Objects of Storytelling and Digital Memory (MEMO)

Memories can be formed around contact with physical objects that populate our everyday lives, we make sense of the physical world by the memories we create. We can create levels of understanding in relation to objects by organising significant memories into stories that hold meaning. The story of an object can involve the story of the personal relationship people have with it, the object can be a trigger on more than one level. In this project the physical, acts as a bridge to the virtual to provoke memory and sometimes instigate new memory formation in relation to an object. The artefacts of collective digital memory are accessed and rearranged through interaction with objects, the performance of this interaction gives space in which memories and stories about the objects and virtual artefacts can form. Physical manifestations of meta-data are used to create an unconventional interface to a database of existing memories. This paper seeks to frame the project theoretically and describe the resulting piece of work

Atlantic Wall Data Souvenir

This is work around a tangible data souvenir based on visitor experience data. The souvenir generation was installed at the science museum Museon in Den Haag for their exhibition on the Atlantik wall. It forms part of the meSch layer of experience that was designed to enhance this exhibition. Upon exiting the exhibition, visitors can generated a postcard (souvenir) which is designed within the context of the subject but also has a printed layer that is printed based on the visitor data.</p

Enhancing museum visits through the creation of data visualization to support informed choices and the recording and sharing of experiences

This paper explores the use of a practice-led research methodology in the design of generative data visualizations that can be used to reveal the details of an empiric visit to a museum. The research has been undertaken as part of the EU funded project entitled ‘mesch: Material Encounters with Digital Cultural Heritage’, with the objective of designing, developing and deploying tools for the creation of tangible interactive experiences that connect the physical dimension of museums and exhibitions with digital information, in new and novel ways. Here we are specifically concerned with how user-engagement captured at the point of interaction can be visualized to bring added value and insight to the museum visit, for the visitor, the museum curator and the broader community. Collected data detailing personal demographics, time spent at exhibits, choice and sequence of viewing etc. are used to explore how data can be generatively visualized to allow visitors to make informed decisions about: what they have seen; to help plan return visits; acquire additional knowledge; and for curators to organize future displays based on visitor interests. Within the paper we introduce a range of novel applications that have been developed to expand and enhance the visitor experience. Firstly we discuss the creation of prototype interfaces developed to investigate how the potential of digital networks can augment the user and community experience by connecting museums and cultural artifacts to digital archives and related materials at other venues. How the accompanying interaction with digital interfaces might prefigure and extend the experience of a museum visit before and after the event is also investigated. Secondly, we discuss visual strategies and languages that capture the experience in a dynamic user-interface, which can be interacted with at a range of distances both physical and temporal from the museum visit and in different personal and socio-cultural settings. Other considerations including the development of generic interfaces and transferable designs to different types of museum and the design of physical ‘experience mementoes’ are discussed. Finally we describe how the participation of visual communication design students can be effectively incorporated into an interdisciplinary, blue-sky research environment

Tangible Data Souvenirs as a Bridge between a Physical Museum Visit and Online Digital Experience

This paper presents the design, implementation, use and evaluation of a tangible data souvenir for an interactive museum exhibition. We define a data souvenir as the materialisation of the personal visiting experience: a data souvenir is dynamically created on the basis of data recorded throughout the visit and therefore captures and represents the experience as lived. The souvenir provides visitors with a memento of their visit and acts as a gateway to further online content. A step further is to enable visitors to contribute, in other words the data souvenir can become a means to collect visitor-generated content. We discuss the rationale behind the use of a data souvenir, the design process and resulting artefacts, and the implementation of both the data souvenir and online content system. Finally we examine the installation of the data souvenirs as part of a long-lasting exhibition: the use of this souvenir by visitors has been logged over seven months and issues around the gathering of user-generated content in such a way are discussed. Keywords: Tangible interaction; data souvenir; museums; user-generated content

This is Neighbourhood 29

This is Neighbourhood 29 was a photographic project I designed and deployed to give a creative opportunity to young people aged 7 to 17 living in the Fushe Kosove area of Pristina. The project explored empowerment through creative expression using the art of photography to transform and build self-esteem. The children were Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian, from the poorest community in one of the poorest country in Europe (Department for International Development, 2013). The project was supported by the volunteers of Kosovan NGO ‘The Ideas Partnership’, as a part of their Summer Programme July-Aug 2011. Each day during the life of the project hundreds of photographs from the children were downloaded and curated into a daily narrative of 29 photographs uploaded to the website. During the running of the project (active for 17 days) it received over 1000 visits from 49 international territories. The project had an activism focus - to use creativity and design as a tool to invite/initiate change. Each participant was given a camera, some basic training and then given the freedom to explore, experiment and express their creativity by taking photographs to represent their neighbourhood and showcase the community from their unique perspective, to the rest of the world. Each day during the project 29 images were uploaded to the site to create a matrix that represented that day in Neighbourhood 29. Social media was used to promote the project and highlight the needs of the community. Mike Simonelli a Boston based experimental musician recorded a track in response to the photographs and sounds of the children, this accompanies a slideshow on the site

Once upon a paradigm shift : interactive storytelling in a new media context

A story gives the gift of human attention, connecting us and touching our hearts to make us feel alive.1 The human brain looks for patterns in sound such as speech and music, in images it finds colours and shapes, recognising these patterns gives meaning. Just as we look for these patterns, it can be said that we also look for them in our lives and experiences and it is these wider patterns that we call stories. Stories are a large part of our lives, helping us to understand who we are and where we have come from, by creating, telling and re-telling them we can discern meaning and understand from our changing world. The technological change in recent years has been immense, affecting all aspects of communication. This research will consider why stories are an important part of communication, how they have developed and explore storytelling within the context of our digital future