Iziko Stories

The Iziko Stories project aimed to redress what organisers described as unbalanced representations that have developed within South African museums during the colonial and apartheid periods. It did so by allowing people from different backgrounds to participate in the transformation of museums as well as evolutions in communication practices through new technologies. In this process, traditional storytelling played an important role.

Specifically, the project involved the use of a mobile van that travelled to community centres and satellite museums in outer urban and rural areas. Stories by children as well as adults in these areas were collected through digital video and disseminated through handheld devices (personal data assistants, or PDAs) as well as through the internet. These stories were then shared with computer users in collaborating schools, museums, and community groups within South Africa and overseas.

The project also developed a website which schools with access to computers and the internet used to access the programme. The website involved what organisers characterised as an intuitive interface and a basic structure; the intention was to make it easy to use both by children under guidance as well as the general public. The website enabled visitors to access, from the home page, an online version of the map exhibition in different languages.

Education, Technology, Children.

The project aimed to address the issue of learning through access to and utilisation of new technologies, as well as to give children a sense of space and geography. Through stories, it hoped to spark universal interest as well as expression of local perspectives and needs.