Mapping Oral History

At the beginning of this project, reviewing the memos, correspondences and scientific papers in the archive, I was having a difficult time understanding the physical space of Taylor. The area was remote not only physically but conceptually — to the point that there wasn’t a full photo of the station in the almost 2,000 items included in the archive! The only reason I can think of why this was the case is classic scientific rationalism:

If we aren’t studying the research station, why would we bother to take a picture of it?

This feels like an important note for this conference and how we as librarians approach presenting natural science research, to be mindful in provide broader context to the often magnified scope of the work.

Google Earth Studios

To help provide visitors to the collection with ‘a sense of place,’ as one of the interviewees describes it, I began working with Google Earth Studios to animate excerpts of the oral histories. The interface very closely resembles AfterEffects, but in addition to the x y axis, there are also latitude and longitudinal data points and some very impressive chronological lighting controls, which helped add context to one of the stories that took place over four days.

After a few iterations, these videos were embedded at the top and bottom of the landing page, hopefully providing visitors with an engaging introduction to the landscape they’ll be exploring in different ways throughout the site.

Conclusion

I found the opportunity to work on the Taylor archive a beneficial exercise in:

• Approaching a digital collection’s materials from the perspective of future visitors

• Being self aware of my own difficulties in comprehending the subject matter

• Finding the most appropriate and dynamic tools to make those concepts more clear to myself and hopefully others.

Thank you for your time.