From generation to generation : family stories, computers and genealogy

Telling stories about a family's common past solidifies its sense of community, and enriches member's sense of identity and belonging. In preindustrial times this information flowed orally thanks to continuous and prolonged cohabitation, but the dispersion of kinship in modern society has severed the ties between the generations. On-line communities can help restore these links by providing virtual spaces whose design specifically encourages storytelling. In order to arrive at this design, this thesis (1) surveys the importance and characteristics of family storytelling, (2) discusses the procedures used by oral historians and folklorists for story elicitation, and (3) analyzes a number of existing systems in terms of the above theoretical background. This thesis concludes with a series of guidelines for the design and implementation of communities for family storytelling. Different ways of indexing and accessing stories are discussed, and appropriate representations and interfaces that facilitate the storytelling process are presented.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. Program In Media Arts and Sciences.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2002

Author dc:creator

• Hadis, Martín, 1971-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Brian K. Smith.

• Architecture. Program In Media Arts and Sciences.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/61544

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/61544