Storybase: Towards Cultural Transformation Driven by Design

Tsenova, V

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-83647-4_16

Storybase: Towards Cultural Transformation Driven by Design

Lookup NU author(s): Violeta Tsenova

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This is the authors' accepted manuscript of a conference proceedings (inc. abstract) that has been published in its final definitive form by Springer, Cham, 2021.

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Abstract

© 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.Rising emphasis on the creation of participatory experiences in museum and heritage environments has resulted in the increasing implementation of technological and interactive interventions. For this participation to result in radical transformation of the interaction between audience and institution, there is a need to closely examine the way participatory interventions are designed and created, as well as the culture within which this “making” occurs. In this paper, I reflect on the process of introducing a new interaction and knowledge-generating paradigm within a traditional museum institution. I delve into the story of Storybase – an interactive system that explores new ways of “knowing” and “telling” by embracing audience contributions as accepted forms of expertise and incorporates them into the museum’s visitors offer. By detailing Storybase’s conceptual direction and development, I offer lessons learned from embracing failed ideas within the design process as a means of making interactive cultural experiences polyvocal, dialogical, and an intrinsic part of the visitor experience long-term. Further, I propose that the inherent value of implementing a design cycle, such as the one exemplified by Storybase, is not only about the outcome, but rather frames the process itself as “the work” that contributes to institutional transformation.