvation of the immaterial heritage of the Romanian village represents an acute necessity for the Romanian rural community. Thus, it is in this perspective that we applied our experience in experimental archaeology and IT to develop an exploratory research project (Time Maps – PN II IDEI) whose preliminary results are presented in this paper. 2. Project objectives A main objective of this project is to confront and educate a contemporary audience with the immaterial heritage problems of postindustrial society, and ancient ecological technologies respectively. Another principal objective is the preservation/recovery and transmission to future generations of the immaterial heritage of the traditional technologies, thus revitalizing the arts and crafts and re-stimulating the high culture art inspired from the folk creations. The goals of the project are to:  Create a complex platform to study through experimentation the technologies of the traditional habitat.  Collect the data resulted from field research and from experimentation.  Process the data to generate educational materials.  Transmit the preserved knowledge into folk culture and high culture by using innovative IT instruments of communication. In spite of the massive destruction of its traditional heritage, Romania still possesses a significant amount of ancient technologies, but their know-how was not recorded