Semantic Enrichment of Memory Archives

Case Study on Jurka.net

Michela Ferron e Paolo Massa, SoNet - FBK

A case study: Why?

LiveMemories objectives (besides the scientific and technical ones):

To have social and cultural impact

The goal of the case study is to: assess which web platforms people in Trentino

would use for sharing memories, and how collect memories from the local community and

suggest how LiveMemories techniques can enrich them

Identify a specific community of people Test different ways in which they might share

memories, both Offline: interviews, events, collection of memories

in a photo format Online: providing web tools (Flickr, Facebook,

website) and report how they used them, and what was

most successful Imagine what kind of web services LM could

offer to enrich memory archives

Main activities

A case study: What?

We chose to investigate the collection of memories

the fostering of a community

the potential value of LiveMemories services

In a local community: geographically limited, where the memories refer to a well defined place:

The district of San Bartolomeo

San Bartolomeo: Where?

City district at the south of Trento

Photos and map: Portobeseno and Archivio "Quei de san bortol" 

San Bartolomeo: Why?

History: built in the 50s at the periphery of Trento with the

public housing law Fanfani (1949)

the first 13 buildings called “Le Palafitte”: more than 100 families

Photos: and audio Portobeseno and Archivio "Quei de san bortol" 

San Bartolomeo: Why?

Recent years: progressive depopulation that concerned the home-

born inhabitants

TrentinoViale dei Tigli, palafitte vuote per Natale5 novembre 2005

TrentinoViale dei Tigli, le vecchie palafitte si svuotano23 marzo 2004

Photo: Dino Panato - Archivio "Quei de san bortol" 

San Bartolomeo: Why?

Recent years: progressive depopulation that concerned the home-

born inhabitants

Photo: Dino Panato - Archivio "Quei de san bortol" 

L'AdigeTrento, parte la demolizione delle «palafitte»03 Nov 2006 L'Adige

Palafitte di viale dei Tigli, cominciata la demolizione03 Nov 2006

San Bartolomeo: Why?

Recent years: progressive depopulation that concerned the home-

born inhabitants

TrentinoViale dei Tigli, cadono altre tre «palafitte»23 agosto 2007

TrentinoViale dei Tigli, ecco il nuovo quartiere01 ottobre 2008

Photo: Dino Panato - Archivio "Quei de san bortol" 

San Bartolomeo: Why?

Recent years: populated by the students of the University of Trento, who

live in the students residence of the Opera Universitaria.

Photos: Portobeseno and Opera Universitaria

50s

First buildings“le palafitte”

New students residence

2007

2006

demolition starts

2008

Aida Ruffini (Itea)

presents the first draft of the project for the new

district

60 years of memories

Source: Opera Universitaria and Trentino

San Bartolomeo: Why?

Bring together two different perspectives on the same district memories to meet and to confront each other

Bring up to life the historical origins of the district Localized around the district (management and

control)

Photos: Portobeseno, ACLI and "Quei de san bortol“ Archive 

San Bartolomeo: Who?

A joint work with:

San Bartolomeo: How?

How to involve people and students in the collections of memories about San Bartolomeo?

We reached: the people who lived in the San Bartolomeo district in

the 50s

students who live in the San Bartolomeo students residence

Photos: Portobeseno, "Quei de san bortol“and Opera Universitaria Archive 

San Bartolomeo: How?

And involved them in the collection of memories:

Online Offline Interviews

Events in the students residence

Photos collection

San Bartolomeo: Offline activities

Audio and video interviews to 20 people among students and people who lived in the district

Events in the students residence 19th of May: public event at the students residence with

students and home-born inhabitants with photos exhibition (by the photo association TrentoAsa)

9th of June: public presentation of Jurka.net in the occasion of the 500 issues of the magazine "Studiare a Trento"

Historical photo-archives collection

San Bartolomeo: Online activities

l'Opera group: driven by students collaborating with Opera

Universitaria to communicate activities related to the university life

born in April 2009

63 messages, 6 discussions (20 messages between May and June)

344 members

33 photos

San Bartolomeo: Online activities

Facebook page Jurka.net: driven by Jurka.net

administrators

born the 2nd of November 2009

11 messages and 18 feedbacks

389 fans

San Bartolomeo: Online activities

Opera Futura 2007 (139 photos): on the students residence opening days

Historical photos (150 photos): from people living in the district in the 50s Quei de san Bortol archive by “quei de san Bortol group”

(49)

San Bortol rock archive by “quei de san Bortol group” (40)

Le palafitte di San Bartolomeo by “quei de san Bortol group” (32)

ACLI archive by “ACLI association” (28 photos)

San Bartolomeo: Online activities

San Bartolomeo group on Flickr: 23 members

86 photos of the district (group members went in the district and took photos)

Photos: tagged and with comments

Photo: Portobeseno

San Bartolomeo: Online activitieswww.jurka.net

A website (started in June) to promote the students participation in the

university life

to provide a different tool for the collection of memories about the San Bartolomeo district

San Bartolomeo: Online activities

The websites collects: Appuntamenti: news, events, grants and other

opportunities for students

Voci: web radio in streaming with radio programmes and other news

Punto Net: aggregator of social network activities

Micromondi: literary blog for students

LiveMemories: photos, audio & video files, newspaper articles, and stories of both students and home-born inhabitants of the district

San Bartolomeo: www.livememories.jurka.net

LiveMemories: Login

Share memories

LiveMemories services on Jurka.net

What could LiveMemories do for online communities, or websites related to memories?

2 examples: On video files:

RTTR video

PerVoice transcription

LiveMemories enriched transcriptions

On blog-posts: studiare … e vivere a Trento - Veronica's story

LiveMemories enriched Veronica's story

Conclusions: Lessons learned

Little participation on Jurka.net

Difficult to start an online community from scratch Even if home-born inhabitants are very motivated!

Motivation alone is not enough

They need to learn a new language, new forms of communication and interaction, new tools

Even if students participated in offline events, they didn’t post memories on jurka.net

Conclusions: Lessons learned

Easier to exploit already existing online communities (Facebook, Flickr, …) people already online and connected

they just need the right trigger to start collecting memories

Is this the future direction?

Thank you!

Photos: Portobeseno, "Quei de san bortol“ Archive