Gene Tan A new kind of citizens’ library through the Singapore Memory Project
Starting by getting us to share with each other favourite memory of Australia. [Mine is coming as a kid to Great Keppel Island and one night our parents got us up really late to see Halley’s Comet – I don’t remember the comet, just getting to be up so late.]
Someone obsessed with playgrounds and documented all the playgrounds in Singapore – found someone taking photos of playgrounds at night. Facebook page hit 100,000 people in a few hours, started national crowdsourcing – people sharing photos and memories of playgrounds.
Traditionally collect internet content, digital content, physical content. We don’t so much collect hearts-and-mind content.
Focusing today on long-tail contributions – people who contribute only once but add them all together and it’s huge.
Project looks at different perspectives, for each event collect multiple perspectives – history seen through the eyes of Rashomon. Politicians asking if would be organised into types, he said he thought the project should be random – seemed offensive to reduce people to patterns. Project needs to remain messy.
Got students to do interviews with seniors. Exhibition getting stories of people with portraits of their hands. Opportunity to capture memories of years when Singapore gained independence.
Created site www.SingaporeMemory.sg to give every Singaporean a permanent memory account. Made three off-beat films – one about graffiti. Took proposals for a fund to create content – one proposal on coffee, one on capturing memories of first homes (most Singaporeans have moved half a dozen times).
A few years after started this, national papers mentioning “memories” 1500% as often as before. So started wondering if National Library should keep doing this now that everyone is talking about it.
“Library of me” – but connected to newspapers, encyclopaedia, digital content from previous exhibitions, books, manuscripts, archives, research. So personal footprint gets huge.
“Every citizen her book” – in 2016 want to create Singapore Memory Public Library – any memory you’ve recorded manifested as a physical book. Talking to politician – not very excited. “That’s just like a hallowed hall. What about a memorial in the open.” Which sounded like something dead. But thinking about how what people loved were places they’ve been. What if could replicate the library in the park: miniatures by artists of all the places that are gone – so can see not just stories and films about the place, but things that are unexpected to transport you into that place/time.
Not everything has to be a digital innovation – wants to take it back to the palpable.
Singapore Memory Project – “Giving your past a present”
Q: How do you get people who aren’t technically savvy to contribute?
A: A lot has to be done by going to them. School programme where train the entire cohort of students eg 15 years old and deploy them to housing estates. Going to bring out DIY clips on YouTube teaching how to do this (in various languages because many don’t speak English: English first language, also mother tongue, also dialect).
Q: State Library of Queensland project collecting teacups. Now embarking on project to tell World War One. Over four years, how to find performance outcomes/measures that will keep politicians and accountants happy?
A: Originally said would collect a million memories, but politicians said “Let’s make it 5 million memories”. Tried to hit it – and pure numbers pleased politicians but Gene realised weren’t getting the complexity, were just getting one-liners. So went back to politicians and said “Singapore is changing. No-one cares about the numbers except you. The public cares about things they can relate to. Instead of five million I’ll give you five thousand – memories that are well articulated, that others can make things out of.” Memories made it into textbooks. Could show all the different things one memory could create, ways they could be connected to much more. Reached a million – but not interested in numbers, interested in what the memories can become.
Q: An old session concluded “Facebook as path of least resistance” – how do we persuade user that Facebook isn’t enough?
A: Don’t actually try to persuade: it’s hard to change people’s minds. Use Facebook as a place for conversation, but keep working on main project. Not interested in capturing everything – use it to generate leads then follow up to get longer form memories. But opting out of discussion on whether Facebook is good/bad/enough/insufficient.
Q: Singaporean government has reputation for political control. Can you capture memories of opponents as well as ‘ordinary people’?
A: Took a stand at the start of the project that would capture everything. Wrote to opposition to get them involved. But not so interested in “big history”. Nothing censored (except swearing, people abusive to other races/religions).
Q: Personal histories can be traumatic. Once had customer find traumatic memory of her mother (indigenous family/history) and felt unprepared and unsupported. How do you deal with this?
A: Don’t have that level of trauma though some are hard. But hopes that every memory is surrounded by other memories – see this on Facebook: someone posts something and others come in with similar memories and also other memories that can ‘cushion’ them.
Q: [About leadership]
A: Most people come up with strategic statement then decide they’ve got it solved. Gene doesn’t have a strategic statement. Got some people in to ‘design the future’ product prototyping. “There are iPhones to be found in the library, we just need to stop strategising.”