have access to this kind of tech or an at- scale project, and to take the work on the road in a showcase tour centred around libraries so the public could come and try it out for free. It was wildly ambitious! “There were a number of ways we were able to achieve broad reach and engage- ment. Firstly, the 50 creative practitioners were ‘embedded’ in the town where they were born or now lived, many had broad community connections already, but they were all encouraged to reach out to com- munity centres and groups, cultural and arts centres, and a full range of local sites and support services. Partnering with the Reading Agency was instrumental in establishing a network of public libraries committed to the project, and they really formed the backbone of project engage- ment helping the creatives reach deeply into communities and attracting large numbers to our project.”
On the AR trail.
publications, and testimonies) to surface local stories in new ways. These pieces were showcased as part of a nation-wide, library-based touring experience in 15 towns and cities across the UK, reaching 1.3 million people live.”
A key consideration for the team was en- gaging with people who had not previous- ly used augmented and virtual reality and, crucially, to make something that went beyond a passive watching experience. Amanda says: “Our main aim was to cre- ate new entry points for those who did not
Public History Masters students at Royal Holloway University got involved too, providing additional research on local histories and the stories of often unsung local people. Amanda says: “We made surfacing local stories a key focus of our work, empowering creative practition- ers to invite hundreds of local people and organisations to tell their stories which then formed ties to the project and its outputs. Having the funds and the mandate to work across the regions of the UK presented a significant opportunity allowing us to deploy digital technolo- gies for heritage and storytelling cross region in multiple locations, to generate critical mass and learn from this ‘at scale’ achievement.”
StoryTrail in Bradford. Learning and improving
The StoryTrails project delivered some impressive figures – 1.3m people en- gaged live with the project as it toured, and around the same figure again were reached through broadcast and digital. And importantly, more than 900 librari- ans were trained through the project and were able to deliver something new to their visitors; 40 per cent of the audience had never experienced these new types of technology before and 85 per cent of them said they had learnt something new. With StoryTrails now looking to embark on a new chapter, the “lessons learned” from the first project are providing insight into how things could be even better. Amanda and Helen have been evalu- ating the project as part of a research fellowship through The Story Society at Bath Spa University and their StoryArcs programme (
www.storyfutures.com/resources/ towards-storytrails-2-0). Amanda says that while the initial project utilised the public library network, any new iteration would need to expand its local reach, with a future iteration “looking at a partnership model involving a broader local cultur- al ecology, harnessing expertise and networks from local galleries, cultural centres, museums and more”. Helen says: “One of the clearest takea- ways is that emerging technologies — par- ticularly AI-enhanced 3D scanning and mixed-reality tools that run on everyday mobile devices — are making it far easier for a broader range of people to partic- ipate in mixed media and mixed reality storytelling. This potential for increased participation, coupled with the poten- tial for some degree of semi-automated curation and/or personalised digital engagement, gives us a chance to consider taking a very different approach to mul- tiple perspective (or multi-perspectival) storytelling.
Trying out a VR headset in Dumfries Library. 18 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL
“Technology is only really one third of the challenge though. We also need to address the demand on libraries in terms of the varied infrastructure such an
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