2.07 Assembling a digital exhibit: Curation and presentation

From assets to exhibit

In the previous modules, you have followed a conceptual framework showing how a single oral history can be processed and refined into a collection of valuable digital assets: a transcript, a summary, keywords, descriptive texts, and a narration script. The next logical step is to assemble these individual assets into a coherent and engaging format that can be shared with an audience. This module demonstrates how to organise these pieces into a simple digital exhibit, such as a slide presentation or a basic webpage.

Illustrating the layout

Regardless of the specific format, the key to an effective presentation is to organise your content in a clear, consistent, and intuitive way. Imagine a single “story unit” as one slide in a presentation or one self-contained section of a webpage. A good layout would include clear placeholders for all the different assets you have created, allowing each element to contribute to the overall narrative.

Conceptual layout for a story unit:

• Title: The Story of the River Weirs
• Visuals: [Placeholder for an AI-generated illustration or a historical photo]
  • Caption: An artist’s reconstruction of a traditional fishing weir on the Drava River, c. 1960, based on oral history descriptions.
• Summary text: [Insert AI-generated summary here]
  • The core narrative in a concise, digestible format, making the story accessible to a broad audience.
• Scene description text: [Insert AI-generated descriptive text here]
  • Adds atmosphere, emotion, and sensory detail, helping the viewer to visualise the memory being shared.
• Audio component: [Clickable speaker icon]
  • Label: “Click to hear an excerpt from the original interview or a narrated script. (File: HER-DRA-005.mp3)”
• Keywords: Drava River, Weirs, Traditional Fishing, Community Work
• Ethics note: Story shared with the consent of [Narrator’s name/Anonymous].

This layout demonstrates how all the pieces of your work can fit together to tell a complete and multi-layered story. The Title provides context, the Summary delivers the core narrative, the Scene description adds atmosphere, the Visuals provide a focal point, the Audio component brings the voice to life, the Keywords aid understanding, and the Ethics note reinforces the project’s respectful foundation.

Deepening accessibility

When assembling any digital exhibit, ensuring accessibility is crucial. This means designing your presentation so that everyone, including people with disabilities, can engage with the content in a meaningful way.

• Alt text for images: Alt text is a short, written description of an image that is read aloud by screen reader software for visually impaired users. It is not just a label; it should convey the meaning and context of the image. For example, for the image above, a good alt text would be: “An artist’s reconstruction of a traditional fishing weir on a wide, calm river. The weir is made of dark wooden posts and woven branches, creating V-shaped channels in the water to trap fish.”
• Transcripts for audio: All audio content, whether an interview clip or a narration, must be accompanied by a full written transcript. This is essential for users who are deaf or hard of hearing, and benefits researchers, non-native speakers, and those who prefer to read the content.

Interoperability and Europeana

The long-term value and impact of a digital heritage project are massively increased if it can be connected to larger collections. This is where the metadata standards from Module 2 become critically important. A standalone digital exhibit is valuable, but an exhibit whose data is structured according to established standards is interoperable – it can be understood by other systems and aggregated into larger platforms.

A key goal for European heritage projects should be compatibility with the Europeana Data Model (EDM). Europeana is the EU’s digital platform for cultural heritage, bringing together collections from thousands of archives, libraries, and museums across Europe. The EDM is the framework that allows this aggregation to happen.

By building a project on a foundation of standardised metadata from the start, you are not creating an isolated digital island; you are preparing your community’s stories to join a continental, and even global, conversation, thus fulfilling the core mission of your project on a much grander scale.