Community and Tourist’s Perceptions as Contributions to Rural Destination Development: The Fontoura Collab Framework Pilot

Info-communication and participatory collaboration today in rural communities of low literacy and reduced digital competence arise in dispersed territories. The research presented in this paper is focused on understanding the ways info-communicational strategies in rural territories can become an asset for the development and promotion of a territory through the sharing of stories with the aid of collaborative digital platforms and takes place in the specific scenario of Fontoura, a small rural county in the north of Portugal. Through the application of design-based research methodologies and the double diamond framework, the information collected enabled the researchers to conduct cultural mapping activities with the aid of the local communities. Results attained have helped to: (i) analyse info-communication in rural communities with low info-communicational literacy; (ii) identify and develop a set of physical and digital activities through the construction of a collaborative framework that supports the collaborative mapping of the cultural and natural landscape, using InfoVis, to integrate residents and tourists. Future work already includes fine-tuning a framework proposal for replicating similar cultural mapping actions capable of empowering the community and participatory involvement in territories with limited Internet access and low digital competencies.