Introduction to Visual Storytelling Platforms

Hello everyone and thank you for joining us for today’s webinar with Rachel Cristine Woody. My name is Bradley and I will be your moderator for this webinar titled Introduction to Visual Storytelling Platforms.

Before we start, I would like to provide some information about our company and introduce today’s presenter. Lucidia is a software developing company specialized in museum and archival collections management solutions, as well as knowledge management and library automation systems. Our brands include Sydney, Presto, Argus, ArchivEra, Eloquent, and CuadraSTAR.

Now I would like to take a moment to introduce today’s presenter, Rachel Cristine Woody. Rachel is the owner of Relicura and provides services to museums, libraries, and archives. She specializes in museum collections management systems, digitization technology, digital project management, and digital usership. During the course of her career, she has successfully launched multiple digital projects that include advanced digitization technology, collaborative portals, and the migration of collection information into collections management systems. She is also a popular guest author for Lucidea’s Think Clearly blog and has provided us with many great webinars that are listed on our website. So please feel free to check those out after today’s session. Take it away, Rachel.

Great. Thank you so much, Bradley, and thank you to Lucidia for hosting us today, and thank you for attending.

Today’s session is one of my favorites. We’re going to take a look at the concept of storytelling platforms as well as some excellent examples for different types of storytelling execution on these platforms.

So we’ll do a brief introduction to the visual storytelling platforms and a couple of ones we’re gonna focus on. And then I’ll be walking you through four different examples that use both code and no code type platforms.

For the introduction, I want to share a new term most likely for you, which is scrolly telling. So instead of storytelling or scrolling, it’s scrolly telling.

And essentially that is used to reference any sort of like essay or long form type story where instead of flipping the pages of a magazine or a book, you would be scrolling down the online web page to have the story unfold for you.

There are some features that are inherent in storytelling platforms that are above and beyond or are more specific than just browsing a general web page. Some of those can be that as you scroll down and reveal the story, different sort of, visual or auditory tools are deployed as you get into the different parts of the story. And there are some very cool tools that we’ll take a look at in the examples that are a hallmark of that feature.

I also want to point out that as we’re looking at these storytelling platforms, there are both code and no code. So a code storytelling platform involves some level of you using either existing coding to plug in or creating your own coding, as well as platforms where there’s no direct action on your part for incorporating coding or writing your own coding. It’s just a ready to go, off the shelf, so to speak, sort of platform for you to use for your storytelling. So depending on where your knowledge and your interest lies, you do not need to know any sort of extra knowledge about how to code or how to build a website because the storytelling platforms that are out there are easy to use and definitely don’t need code knowledge.

Alright. So the first example we’re gonna take a look at is, created by the storytelling platform shorthand.

And the example that we are taking a look at is the online exhibit that tells the story, Fanning the Flames, Propaganda in Modern Japan.

The particular institution that houses this collection and that has published this particular online story is the Hoover Institution Library and Archives.

They’ve used shorthand, which is a no code publishing platform. And then, of course, I encourage you to check it out even more in-depth after we’re done today. So I’ve provided a link for you to go and take a look.

So as we get into each of these examples, there are some common hallmarks for us to recognize and these are all foundational storytelling elements. So if you’ve followed along in the last few webinars we’ve done together about the storytelling fundamentals, these should look very familiar to you. If even if you’ve not catch those webinars or you don’t happen to remember, no problem.

Storytelling path is essentially just the structure of the story that you are about to create or read. For this particular example, it’s a very straightforward linear pathway. There’s one right direction to go to get the story.

For story performance types, there can be a variety of different performance types incorporated.

Most often it’s like a written textual or visual or both that we see in these storytelling executions.

And then there can be different sensory settings which sensory online versus being experienced in person can look very different or feel very different, but they are still present. So for this particular example, color is used quite evocatively for their storytelling, which is helpful also because their collection is so colorful. So those are some of the, storytelling fundamentals that we can recognize in the example of Fanning the Flames.

In terms of the tools, our last webinar, we got into some specific tool types and how those can help be deployed either with the collections management system or incorporated onto a web publishing platform like a storytelling or scrolly telling tool.

And so as we look at each of these examples, I wanna point out that they will only each use a few of these tools. It’s not using, like, anything and everything.

It’s making some very intentional choices about the tools that they use based on the collections that they have, the type of collection, as well as the story they’re trying to tell.

For this particular fanning the flames example, we’re going to see the use of deep zoom and that’s throughout the particular story. If you explore a little bit more, we also have color compare and contrast, which is a little more unusual in terms of tool type. We don’t see that a whole lot, but I’ll show you an example of how that was like brilliantly deployed with that collection item.

And then we have another fun tool that is a bit more common, and that’s the concept of hotspots.

And this could be hotspots on a map, on a painting, overlay of a photograph. And, essentially, these are information points where if you click on or hover over the particular hot spot, it will reveal additional contextual information of that particular item that it is being the hot spot for. So let’s take a look at these more specifically.

Here’s the the landing page for Fanning the Flames. And so we have a beautiful sense of about to be entering into a story. Great deployment of color with this particular collection item.

While this is an online exhibit, you’ll notice as we’ve pointed out in the past webinars that they have digital stories up at the top. They’re referring to these exhibits as stories.

And as we enter into each of these, we have some captions down below for the images so you can get a sense of what we’re looking at, what’s the important takeaway for this particular example. So for this one, we’ve got the beautiful introduction and invite into the story.

For the, the Zoom tool, this is the first tool we’re going to take a look at. As we scroll down the story, we get these different visuals revealed. And so we’ve scrolled down just a little bit into this first part of the story. This beautiful image is in the background with a column of text that is overlaid on the image.

And within that text, there is a zoom window that you can zoom in and zoom out. You can rotate the image. There’s additional information provided.

In this particular case, you are allowed to download the image or share the image online and you can also make the image full screen. So there’s a variety of those different zoom tools available as well as when you do zoom in, you get the context of that whole picture, which is important, as you navigate and get into the detail of this particular image.

So for this one, zoom tool, it’s one of the more popular tools that we’ll see across the examples. And in this particular story was used quite a few times.

Here is the color contrast example that as an archivist, in at least part of my heart, I love. We have this particular tool where you’ve got the arrows within the circle in the middle. And as you basically click on the arrows or drag the screen, like basically drag and drop function with your mouse, you can reveal either the fully black and white archival print or the fully colorized archival print.

This particular one is beautiful. They happen to have two of those items at least digitally where you could do that compare and contrast with the color.

At the moment, it’s perhaps more visually engaging than any sort of informativeness unless, of course, you happen to be a Japanese print scholar, in which case I’m sure there’s some additional meaning and information that you can get from this. So great execution of using Arkville material and this sort of online storytelling and also excellent deployment of a tool. It was only used once in this particular story, but I could certainly see multiple application use for this type of tool.

This third tool for the particular fanning the flames story, this is the hot spot. And so for the shorthand platform, they’re using this additional tool in that bottom left hand corner called, Genially or Genie Ally depending on how you wanna pronounce it. And for this particular image, it’s a very detailed, larger size type image. You can, of course, go full screen if you would like.

But as you navigate over the different hotspots, it reveals a different additional contextual information for you for that particular detail in this object. So especially a print like this where there is so much being conveyed and so much happening in it, Deploying something like hotspots is a great execution of being able to provide on demand essentially additional information. So you’re not gonna overwhelm people by providing all of it, but people can self select essentially as to whether they would like to engage or learn and view more of that information or whether they just want to enjoy the image as is and move on.

The next example we’re gonna look at is Rembrandt self portrait with two circles.

And the institution for this one is from English Heritage Kenwood House.

And they are also using the digital publishing platform shorthand, which is again a a no code platform. So very same platform as Fanning the Flames, though you’ll notice a completely different sort of style and execution, which I would like to highlight just goes to show the different types of branding or style that you as the storytelling crafter would have control over. And then, of course, please check this one out in more depth if you would like. So we’ve provided a link so that you can go and find those.

In terms of the infrastructure, the story path is another perfect simple linear pathway, one correct way through the story. We’ve got the storytelling performance types written in visual, so those are the usual suspects that we see. And then sensory setting is color. So very similar to our other shorthand example of ending the flames.

For tools, this particular story is more on the shorter side, not quite as much detail as the previous example.

They do still deploy, story engagement tools such as the hotspots.

This particular example uses hotspots paired with a deep zoom. So we’ll take a look at that in just a moment. And then they also have a, tool that allows you and encourages you to explore more. So suggested points of entry into different stories.

So here’s the landing page for Rembrandt self portrait with two circles.

And there are a few different sort of online exhibit or online stories that they’re telling. Those are, available. You can see those in the sub menu of their website at the top there.

In addition to having the history slash collection highlights tabs right next to it. So just in terms of being a museum professional and while we love online exhibits and storytelling, we also would love people to go and check out the collections in our database. So sending people over to see collection highlights as an entry point into the collections management system is another great way to help set up and frame this type of storytelling.

So as we scroll down, so again, a scrolly telling platform, the larger image of this Rembrandt self portrait emerges.

And as we scroll and hover over the hot spots, which are revealed as the plus signs with the circle, we get these different details. And so in this particular case, the portrait is a painting. We’re getting some deep zoom static images of this particular portrait. So in this example, we’re seeing a extreme close-up of Rembrandt nose as well as an extreme close-up of part of his hair.

As we take a look at these extreme close ups, they have provided additional contextual information.

So just like the deployment of hotspots in the previous example, fanning the flames, we’re getting additional info. And we, as the person are experiencing the story, able to determine how many hotspots we wanna engage with, if any.

And then for this next sort of tool incorporation is as you reach the bottom of that particular story, they have several other stories that you can also engage with. So providing not just the the information of like come and visit or go and see the collection highlights, which again, love the plug for the collections management system. They also then have four other stories that they’re suggesting for you to look at that are based on their collections. So encouraging additional discovery, whether that is through browsing the actual collections database or experiencing different stories.

The next example we’re going to take a look at is the Digital Voltaire project.

This particular example is the institution of Southern California. So USC and USC has created a digital publishing platform called Scholar. It’s a code platform. It’s one that also you could use and incorporate, available on GitHub. But you can, of course, learn more and check out the online exhibit with the link we’ve provided here.

In terms of structure, story pathway, we have that linear pathway, though there is some frequent points of being able to jump into the collection.

For storytelling performance types, we have the usual written and visual, and then we have sensory setting of color.

For the tools that we’re going to take a look at for the digital Voltaire project is the pop up information windows that they are using, the hyperlinked text and what actions those execute, and the incorporation of footnotes. So it’s definitely a more academic approach, perhaps more geared towards, researchers and scholars of Voltaire or subject matter, versus a more easy breezy sort of story or online exhibit feel.

So for this first example, we’re taking a look at Voltaire’s letters and of course, Voltaire himself is very interesting, but of course, who he corresponded with, includes famous and also other scholarly people. So there’s some great content in here, as well as some great relational linking to related content.

For this particular one, just to orient you a bit to the screen since it’s a bit different from our normal scroll down story is that we are looking at a particular letter. We have, you know, basic data at the top there. On the left hand side of the screen, we have the different sentences that are incorporated on the actual page.

Each line is numbered and that is partly to show the letter and which line you are reading in the original content.

Also, because this was transcribed and translated for you, the lines also help to indicate for us which line we’re reading in the original versus what is being provided in this transcribed sense. In this, we’re also seeing the hyperlinks. So, as you hover and click, we can see who the different, people in the letter are being referenced.

We could also investigate the original document which is provided on the right there and below that item you can see you can click into the database to see more. You can also see the original letter as the digital asset of the library, so plenty to interact with on this page.

One of the examples is as it’s translated the text and it’s providing those transcribed translated words on the left hand side is as it moves to different pages of the original object, it is hyperlinking the line of when that page has transitioned. So it’s indicating to us as the users when we are changing to the next original page. And if we were interested in seeing that original page, we could click directly to it through this hyperlink. So this particular hyperlink is doing two jobs. It’s indicating when we’ve changed pages. It’s also giving you the opportunity to go and navigate to that original page to view it in its own context.

And then the final tool for this one, and again very academic for this particular story, is the use of footnotes. And this is not necessarily just for citations because we’re looking at original collection material and so in this case it’s providing some great and rich contextual information additional resources.

It’s linking to things that are either within its own collection or linking to outside resources that could tell you more of and then and then offering different academic based sort of tools for you to learn and explore more.

For our last example, which is I’m probably not supposed to have favorites, but I’m gonna tell you this one is my favorite execution. It’s the Tulsa Race Massacre of nineteen twenty one.

This particular institution is not our normal museum or archives. This was actually produced by the New York Times, though heavily in collaboration with cultural heritage institutions, which we’ll see an example of in one of our tools.

The digital publishing platform is the New York Times created. It’s code based, but it is also available on GitHub GitHub for others to use. And I definitely encourage you to check out the link for this particular tool. There’s so much great information and story in this particular example that I, of all of them, I definitely encourage you to check this one out.

For storytelling infrastructure, we’ve got linear pathway. While there’s plenty to check out on the side, so to speak, we are doing a top to bottom scroll through this particular story. We’ve got written and visual and the visuals that are provided are dynamic, for the most part and from different types of sources and then sensory setting of color. But again, with the visual transitions that they’re doing, it’s very engaging.

For our tools, we’re gonna take a look at photographic overlay to a three d model. This is a tool that we do not see very often, but is incredibly engaging and quite powerful in this particular story.

There is the use of three d model with business information. So we’re seeing a three d reconstruction of the town at that time, as well as getting additional archives information about the businesses in that area.

It then has the opportunity for you to take a look at profiles with the different additional information and sources. So we’re able to see profiles of the business as well as the people who either ran that business or if it was their residents, who the people were that were residing in that building.

And then it ends with a pretty poignant map with timeline that we’ll take a look at that, while it is not as interactive as their other elements is still pretty powerful.

So for our first tool, this is the as you scroll, the image is transitioning from one image to a second image.

The first image, of course, and you can see the ghost outline of it in this particular shot is of the buildings as they stood prior to being destroyed. So you get a sense of what this particular area looked like.

This was the Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

As you scroll down, the secondary image reveals itself more thoroughly, and that is the image of complete destruction from the bombings, of these businesses and buildings. So you can really get a sense of what was there. And then with the violence and destruction that happened, what was left to remain.

As you continue scrolling, you can also navigate the town. The scroll will actually move you through a particular pathway through the Greenwood neighborhood.

As you continue scrolling and as the path moves forward, the information of the businesses on the left and right hand sides will continue to update with where you are in this particular model.

It uses color. So the yellow buildings to indicate which building they’re talking about and which businesses therefore were in that building. We also get a sense of, that cars on the road, how the business and the roads looked and the buildings before the bombing. So it’s some great contextual overlay as well as just additional additional information to see how many businesses were present in this thriving neighborhood.

So as we move forward, the use of color and that additional information happens, as well as at the top there are different parts of the essay will also reveal itself to walk you through the rest of the story as you go down the main town road.

This is an example of one of the sort of side, options you can do to interact with a particular building to see the businesses that are there and actually get profiles of the people who either ran the business or if it was a residence who is residing there, depending on the collection they’re referencing. And this particular example, the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum has content both in terms of data as well as in this case an archival photograph. So the New York Times has done a great job of not just collaborating for information in history but also the incorporation of archival materials into this particular story. So you really in the execution as the person experiencing the story getting a really detailed and intimate sense of who lived there and whose lives were impacted by the violence.

And then this final one is the Tulsa Race Massacre of nineteen twenty one map slash timeline.

This is not a dynamic map or timeline. It’s not hotspots, which in this case, given the dynamic elements of the whole rest of the story, is completely fine in my book. And it does a powerful job of moving you from the bottom of the map there with the first timeline event of explaining what happened, what kicked off the events.

And then as you follow the arrow of the white mob in this case, as it’s labeled, you get further sense of as the group of people were moving towards the Greenwood neighborhood, what were some of the additional timelines of events that occurred that ended up leading to Greenwood being set ablaze, and the violence that occurred there. So it’s a very, very poignant and a really excellent execution of a simple concept that gives just enough information to convey just the real sense of of timing and chaos and just the the sheer magnitude of the events that happened.

So in conclusion, we covered the concept of the storytelling platforms introducing the concept of scrolly telling, as one of those storytelling aspects. We talked about storytelling platforms being code versus no code.

No wrong or right way just depends on which one you wanna work with. And we then went through four excellent examples, two of which were no code and the other two being code examples, as well as providing information on the story structure and the types of tools they use to deploy story engagement elements.

So lots of great stuff there and I definitely encourage you to check it out in more depth.

And then another exciting announcement, we have just released another book together. So the Discovery Game Changer Museum Collections Data Enhancement.

You can get your free copy courtesy of Lucidea Press. This particular book I love because it goes, sort of beyond the basic data that we capture every day and it walks you through discussion of when does it make sense to enhance your data with perhaps optional, at least according to best practice rules, optional data to incorporate, how you can do it in a strategic manner, how it can help enhance the collections and help them become more discoverable.

So, anyway, it’s a a subject that I loved writing about, so I encourage you to check it out.

And with that, I’ll hand it back over to you, Bradley.

Thank you, Rachel, for the wonderful presentation. And if you’d like to learn more about our museum collections management system called Argus, please feel free to visit our website or reach out to us at sales@lucidea.com and we’d be happy to have a chat with you.

And if you have any more questions about any of our software or our company, our contact details are listed on the screen and please stay tuned for more webinars and content related to this series.

On behalf of the Lucidea team I thank you all for attending today and until next time thank you.