INTERVIEW ‘‘
Rob Green is Editor of Information Professional.
When it came to the opportunity to develop StoryTrails, we leveraged our industry partnerships to push the boundaries of what was possible with new tech...
– Amanda Murphy
StoryTrails: Breathing digital life into community and history
StoryTrails is an interactive collaboration that brought libraries and communities together through art and technology. Rob Green speaks to project producers Helen Scarlett O’Neill and Professor Amanda Murphy as they discuss the inception and development of the project and look ahead to the next phase.
HELEN O’Neill, Senior Training & Innovation Producer, StoryFutures/CoSTAR National Lab, has a background in participatory arts and Amanda Murphy is Professor of Creative Industries at Royal Holloway University London – she is also Head of Partnerships and Training at Story Futures, the organisa- tion behind StoryTrails. Amanda explains: “StoryFutures and StoryFutures Academy, funded by UKRI, had the mission of helping creative industry companies and creatives upskill in and adopt the use of new immersive tech- nologies. We had a big commitment to improving diversity and inclusion through our work, believing that the arrival of novel technologies presented an opportunity to drive greater access. “‘When it came to the opportunity to develop StoryTrails, we leveraged our industry partnerships to push the boundaries of what was possible with new tech, to test its scalability and importantly, to use the opportunity to bring new creative players into the mix. We felt at the time that Augmented Reality, the intersection between physical space and digital content, was a suitable area of focus for at-scale storytelling and, given that inclusion was at the heart of our work, we also partnered with libraries, putting community at the centre of our UK showcase.”
The use of technology to deliver a connective and immersive experience was crucial, and the team
Rewired 2025
sought out expertise at every level to help deliver StoryTrails. Amanda says: “We had around eight months to develop it, so along with the great minds and the archive treasures of BFI and BBC, the tech expertise of Nexus Studios and Iso Design and the reach to and engagement of libraries and local communities through The Reading Agency, we developed three different types of experience to take on the road; a large wrap around immersive screen experience that would house local stories; a series of mobile AR walking trails that would allow the visitor to ‘experience history where it happened’, and a range of VR experiences. These made up what became the UK’s largest immersive storytelling project.”
StoryTrails lent into the local connections of the 15 towns where it was hosted in public libraries to ensure wide participation. Building an experience that focused on community and local history proved to be an inspired choice, and helped StoryTrails set records during its run in 2022. Historian and broad- caster David Olusoga was an Executive Producer on the original StoryTrails and helped to bring the social history of local communities to life. Helen says: “Fifty creatives were recruited, trained and mentored to make Augmented and Virtual Real- ity (AR and VR) pieces on the theme of identity and belonging, using 3D visuals (including photogram- metric scans of environments, objects and people) combined with archive material (videos, images,
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