MemoryCast: Share stories about the Web's past

[ UUID ] abadfdc5-6d06-4350-a2a9-3b5f04301968

[ Session Name ] MemoryCast: Share stories about the Web's past [ Primary Space ] Digital Inclusion [ Secondary Space ] Web Literacy

[ Submitter's Name ] Frances Corry [ Submitter's Affiliated Organisation ] University of Southern California

What will happen in your session?

MemoryCast is a platform that uses web archives to tell stories about life online. Contributors reflect on a website that has been personally important, then record a narrated screencast of that archived site. These videos are available for playback on the MemoryCast site. Anyone can watch, and anyone can contribute.

In this installation, festival-goers can visit MemoryCast's browsing booth and/or recording booth. In the browsing booth, attendees explore stories from MemoryCast's collection. In the recording booth, attendees learn how to make a MemoryCast, and then record their own–sharing their personal story of the web's past. The browsing booth will be updated throughout the festival to include these newly recorded sessions.

What is the goal or outcome of your session?

On a philosophical level, MemoryCast aims to capture the range of experiences we have online. By recording personal histories, it attempts to diversify the ideas we have about the online world's development. By using web archives for storytelling, it hopes to expand web archiving's usefulness beyond historians, journalists, and researchers.

On a more practical level, the installation hopes to gather stories over the course of the festival, which will be published on MemoryCast's site (memorycast.online).

If your session requires additional materials or electronic equipment, please outline your needs.

For the recording booth: a booth set-up that facilitates audio recording would be useful, i.e something that limits surrounding noise. I can provide the computer and headphones for recording.

For the browsing booth: a projector, or monitor, would be useful.

Time needed

All weekend, as an installation, exhibit or drop-in session