Methodology Phase 2: Conceptual Design (continued).

2.3 Narrative Structure.

A set of materials placed on a scoping diagram does not determine the kind of heritage experience which you intend to give. You need to give some idea of the kind of narrative in which these materials are to be placed. As we are dealing with interactive multimedia, which can support complex narrative structures, this may not simply be a matter of identifying a linear narrative with a 'story board' (many 'real world' heritage experiences have a linear structure imposed upon them with the use of 'time cars' or 'audio guides'). Rather, you will prepare your narrative structure as a web of possible paths, indicating preferred routes. This can be done with a variant on the kind of network representations which are common in web design. Many of the remarks made on conceptual design in my web notes might be useful here.

1. Introduction.

Although we are concerned with the broad area of 'heritage', which assumes that we are trying to produce representations of the past with a popular appeal, we cannot duck some of the more erudite questions of historical representation. Every representation of the past purports to put us in a relationship with the past, and to augment our knowledge in some way ... so we can't help posing questions of a philosophical sort: 'what is the past?', 'how can it be represented?', 'what is the nature of historical knowledge?'. Every heritage experience comes up with answers to these questions, no matter how hazy and implicit those answers may be; just as every historian has to come to some (hopefully more reflective) set of answers.

There is a relationship between the kind of answers to these questions which we are likely to devise and the media which we have available for representing the past. If we are working within an oral tradition (recounting Homeric epics, or Icelandic sagas) then we are likely to privilege linear narrative - we need to respect the limitations of the memory of the bard and the audience. The spaces of the modern museum (with its 'multi-media' installations) and the electronic spaces with which we work have the potential to free us from many of these restrictions.

In these notes, we will simply try and open up a few simple ideas about history, narrative structure and multimedia structures; this should enable you to construct your heritage sites in a more reflective manner - but it goes without saying that you will not become experts in the philosophy of history in an hour or two.

You might (perhaps, should) have encountered these issues in thinking about your experiences with the group assignment. What historical story or stories was the site that you visited trying to tell? How had it structured them? Could a visitor construct their own story as they walked around, or were they guided through a planned exhibition? What stories were the guidebooks telling? How did they structure them? For the group assignment, your narrative style may complement or contrast with that of the physical site.

2. Some Standard Structures of Historical Narratives.

2.1 Chronicle.

Dictionary definition: chron·i·cle
Date: 14th century
1: a usually continuous historical account of events arranged in order of time without analysis or interpretation

We could regard this sort of narrative structure as the most crude way of recounting the past. It takes the metric of quantitatively-conceived time as an unquestioned basis for narrating the past, and is only concerned with events unfolding along a time line. As an example, consider this extract from a famous chronicle (Holinshed's) which was used extensively by Shakespeare:

Cordeilla Queene
Cordeilla the yongest daughter of Leir was admitted for Queen & supreme gouernoure of Britayne, in the yeere of the World. 355. before the building of Rome. . . This Cordeilla ofter hir fathers desease ruled the land of Britayne right worthily during the space of fiue yeres.

It should be noted that Shakespeare didn't just write chronicle plays (a play with a theme from history consisting usually of rather loosely connected episodes chronologically arranged), but fleshed out the contents of Holinshed's chronicles with sub-plots, motivation, abstract themes and motifs.

There are many multimedia products which are structured as chronicles: for most subjects you can find a condensed 'historical timeline' somewhere on the web. Some commercial products have a similar structure; for example, Dorling Kindersley's 'Eyewitness History of the World' is structured as a space of places and times in which the recounting of events has been placed.

2.2 History.

The writing of history means far more than this simple recounting of events; implicit in the concept of academic history is the idea of interpreting events and relating them with each other, perhaps across wide spans of space and time.

Dictionary definition: his·to·ry
Date: 14th century
1: TALE, STORY
2a: a chronological record of significant events (as affecting a nation or institution) often including an explanation of their causes
3:a branch of knowledge that records and explains past events

How such explanations are to be structured is the realm of historiography:

Dictionary definition: his·to·ri·og·ra·phy
Date: 1569
1a: the writing of history; especially : the writing of history based on the critical examination of sources, the selection of particulars from the authentic materials, and the synthesis of particulars into a narrative that will stand the test of critical methods
b: the principles, theory, and history of historical writing

Dictionary definition: nar·ra·tive
Date: 1566
1 : something that is narrated : STORY
2 : the art or practice of narration
3 : the representation in art of an event or story; also : an example of such a representation

Histories may be linear, and connect events and people in unfolding chains of cause, effect and influence, or they may be more like a mosaic - passing quickly between different time periods and perspectives to build up an impressionistic picture.

This broadening opens up a range of questions as to how such narratives might be structured. Some hypermedia gurus (e.g. Landow) have claimed that both the construction of narratives, and our encounter with narratives (as audience) have been constrained by the conventions of the linear text; and assert that multimedia gives us new ways of structuring and telling stories.

Focus on your individual assignment topic, since this is where you are most free to create your own narrative structure. Think about the period and cultural scope that you settled on last week. How are you going to structure your 'historical story'. What paths will you allow people to take through your material? Sketch this out in a storyboard, and superimpose on it your storyboard your 'historical/cultural scope' map from last week. What sense will your storyboard allow people to make of the 'historial object' you are trying to talk about?