Multiperspective Digital Story Telling

I read “The Museum as digital storyteller: Collaborative participatory creation of interactive digital experiences” by Maria Roussou, Laia Pujol, Akrivi Katifori, Angeliki Chrysanthi, Sara Perry, and Maria Vayanou. The essay discussed the methods employed in the CHESS (Cultural Heritage Experiences through Socio-personal interactions and Storytelling) research project that took place in multiple cultural institutions and museums.  The essay posits that creating digital story telling experiences and narratives for museums is a multilayered process that should involve interdisciplinary authoring groups. The essay also argues that in the age of  information technology and social media institutional boundaries of the museum are increasingly blurred, and thus audiences too must participate in the story telling process. I think this essay speaks to central concerns in the museum world at this moment: public engagement and participation; How can museums use digital technology and platforms to provide new avenues and spaces for audience engagement with museum spaces, exhibitions, and collections?

The Object Stories program at the Portland Art Museum (PAM) has a great digital platform for increasing audience engagement with collections through digital story telling. The Object stories websites has a collection of diverse personal narratives about objects in the PAMs collection, but also objects of the narrators choice, such as an old wallet or a child’s costume. The stories illuminate how objects in museums are not static, but have real uses, impacts and personal value, beyond the museum. Listening to the stories and seeing the pictures of the narrator and objects being discussed has a real resonance. I also think integrating objects outside of the museum’s collection shows that the musuem is interested in what is important to their audiences, and how they are hoping to get museum audiences to reflect on objects in the real world they way they would in a museum and vise versa.

The object stories and the conclusions made in the essay, made me think about the digital story telling project that I am going to create at the end of this class. Objects and their histories become much more meaningful when a multi-disciplinary and multi-perspective approach is taken in the digital story telling process. My challenge will be to integrate diverse narratives and perspectives regarding the object into an overarching account of an object.