Interactive Technology and Storytelling

This storytelling project lead to an interactive exhibit which allows visitors to have a dialogue with people from the past. 

's-Hertogenbosch Heritage commissioned the Storytelling Professorship and the design studio Wijdoendingen to develop a mobile, interactive exhibit. Currently housed at the Groot Tuighuis heritage center in Den Bosch  this exhibit employs AI/speech recognition technology to enable visitors to interactively immerse themselves in World War II stories.

Visitors engage with three different characters across three sequential scenes, carefully chosen in consultation with 's-Hertogenbosch Heritage. The cast comprises two fictional characters and one non-fictional character, Roosje Glaser, a Jewish dance teacher, with input from her surviving relatives. Scenes were pre-filmed with three actors, and archive photos serve as both backdrop and conversation catalyst, i.e. the characters talk about what unfolds in the background and how the war affected their lives.

The dialogues were crafted using branching narratives, a technique commonly used in games. This project encompasses around 100 distinct interaction moments between characters and visitors, resulting in approximately 600,000 unique experience pathways.

When

September 2022 – November 2023

Funding 

Erfgoed 's Hertogenbosch, Mondriaan Fonds 

Partners

Erfgoed ’s-Hertogenbosch, Wijdoendingen

Research team

  • Juriaan van Waalwijk
  • Moniek Hover
  • Else Krijgsheld

More information

Here you can find more information about this project.