From the brief given, audience interaction is an essential part of this project. Here I will discuss projects I have researched that allow interaction between the project and its audience some where through the process and discuss possible ways I could bring the audience into my project. I will be focusing on projects that use visual narratives somewhere throughout the process as this is the direction I would like to take my own project.
There are many examples of projects and websites that use the stories of others to create their final product. The first example is the website http://www.curiositycreative.org.uk/. The intention of this site is to provide a platform for ordinary, everyday people to share their stories on a particular topic. They get the user to narrate their story and send in photographs of whatever they are talking about. The site then edits a video which the audio of the user and a slideshow of all of the photographs they provide. These videos are short, about two minutes each but give a good representation of what the user is saying. The topics are clear and concise and those watching will most likely watch it all as the duration of the video isn’t too taxing.
The next project I looked at was Museum on Main Street, a community engagement project designed by the Smithsonien Institution. It engages small-town audiences and brings attention to underserved rural communities. Similar to Curiosity Creative, Museum on Main Street, using the stories of other particularly those in under-served areas to tell their story or a story they find particularly interesting. The site is continually collecting stories under specific headings for example, one of the heading is ‘Hometown Teams: How sports shaped America’.
By putting out specific titles they are limiting the amount of stories they receive or at least keeping the writer on topic. Again similar to the above project the writer of the story narrates the video, giving the viewer information about the given topic. Along with using photography the user submits short videos either of the topic itself, like a football game or short interviews with other who may have had the same or similar experience as the user. The site then edits the video together, using a short story format of about four and a half minutes. The videos are longer than the Curiosity creative but as the viewer of the video has to go into the specific topic heads, its clear that they are interested in the subject and will watch it until the end.
What I like about this project is that it gives a voice to those who may not have been heard before and the topics they focus on are really interesting and specific.
The next project that interests me is Humans Of New York. A website dedicated to getting short stories through interviews from everyday people the author Brandon Stanton. Stanton stops random people on the street and asks them a question about their life. They tell the story or experience and he records what they say. He uploads the quote which vary in length but generally take no more than a minute each to read with an accompanying photograph of the individual. The project can be found on his own website, across social media as well as the several books he’s published all following the same process. What I like about this project is that again it focuses on ordinary, every-day people and sometimes you can be shocked to see the person and then read their story. I definitely shows you can not judge a book by it cover.
In recent years, Stanton has expanded his work by travelling abroad. In his ‘Travel’ series he gathers stories from people living very differently to those in New York City. This is another aspect of this project I liked because he gives the audience an insight into the life of a person they have never come across before or may have only seen clips on tv or the news. Examples of these countries are Pakistan, Iran and Iraq.
All of these projects use Digital story-telling to get their ideas across.
References:
- UX Collective. (2018). 6 storytelling principles to improve your UX – UX Collective. [online] Available at: https://uxdesign.cc/6-storytelling-principles-to-improve-your-ux-737f0fc34261 [Accessed 3 Aug. 2018].
- Curiosity Creative. (2018). Hippy Van. [online] Available at: http://www.curiositycreative.org.uk/story/hippy-van [Accessed 3 Aug. 2018].
- Museumonmainstreet.org. (2018). Below the Pottery Line | Museum on Main Street. [online] Available at: https://museumonmainstreet.org/content/below-pottery-line [Accessed 3 Aug. 2018].
- Humans of New York. (2018). Humans of New York. [online] Available at: http://www.humansofnewyork.com/ [Accessed 3 Aug. 2018].
Direction concepts 