Digital Ghost Stories
Digital Ghost Stories is an interactive oral history exhibit that showcases women's experiences on Georgia Tech's campus. Masters thesis for Digital Media masters program at Georgia Institute of Technology.
Research question
Does celebrating women take away from our understanding of their depth of experiences in the past, present, and future?
Committee
Nassim Parvin (Advisor), Anne Sullivan (co-chair), Noura Howell (co-chair)
Masters thesis
Digital Ghost Stories, Masters Thesis. May 2022
Duration
August 2021 - May 2022
Ghost Stories
Youtube video of the 11 Ghost Stories that were featured in the interactive installation
Tools
MadMapper, projection mapping, Bare Conductive Interactive Wall Kit
“Ghosts, rather than a superstitious legacy of a past, are a haunting reminder of an ignored past. Rendering ghosts visible and learning to listen to them attentively is a lesson about the unacknowledged and unresolved injustices of history.”
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— Banu Subramaniam, Ghost Stories for Darwin (2014)
How might I…
create an experience that not only celebrates women’s accomplishments, but brings the ghost stories to the forefront as a chance to connect, learn, celebrate, and grieve?
How might I…
create a nonlinear and haunting exploration that acknowledges these ghosts and reinforce how history is neither linear nor fully progressive?
Student holds record as they listen Grace Hammond's ghost story about her interracial marriage as a student didn't impact her.
Student touching the interactive image within the scrapbook and listens to Dorothy Yancy's experience of being pregnant while teaching at Tech in the 1970s.
Student reading the Freshman Girl's Handbook, a rulebook from 1966 written by women for women about life in Atlanta, history of women on campus, and official dress code.
Student picking up record to play and watches the ghost story come to life.
Student interacts with a handwritten journal that contains Ruth Wilson's ghost story about how she only felt successful at Tech thanks to the 3/2 program where she spent time at Tech and St. Lawrence (all female university).
Photograph of the scrapbook which contains two ghost stories. The top image is of a man holding a baby on his back from the 1970s. This image holds Dorothy Yancy's story about her experience being pregnant at Tech while teaching. The bottom image is of students lining up to register for classes in 1950. This image contain Elizabeth Herndon's story where she admits she drops out of school given the difficulty of being a mother and a student.
The Freshman Girl's Handbook was written in 1966 and given to all women freshmen. It holds two ghost stories: Elizabeth Herndon's ghost story about formalizing a dress code in 1952 and Ruth Wilson's ghost story of having a strict dress code enforced upon her in 1963.
The RAT cap is Georgia Tech tradition in which freshmen receive this cap freshman year and must wear it every day, otherwise their hair will be dyed green (men) or hair will be plaited (women). This object holds Tawanna Miller's ghost story in which professors incorrectly say her name and experiences great hardship being one of the first Black women to attend Tech in the 1970s.
The Memory Box contains three interactive elements: RAT cap, handwritten note, and the box itself. The box holds Dorothy Yancy's ghost story of how she saw the need for the Office of Minority Educational Development at Tech given how students of color were struggling.
The image of women students holding their RAT CAPs circa 1955 contains Shirley Clements Mewborn's story of the infectious school spirit she felt at Tech.
Interactive record player that holds two ghost stories while opening the record player, and hitting play. Opening the player contains Grace Hammond's story of her interracial marriage and navigate campus as a Black student. Pressing play exposes Donna Smith's ghost story of navigating two identities and believing being ignored equates to respect.
The record cover contain's Donna Smith's ghost story about the ease in which she navigated life on Morehouse and Spelman's campus (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) versus the difficulty she experienced at Georgia Tech.
Dr. Nassim Parvin (advisor) with Michelle Ramirez at the installation exhibit.
The interactive living room with Dr. Yancy telling her ghost story.
When considering where to hold these ghost stories, a living room felt like the best option as this is a typical intimate common space where people get together to share, talk, and live.
Technical diagram
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Circuits
Electrode pad attached to tape circuits
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Cables
Connect electrode pad to touch board
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Bare Conductive Touch Board
Connects sensors in circuits to touch board to make interaction possible
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MadMapper
Once touchboard senses an interaction, MadMapper projects selected video
Ghost Stories
The 11 stories that were featured in the installation are complied in this video.