Bibliography

Type
Article
Year
2017
Author
PURKIS, Harriet
Title
Making digital heritage about people’s life stories
Abstrat
Actively creating new digital heritage content about people’s life histories is part of the democratisation of heritage engagement with the public. The approach of documenting unofficial histories is supported by a growing literature. Unofficial stories contribute new perspectives on the heritage identity of a region. The case study of the ‘Local People’ exhibition, curated by the author in 2013 in the North West of Ireland, is used to discuss the methodology of a digital curatorial process, www.localpeopleireland.com. This article argues that gathering and presenting unofficial histories of individuals' life experiences, can disrupt official narratives of The Troubles and challenge a regional identity based on conflict and division. The making of digital history is analysed as a curatorial process, rather than the ease of use of technology. The methods used included: filmed interviews, new portrait photography and the digitisation of family photograph albums. A virtual exhibition was produced and new digital historical sources were created that transform intangible heritage by crystallising people’s voices and images into ‘tangible’ digital objects. ‘Local People’ utilised Facebook https://www.facebook.com/localpeopleproject/?fref=ts and Vimeo https://vimeo.com/album/2518991. It is argued that the digital space provides a ‘virtual contact zone’ in which diverse, unofficial and personal narratives can be presented together.
Keywords
Digital heritage, virtual exhibition, curation, local, people
Bibliographic reference
PURKIS, Harriet (2017) "Making digital heritage about people’s life stories", in International Journal of Heritage Studies, Volume 23, 2017 - Issue 5: Themed Section: Digital Heritage and the Public,
Pages 434-444, Published online: 30 May 2016, https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2016.1190392, Available ONLINE at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13527258.2016.1190392 [Accessed 04/10/2019]