Round 01 - Shauna

To rephrase the meta-statement we developed last Friday, the key goal for this project is to create concepts that connect people to the archive content in a meaningful, experiential, and durable way. From the meeting on Thursday with Johan, the two main insights I got were that:

• BenG (Beeld en Geluid) has the web2.0 aspects of archive already covered.
• There is an opportunity to create meaningful mixed physical-digital experience beyond those for the casual museum visitor (offsite and/or onsite)

Below I elaborate on five points that I find inspiring as a starting point for idea generation. Some first directions for ideas are listed in italics.

1. Continuity of experience (spatial and temporal)

• Provide a storyline/context/ritual/progression of steps that brings logic and structure to the experience, whatever that might be.
• Visitors can connect and reconnect to the archive easily.
• The experience should be immersive in that the technology aspect fades away. This means the usage should be intuitive.
• Link to the other services and experiences already developed by BenG
• INSPIRATION: using rituals facing extinction like going to the library or bookstore for an afternoon as a starting point/analogy for new concepts. For example, link the archive/library/bookstore/café experience in a new way? Get people to go outside of their houses!

2. Flexibility of interaction

• The interaction should be non-deterministic, supporting the needs/desires of individuals in making interpretations, making connections and their natural way of learning or exploration.

3. Interfacing the best of reality with the best of the digital

• What are the strengths, paradigm shifting ideas that each can take from the other? For example:
• Reality is immersive
• Web democratizes information, increases accessibility for all (or does it?)
• INSPIRATION: digitally stored information means that different methods of access can be mapped to the same data unlike a physical archive which is ordered by one system.
• INSPIRATION: embedding data in 3-D space, like the audio project Jan mentioned.

4. Durable/sustainable

• The concepts developed should be durable in the sense that the new ideas/principles can inform future design and design thinking.
• The concepts promote the preservation of cultural heritage and new ways of preserving/thinking of cultural heritage.
• New content creation/curation through users? New-ways of thinking about curation, content, i.e. mashup.

5. Accommodates sociality

• Supports groups as well as individuals. Rather than thinking of groups as homogenous, how do different people within a group play different roles?
• Multi-modal interaction between virtual/physical users
• Collaborative use/access of archive in new ways?