7 digital storytelling tips for the cultural heritage sector

There’s an exciting — and sometimes overwhelming — array of online storytelling possibilities. But while digital storytelling can take many different forms, the best examples engage people on a personal and emotional level.

Europeana’s Storytelling Task Force developed 7 tips for digital cultural heritage, to be applicable to different content types. Let’s take a look.

1. Be personal

Personal stories bring the past to life and help people relate to history on an emotional level.

a. Present individual stories that include personal experiences as well as historical deeds. Help people imagine themselves in someone else’s shoes.

b. Consider the human significance of cultural artefacts and sites. Who designed, made and used them, and why?

c. Show a storyteller’s passion for your subject — it’s infectious.

d. Be sensitive to social and cultural contexts, and the emotional impact of personal stories on different audience groups and communities.

Inspiring examples:

Your Story, Our Story (Tenement Museum, New York) invites and shares personal stories of US immigration and migration, with a focus on cultural objects and identity.
Wellcome Stories (Wellcome Collection, London) explores the links between science, medicine, life and art by commissioning people to reflect on their lived experiences.
The stories of the National Archaeological Museum of the Marche on izi storytelling channel take archaeological objects and create fictional accounts of their original owners, helping people imagine how they would have been used and loved.

2. Be informal but expert

People want to learn from experts, but it shouldn’t be a chore. Overly academic language can put people off, but stories should not be ‘dumbed down’. Finding the right balance is important.

a. Use expert storytellers: heritage staff, educators, journalists and writers.

b. Try conversational language. How would you explain the story to a friend?

c. Avoid jargon and specialised terms. If you must use it, consider explaining the most unfamiliar words in lay terms.

d. Consider having a style guide so that all contributors understand the tone they need to set.

e. Be clear about the audience(s) you are trying to reach, and adapt your language to meet their specific needs.

f. As long as the content is expert and well-informed, the format of a story can be experimental and playful.

Inspiring examples:

‘There is a bat in the library’ (Museum of English Rural Life, Reading) uses an informal event and Twitter thread format to entertain and then inform people about bats and their conservation.
The Royal Game of Ur (British Museum, London) introduces an ancient board game by inviting educational YouTube host Tom Scott to play a round against curator Irving Finkel, who deciphered its rules.

3. Tell hidden stories

So much cultural history remains untold. Bringing hidden heritage to light engages audiences and creates a sense of community, identity and shared history. When creating content it helps to ask: can you find stories that haven’t been told elsewhere?

a. When choosing subjects, consider who is missing from the picture, and try to give a voice to a range of people and communities.

b. Look for hidden gems in historic collections. Digital platforms are the perfect place to show items that are stuck in storage or difficult to access.

c. Audiences can be a great source of ideas, and collaborating on cultural storytelling can ensure that different voices are heard. Storytelling can be used as a starting point for engagement rather than an end in itself.

Inspiring examples:

People Not Property (Historic Hudson Valley, USA) is an interactive documentary that explores the history and impact of colonial enslavement via personal historical stories.
Minority Report: The Jews of Lebanon (Arab News) uses personal accounts, photographs and graphics to explore Jewish experience in Lebanon.
Hidden Histories of Exploration (Royal Geographical Society, London) uses materials from the society’s collection to tell the stories of local interpreters, guides and other intermediaries who worked with European explorers.

4. Illustrate your points

A key strength of the cultural heritage sector is its wealth of visual imagery. This can be used to powerful effect in storytelling. Formats don’t have to be fancy, but do consider how visuals and text work together in the stories you share.

a. Do the images illustrate your story, or are they its main focus? This might help you choose the best format.

b. Long written or spoken narratives can be hard to engage with. Breaking up the story with visual (or audio) material, and building in time to reflect on it, can enrich the experience.

c. Zooming in to large, high-quality images increases curiosity. It can help direct people to key details that they might have overlooked.

d. Consider your target audience: what sort of imagery would they find most engaging? For example, historical photographs and artworks might appeal to some groups and illustrations, gifs and memes to others.

Inspiring examples:

Las hilanderas. Una historia en imágenes (Museo del Prado, Madrid) uses an interactive image viewer to highlight details and reveal the narrative behind a famous painting by Velázquez.
Met Kids (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) uses illustrations, colours and animation to bring the museum and its collection to life for young visitors.
Gods In Color (Liebieghaus, Frankfurt) incorporates large, high-quality images and video into its scrolling page layout to break up and enliven the text. It also makes good use of a before-and-after interactive image comparison tool.

5. Signpost your journey

The best stories take people on a clear journey. In digital storytelling — particularly on complex or experimental platforms — good signposting helps keep people on track. Having a clear sense of both the narrative and digital structure helps to keep your story compact and capture people’s attention from beginning to end.

a. Consider mapping out the narrative path. Does your storytelling platform support it? If not, can you change one or the other to find a better fit?

b. Whatever your chosen storytelling platform, keep the navigation simple so the visitor knows where they are and how to get back to previous content. Subheadings, numbered posts, and clearly signposted links are some possible solutions.

c. If the platform is complex, consider adding introductory instructions or help for new visitors so they know what to expect.

d. Digital makes it easy to link to new stories and information. Make the most of this, but ensure that each storytelling element can stand on its own, too.

Inspiring examples:

Things that Talk overlays multi-step storytelling ‘tours’ onto a high-quality image of the object under discussion. The reader progresses at their own pace by clicking the arrows, and knows which step they are on at all times.
A Picture of Change for a World in Constant Motion (New York Times) links the storytelling text sidebar to a dynamic image gallery that zooms in on Hokusai’s Ejiri in Suruga Province as you scroll, revealing the details at the same time as you are told about them.

6. Be specific

Storytelling that focuses on specific topics can still engage a broad audience. Generally speaking, it works best to proceed from details to the big picture, rather than the other way round.

a. Find and keep your focus. Is there a particular image, character or event that lies at the emotional heart of the story you want to tell? Begin with that, and return to it throughout the story.

b. Take time on the details. If a story is chronological, make space to talk for longer about the key events; if it is thematic, give examples of each theme.

c. Avoid overly-generalised language or sweeping statements.

d. Personal stories and well-chosen images can help give your story a specific focus

Inspiring examples:
Artwork in Focus (Art UK) invites curators and writers to discuss a single work of art and its impact on them, society, or the artist who made it.
A Closer Look (Louvre, Paris) invites people to look closely at a high-resolution image of a single artwork, before telling the story of its subject and creation and providing interesting comparisons with other works.

7. Be evocative

Of course, cultural history stories need to be based in fact, but the facts don’t need to be dry. Don’t be afraid to use poetic, descriptive and evocative imagery and approaches — they are more likely to engage people.

a. Use descriptive terms and imagery in your stories. Invite the viewer to imagine an event or place and place themselves within the scene.

b. Consider all the senses. If you are able to use audio or video, this might help bring something to life. If not, you can describe it.

c. However, avoid flowery or overly-complicated language. Evocative doesn’t have to mean complicated.

Inspiring examples:

You Are Flora Seville (Egham Museum) allows people to choose their own adventure as Flora, one of the first 28 students to attend Royal Holloway College for Women. The interactive Twitter thread combines imaginative, relatable events with historical detail to help people respond with empathy.
Faint Signals (British Library, London) invites people to explore a digital forest environment brought to life by the institution’s extensive collection of sound recordings from Yorkshire. The audio adapts to reflect the changing environment and includes sounds that have been lost.
80s.NYC overlays historical photographs of New York City onto an interactive map, inviting people to explore different neighbourhoods. Clicking on an item reveals more images and information and the familiar phrase ‘You are Here’.

And remember… be digitally accessible

People use the web and access stories in different ways. To make sure your storytelling does not exclude people, follow web accessibility guidelines wherever possible. This can include: providing alt text descriptions on visual content; subtitles on videos; transcripts of audio material; and avoiding low contrast combinations of text and image. Making sure your text is simple, with clear language and a lack of jargon, keeps it accessible to all readers, including those who may not be reading in their first language.

Then, consider how people can find, engage with, share and reuse your stories. See if you can promote them on your website homepage or landing pages, social media, and e-newsletters. Make it easy for people to share stories online (for example using social media sharing icons) and consider how and where you might invite them to comment. Make the most of SEO advice and, if resources allow, digital advertising, to increase your digital reach. Finally, be aware of any copyright, intellectual property rights, or cultural restrictions relating to your storytelling materials; this may affect how you choose to share them online.

Now you are ready to create and submit your own story, share your thoughts on social media using the #DigiStoryFest hashtag.