Many Voices: A Storytelling Toolkit Proposal

Background

Oral history projects are a powerful tool for recording and preserving the perspectives of the actual people who have lived throughout history. Oral history has been used as a tool worldwide to serve many disparate purposes, from fostering a more holistic understanding of community health among medical professionals (Hernandez, Genkova, Castañeda, Alexander, & Hebert-Beirne 2017) to assessing the impact of interinstitutional historical preservation partnerships (Stieglitz & Nyitray 2017).

In the cases of communities that have undergone trauma, the recording and dissemination of oral histories can help these communities regenerate a sense of agency and foster empathy in those unfamiliar with the history being preserved (Field 2012). Oral histories in the digital age have helped democratize history, providing a valuable tool for studying communities by listening to the actual voices of those being studied (Nyhan & Flinn 2018), furthering social justice and equity through the development of shared historical authority (Shopes & Starecheski 2017).

Though oral histories offer near-limitless potential for community growth and healing, sharing the resources collected by oral history projects in museum or exhibit contexts can prove challenging, both financially and practically (Blatt 2016). This project aims to lower the buy-in cost of exhibiting oral history by producing a modular toolkit for use by oral history projects of any size and scope, allowing them to create exhibit kiosks using a ready-to-go software package and modular kiosk designs with a total material cost of less than five hundred dollars.

Overview

This project will utilize low-cost and open-source technologies such as the Raspberry Pi single-board computer and near-field communication to create a modular interactive exhibit for use by oral history projects. Inspired by other community-based oral history kiosks (Penn Program in Environmental Humanities 2018), this project will expand on their work to create a ready-to-install software package with accompanying modular kiosk designs so that any oral history or public history organization can create an interactive exhibit that features their work with very little monetary investment.

The kiosk will be designed with equity in mind, from wheelchair accessibility and transcripts, to braille and sensory considerations. Its modular design would allow for a degree of mobility to assist with outreach at libraries, schools or conferences. As part of our prioritization of accessibility, we will aim to lower the technical knowledge requirements necessary to reproduce and maintain this model, creating a software package that is not only easy to access, but easy to use. The digital package will be made freely available online, including the core Raspberry Pi operating system image, plans for a kiosk and a manual.

This will be the first phase of a larger project planned at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, exploring new ways to share narratives surrounding the Hanford Nuclear Development Site and peoples affected by plutonium processing, including radiation exposure during production, storage, and purposeful releases into the atmosphere. For decades, communities across Washington and worldwide have been affected by the radioactive materials processed at Hanford. From the downwind farmers, Indigenous tribes of Eastern Washington and Hanford Site workers, to those affected by bombs containing plutonium refined at Hanford that were dropped in the Marshall Islands and Japan, the stories of peoples affected by radiation provide valuable lessons about ethical science, environmental conservation, and public health crises. Creating new venues to amplify these voices can help promote healing and understanding, as well as the missions and educational goals of the Burke Museum and the University of Washington.

We are seeking funding for the initial phase of this larger project. This funding would go entirely towards the creation and sharing of prototype designs for use by oral history projects and community history organizations, with the intent of using the designs to create kiosks at museums, libraries, and community centers throughout Washington about the Hanford Site and affected communities. The enclosed budget would cover the labor and materials required to produce a working prototype, manual, and software package over the course of ten weeks in the fall of 2019. During this design phase, we aim to hold focus groups and seek design input from community groups in order to make the design accessible to the disabled, blind, and hard of hearing communities.

Goals

1. Create a working prototype for an oral history kiosk by the end of fall quarter 2019. The prototype will be considered “working” when all technical elements (RFID/NFC reader, biographical binders with NFC tags, audio playback) are working consistently and securely housed within the physical kiosk.
2. Share designs and software freely online with the public. Upon completion, final prototype designs, a manual, and applicable software will be shared online through GitHub or a similar public software repository service. GitHub automatically tracks download statistics, providing useful data on public engagement with the final toolkit. In addition to usage analytics, GitHub has forums for public comment on posted projects, allowing us to engage with the global open-source community to refine our designs and code during and after the initial design process.