The Evaluation of Networks Performance in Cultural Heritage through Intelligent Systems

The paper analyses and discusses the application of intelligent systems in cultural networks by proposing a framework of performance evaluation based on the network approach. This approach is the natural evolution of cultural institutions that start from the ownership and preservation of cultural heritage, to the use of web tools and the perspective that considers the real user’s need identified not as simple information but as process to acquire a cultural awareness as the basis for cultural fruition. The research examined the search software based on the intel-ligent ones such as the Inquiry-Answer Extraction Networked System for Sustain-able Tourism (IAST) to evaluate the performances. Thus, the basic research ques-tion is: what are the characteristics in the application of intelligent systems for cultural heritage networks which suggest a specific performance evaluation framework? On the basis of the undertaken analysis, different search tools existing in WEB could be applied to different profiles of users underlining the trade off be-tween organizational top-down and bottom-up approaches.