Audio and Story-Telling
Museums often work in tangible means of story-telling (based in objects), but as pointed out in this weeks readings on usability and user experience, other tools like audio can create impactful museum experiences. I was particularly interested in Tiffanie Wen’s article in The Atlantic on empathy and story craft. Museums, cultural museums in particular, do collect oral histories and stories of their subjects, which can effectively allow for this empathy that transports a visitor into the world of the storyteller. There are a variety of tools at the storyteller’s disposal, like distinctive character voice, personal perspective, and sound effects.
One example of an exhibition that uses audio to highlight the power of a good story is in Objects of Wonder at the National Museum of Natural History. The exhibition highlights distinctive objects from the museum’s collection (these are varied from insect specimens, to gems, to cultural objects). In this exhibition, there is the 1875 Tsimshian House Front that comes alive through audio story-telling. The voice of David A. Boxley, a member of the Tsimshian tribe, tells the story of Northwest Coast formline design artwork and the culture that created it. He tells the story of the mythical Undersea Chief Nagunaks, which is painted on the house-front and as he tells the story, characters on the house-front are spotlighted, so listeners to can connect Boxley’s story to the object infront of them. Noticeably in this case, audio is used to help visitors interpret an object in detail, hear a representative of the culture the object came from, and perhaps feel immersed in the story. Storytelling and audio experience like this can really enliven a museum’s collection.