Journal of Museum Education

ISSN: 1059-8650 (Print) 2051-6169 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjme20

Designing Memory, Memorial, and Remembrance

Experiences for Museum Web Visitors

Adele Medina O'Dowd

To cite this article: Adele Medina O'Dowd (2004) Designing Memory, Memorial, and
Remembrance Experiences for Museum Web Visitors, Journal of Museum Education, 29:2-3,
6-11, DOI: 10.1080/10598650.2004.11510502

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10598650.2004.11510502

Published online: 02 Nov 2015.

Submit your article to this journal

View related articles

Citing articles: 1 View citing articles

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rjme20

Download by: [Monash University Library] Date: 29 February 2016, At: 02:57
 Designing Memory, Memorial, and Remembrance
Experiences for Museum Web Visitors
ADELE MEDINA O'DOWD THE CHALLENGE: EXPERIENCE DESIGN

On the Internet, there is no expecta-

tion that people will "experience" any-
I visited the museum this week and my life has changed forever. I have never felt so
thing, including the particular experi-
many strong emotions as I did in the six-hour visit. I felt sick to my stomach and
ence of remembrance. Intrinsic activi-
angry trying to understand how this could happen. But most of all I was enlightened
ties on Web sites are most often linear
by the survivors' stories and strength. I will NEVER forget them or their courage. You
and goal oriented. People are search-
are all an inspiration.
ing, browsing, shopping, or even dis-
- Kim Faucher, visitor to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 02:57 29 February 2016

cussing. Surely, they read about and

research history, but this format does
not convey the remembrance type of

P
museum visit experience with equal
EOPLE OFTEN ASK ME, "Isn't it depressing to work at the Holocaust
impact. If our goal is to present the
Museum?" My response is that I don't; my office is in cyberspace (it's
same amount of historical material
actually three blocks from away at an off-site location). Still, I love to visit
that we do in a physical museum
the museum because of its tremendous visceral impact. And when I visit any
space, then our challenge is even more
museum, I arrive with an expectation that I'll be in contact with things inherently
difficult since virtual visitors don't stay
worth remembering. I visit for the particular activity of moving through space in
as long (although if we do our job
proximity to artifacts discussed in multiple media. Immersion is my primary goal.
well, then they may return much more
I want to have an intimate experience of history so that I may better appreciate
frequently). Indeed, it is generally
and remember.
known that people are not comfortable
For me, remembrance is entangled with sister concepts of memory and
reading large amounts of text sitting in
memorial. History has at its root the documentation of memory, while the act of
front of a computer screen. They will
memorializing happens after people agree that remembrance of a particular
"print and go" instead. But Web sites
moment is important to a society for healing, learning, or recognizing terrific acts
do have other virtues we can call upon
of heroism and ingenuity. Museum educators can view these visceral visitor experi-
as educators, especially the ability to
ences as an opportunity for meaningful learning. The United States Holocaust
foster relationships.
Memorial Museum was designed specifically for remembrance, and my job is to
So, how do you design a physical
translate bricks-and-mortar remembrance for cyberspace.
and psychological experience that can
permeate the glass barrier of the com-
z puter screen? How do you convey the
0 ADELE MEDINA O'DOWD is creative director
~
u
for Web projects at the United States co_ncepts of memory, remembrance,
::I Holocaust Memorial Museum. Her design
c and memorial on a Web site as an
w
work on the museum's online exhibition •oo
~ experience? Further, how do you foster
::I you remember, whenw was featured in Web
w
Ul
::I Sites that Work (Rockport Press, 2001). Prior an empathetic relationship between
~
...0 to joining the museum's staff, she was the Web visitors and people lost to history
.... art director for Lunaria, Inc., a small company
cc
z
or within a community of contempo-
IIC
that specialized in creating interactive kiosks,
::I
COs, and Web sites for museums and educa- raries who share the same interest? The
..,0
tional institutions. In her spare time, O'Dowd root question is, How does museum
6 enjoys gardening at night.
 exhibit design translate to Web site
design?
To begin, we can describe the
approach taken by the designers of the
United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum and its core story and then
discuss various design approaches
translated to use on the museum's Web
site. Several specific decisions the
designers and architects made with
respect to artifacts, environment, story-
telling and testimonial, and relation-
ship building can inform design for an
Internet experience of remembrance.
Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 02:57 29 February 2016
THE MODEL: EXHIBIT DESIGN AND
ARCHITECTURE WORKING IN CONCERT
The United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum (USHMM) has remem-
brance, education, and conscience as
its mandates. The museum was created
as a living memorial to the victims of
the Holocaust. In addition to housing
historical testimony and evidence, the
building was designed to resonate with
the history of the Holocaust. The
museum is well known for its fresh
understanding of experience design in
a museum setting. Other museums
also incorporate experience design, but
the USHMM is particularly clear to
interpret and makes an excellent
1
model. Ralph Appelbaum, designer of
the permanent exhibition, and James
Ingo Freed, museum architect, explain
some of their thinking:
We reached for a sense of immersion by
trying to erase the seams between
exhibits and architecture. Display strate-
gies included the removal of conventional
barriers of certain glass-encased vitrines:
some objects can be touched, and some
reactions sought are as visceral as they
are intellectual. We tried above all to see
that people leave the museum not pro-
foundly dejected but with some other feel-
ing evoking the resilience of life and hope.
The design intended to make the environ-
ment so united with its subject that mem-
ory of the museum experience and the
sharing of memory through discussion
will carry on in the lives of the visitors ....
We had the support of the museum's con-
servators in the unorthodox decision to
forego the use of protective glass or other
solid barriers. lt was a necessary decision
to heighten the emotional interactivity of
the displays for visitors born long after
these events. Enforcing the emotional
connection is really the only way of keep-
ing the memory alive.'
-Ralph Appelbaum
When I received the commission to
design the Holocaust Museum, I didn't
know where to start. I decided after some
thought and several unfruitful beginnings
that I would have to go to the places
where the Holocaust took place. From this
trip, I was left with certain images of
gates; images of bridges to segregate
people; images of transparencies, lies,
screens; images of pathways to death; the
triangle-the mark of the criminal, the
mark of the homosexual, the mark of the
Jew when overlaid with another
triangle-the star of David.... I began to
wonder how I could work with such infor-
mation and came to the conclusion that I
could not. I decided to back into it, to
move in another direction, to view things
from the corner of my eye. I started
assessing objectively what the
[Auschwitz) oven was. And it is a perfectly
ordinary piece of machinery that ... had
been changed and become evil by use.'
Perception, or memory, is the most
important thing. Because memory is a
charlatan. Everybody I talked to has
reconstructed a different memory of the
event. I as the architect reconstruct yet
another memory that never was, but it
can act as a resonator for the memories of
others.'
-James lngo Freed
Artifacts
Freed, Appelbaum, and the design
team began with the essential design
concept of letting the artifacts speak
for themselves. Artifacts are displayed
on a human level with the least possi-
ble physical barrier. Much of this evi-
dence consists of ordinary personal
effects- shoes, combs, suitcases, med-
ical records, books, and family photos.
These items, remnants of the human
owners who disappeared from earth,
carry with them into the present sto-
ries of oppression and visible scars
from the perpetrators. History has
made them important to the world.
This point is made all the more obvi-
ous by contrasting the gravity of the
Holocaust with the humble qualities of
its evidence.
Environment
Another defining choice was to take the
potential for emotional connection a
step further in creating the environ-
ment. Had the building been shaped
simply as a neutral container, it may
have sufficed as a means to display the
horrific evidence, but Freed had other
ideas. He employed the "tough lan-
guage of early modern industrial archi-
tecture, with its massive, sober brick
walls and its crisscrossing of muscular
steel girders. 'In a way', says the archi-
tect, 'it is a critique of modernism's
z
0
lofty ideals, which were supposed to
u
~
solve man's problems."'5 This concept :I
can be seen as an extension and
...
Cl
:1
abstraction of the same principle ...
:I
Ill
:I
applied to the evidence. By using the ...0:1
industrial makings of the Holocaust ...c
z
era, Freed endeavored to build a visitor 11:
:I
space that is not a simple reconstruc- ...0
tion of the setting but rather a space 7
 that evokes the dehumanizing impact
on the victims. Irresolution and imbal-
ance were incorporated in order to
leave interpretation of the space open-
ended- not to give answers as to why
but to prompt visitors to look for their
own. It should be mentioned that light
and shadow play meaningful role in the
visual equation for evoking memory.
Storytelling and Testimonials
Storytelling and testimonials by vie-
tims are also integral to the experience
Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 02:57 29 February 2016
provided at the Holocaust Museum.
The concept behind the flow of the
permanent exhibition is three-dimen-
sional historiography, created with
help from filmmakers. In the Tower of
Faces, a transition point between floors
as well as within the comprehensive
story of the Holocaust, the documen-
tary evidence fills a narrowing three-
story tower with the photographic por-
traits of most of the 2,ooo members of
one community. The faces tell the sim-
pie but intense story of human beings
in their lives beforehand; they were all
murdered in the space of 24 hours. The
""
Q
Q
main source of light is a high-above
-~"'
......
skylight, evoking a sense that escape is
... impossible.
"'E Survivor testimony in the perma-
E
;:s
"'I nent exhibition is reserved for the end
'>()
I:
·;:: of the walk. Appelbaum felt that it
~
would not be effective or accurate to
z
0 enter the Hall of Witness, an interior
j: pepper the comprehensive story of
c
u malevolence with moments of good.
:I
Q
w
::E
The Holocaust persisted unrelentingly
:I
w for most people, and stories of survival
(/)
:I
...::E0 came to light only after the fact. These
.... testimonials are drawn together in a
c
z
a:
:I
large-screen film, in which the close-up
..,
0
impact of the larger-than-life faces is
8 dwarfed by what they are saying.
Both these types of storytelling rec-
ognize the storytellers and illuminate
their perspectives as individual human
beings. In this way, the historical
museum voice is certainly distin-
guished from the victim voice. Both
voices add to the total content, but the
teller and the telling show the collision
and synthesis of memories, stories, and
documentation. Visitors can be more
actively involved in the story if pro-
voked to use their own ideas about the
ephemeral nature of memory.
Relationship Building
Museums and memorials by their
nature are communal spaces where
people come together to cope with the
past. Visitors entering the United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum pass
through a monumental neoclassical
limestone facade into a different realm
cut off from the outside world. They
courtyard-like area where they see
other visitors congregating or passing
through. Reminiscent of the courtyard
at Auschwitz, this area invites visitors
to be conscious of others who will wit-
ness the same evidence. The awareness
of community at ground level is corn-
pounded because shadowy bridges and
ominous small functional vent open-
ings are built into the walls above. The
architecture suggests that visitors are
being watched, so they may feel drawn
together much like the people who
arrived at Auschwitz many years ago.
Building on this idea, there are
other places along the journey through
the three permanent exhibition floors
where visitors have no specific content
focal point, so their eyes focus on the
eyes of other visitors. The translucent
glass bridges, for example, are transi-
tion points between floors but also
places where people are metaphorically
trapped inside together, encountering
each other and making emotional con-
nections.
TRANSLATING EXPERIENCE DESIGN FOR
WEB VISITORS
Surely, a simple, transparent, efficient
transaction cannot be the Web's highest
aspiration. Simply serving the reader's
explicit needs will not and cannot ere-
ate a memorable experience. If every-
thing goes as expected- neither better
nor worse than usual- our reader (or
our customer) has no reason to
remember the experience, or us.•
Certainly, museum Web sites have a
responsibility to help visitors efficiently
find whatever they are looking for. The
United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum site has hundreds of pages
that provide answers to factual ques-
tions with an online "Encyclopedia of
the Holocaust" and other in-depth
research resources, "Guidelines for
Teaching about the Holocaust;' and
visitor information. But if we also want
Web visitors to become immersed in
the historical content, then we can do
 what the museum's architecture and
exhibit design team did. Museum edu-
cators and Web designers can work
with the same concepts to start: special
access to artifacts, environments that
resonate, storytelling and testimonials
that feature the teller, and relationship
building. To do so, we can use infor-
mation architecture (the way content is
grouped and organized) and multi-
media (all the available graphic, visual,
auditory, motion, and communication
Web technology tools).
Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 02:57 29 February 2016
Artifacts
Luckily for us, Web sites are virtual
spaces where no one touches anything.
Ironically, virtual spaces can some-
times provide unmitigated access to
fragile artifacts better than a tradi-
tional museum setting. On the
USHMM Web site, there are numerous
examples of special access. Four of the
most successful and illuminating are:
• "Deadly Medicine: Creating the
Master Race/Examine Key Artifacts;'
www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/on
line/deadlymedicine/
• "Life in Shadows: Hidden Children
and the Holocaust/ Artifact Gallery;'
www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/on
line/hiddenchildren/ artifact_gallery/
• "Silent Witness: The Story of Lola
Rein and Her Dress;'
www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/on
line/ silentwitness
• "Do you remember, when,"
www. ushmm.orglmuseum/exhibit/ on
line/doyourememberwhen/
these sites make imaginative use of
technology. Some allow visitors to
zoom in impossibly close to docu-
ments, and "mouse-overs" even pro-
vide translations. Some feature video
commentary by curators and images of
related artifacts. Objects may be
grouped by donor or theme. In "Silent
Witness;' an animation evokes the
great care with which Lola Rein's
mother sewed her dress, which became
the only memento of her mother, who
perished in the Holocaust. Even some-
thing as simple as reading and turning
the virtual pages of a diary can be a
meaningful and visceral experience.
"Do you remember, when" features a
diary a survivor's friend gave him on
the eve of deportation. We could
enable an intimate and somewhat
physical relationship by bringing the
diary close and allowing the viewer to
move at his or her own pace, as if
holding a book. The challenges lay in
the technical aspects of making each
page true to life. We were particular
about lighting and shadows when we
photographed the artifact. The green
color of the background was chosen
because it contrasts with the earthy
brown and orange hues of the diary
and complements the color of the
handwriting inside. Using this simple
design principle makes the little book
pop off the surface of the screen and at
the same time draws the viewer into
the content.
Environment
Creating a resonating environment is
not as straightforward an exercise as
allowing special access to artifacts, but
there are limitless ways to go about it.
For the USHMM Web site, lighting is
particularly appropriate. Light and
shadow hold special allusions to
revealing and hiding truths, the impos-
sibility of escape, and even the possi-
bility of escape by death. A visit to the
Web site will demonstrate the imple-
mentation of light and shadow as
design elements on almost every page.
Color becomes important in the same
way. But there are other ways to set the
stage for introspection. Employing
audio and motion design can make a
memorable experience even if motion
is only implied. Some examples
include the following:
• ''Anne Frank the Writer: An
Unfinished Story;'
www. ushmm.orglmuseum/exhibit/on
line/af/htmlsite/
• "Life in Shadows: Hidden Children
and the Holocaust/Quest for Family;'
www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/on
line/hiddenchildren/quest/
• "Who Was This Woman? A
Collections Highlight;'
www. ushmm.orglmuseum/exhibit/on
line/frey/gift.php
With ''Anne Frank;' the environment is
all about writing, but it is not a text
environment. Anne Frank's writings
are read aloud while a subtle animated
abstraction of a hand turning pages
reveals photographs and artifacts in
rough chronology. The flow of the pro-
gram is threaded with important inter-
ludes describing Anne's writing process.
The look of this environment is soft
and simple, allowing visitors to use
2
0
their own imagination. It places
~
u
Anne-the child in the writings-as :I
Q
Ill
a memory, thus reminding us of :I!
:I
Anne's absence today. A similar envi- Ill
Ill
:I
ronment was designed for "Who Was :I!
...0
This Woman?" a small and motionless ...
c
2
site about a Nazi-generated wartime 11:
:I
questionnaire, uncovered in 2000, that ..,0
reveals the life of a unique but forgot- 9
 ten victim of the Holocaust: Lucja Frey
Gottesman, a female Jewish doctor liv-
ing and working in Poland. The envi-
ronment for this site is vacant and
one-dimensional, but it is illustrated
with fragments of the document. The
design is an analogy for how Gottes-
man's life was recovered by carefully
piecing together clues from this docu-
ment. The typography design is based
on Web type style, because the docu-
ment was uncovered by someone using
the Internet. Visitors to the site may
miss these elements, but they were
Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 02:57 29 February 2016
significant suggestions made in the
design.
Storytelling and Testimonials
Storytelling spans initial perception,
memory, and the perspective one gains
from time past. Storytelling is imbued
with humanity, and we as educators
are aware of the various voices in
which we can present stories. It is the
collision and contrast of these voices-
museum voice, individual voice, and
expert analyst voice-that elicit mean-
ing and personal relevance for a visitor.
We can do this on Web sites, but again
the devil is in the technical detail.
There is no question that hearing a
victim's testimony can touch us at the
core. A startling contrast is immedi-
ately apparent when the lovely old
people you see before you begin to
z
0
divulge the horrors they lived. But
~
u
::I when this testimony is presented in a
c
Ill
:lE
2-by-3-inch video window on a com-
::I
Ill
Cll puter screen, the storyteller is lost by
::I
:lE reduction. Video testimony is
...
0
...
c(
extremely valuable as pure documenta-
z
a:
::I
tion, but we must take special care to
..,0 use the medium's strengths to actually
10 tell a story. Here are some examples of
alternate approaches from the
USHMM Web site:
• "Sudan: Staring Genocide in the
Face;'
www. ushmm.org! conscience/alert/su
dan/staring_genocide_in_the_face/su
dan/index.htm (click on "Play
Commentary")
• "Life in Shadows: Hidden Children
and the Holocaust I Stories of the
Hidden;' www.ushmm.org!museum/
exhibit/online/hiddenchildren/
stories_of_the_hidden/
• "Personal Histories;'
www.ushmm.org/
museum/exhibit/online/phistories/
"Sudan: Staring Genocide in the Face"
is a photo essay about modern-day
genocide. It shows images of refugees
and their living situation while the
photographer, who is a subject-matter
expert at the museum, comments on
the situation in Sudan and shares his
experiences meeting people there. The
story is told through a lens, but the
storyteller is never shown. Instead,
Web visitors are allowed to look
through his eyes. "Stories of the
Hidden" features beautiful, richly lit
contemporary portraits of five sur-
vivors. These portraits are an impor-
tant part of the way we at the museum
are beginning to portray survivors to
the world: as they are today, vibrant,
strong people whom we treasure and
who have unsurpassed knowledge of
humanity to share with us in the pres-
ent. The low-tech "Personal Histories"
site contains testimony excerpts from
different people, presented as text,
grouped by theme. The stories expose
commonalities and tangents and build
on one another as the viewer reads
them. This site is a simple but effective
example of elevating an individual's
personal history to a more embracing
relevance.
Relationship Building
• "Tribute to Holocaust Survivors;'
www.ushmm.org/tribute/index.php?c
ontent=followup/ (click on "Share
Your Memories")
• "Enciclopedia del Holocausto;'
www. ushmm.org!wlc/sp/
• "Exemplary Lessons;'
www.ushmm.org/education/foredu-
cators/prodev/beli/2oos/
• "Voyage of the St. Louis;'
www. ushmm.org!stlouis/
• "Focus on Antisemitism;'
www. ushmm.org!museum/ exhibit/fo
cus/ antisemitism/
Relationship building is the essence of
the World Wide Web, which links peo-
ple and information. Sharing thoughts
about survivors through "Tribute to
Holocaust Survivors" is a clear exam-
ple. Although the site was built so that
survivors could comment on their
memories of a reunion weekend held
in November 2003, it has evolved into a
place where other generations express
their admiration for survivors and
share their experiences following a visit
to the museum. The museum site has
many other outreach pages aimed at
specific audiences. The online "Ency-
clopedia of the Holocaust" has been
translated into Spanish and French.
To reach educators, the museum spot-
lights teachers and presents their cur-
riculums in practice. The "Exemplary
Lessons" site fosters relationships
between the museum and teachers but
also among teachers. As with story-
 telling, the activity of passing on mem- conclusions. With this in mind, an NOTES

ory is critical to the experience. extremely important perspective to The epigraph is a comment that Kim Faucher, a

Another kind of relationship building
occurs when we expose the museum's
process for documenting history. In
consider is that of modern-day rele-
vance. One product of our Holocaust
encyclopedia is the "Special Focus"
museum visitor, posted on the "Tribute to Holocaust
Survivors" pages of the United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum Web site on May 23, 2004;
www.ushmm.org/tribute/index.php?content=fol-

the online exhibition "Voyage of the St. pages, which recognize historical lowup/

Louis;' Web visitors are invited to use
the same source documents that histo-
rians and researchers used to search for
the fates of some of the passengers on
the infamous ship. This exercise allows
visitors to share a moment of discovery
with historians who hope to recon-
Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 02:57 29 February 2016
events in a contemporary context.
One such page was created to focus
on antisemitism. We include a news
feed that displays headlines and links
to current newspaper stories about
antisemitism alongside historical
examples of antisemitism in print
1. See some of the museum's architecture and art at
www.ushmm.org/museum/a_and_a.
2. Ralph Appelbaum, "Designing an 'Architecture of
Information': The United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum," Curator 38, no. 2 (1995): 87.
3. James Ingo Freed, The United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum: A Dialogue with Memory;'
Curator 38, no. 2 (1995): 95.
4· James Ingo Freed, "United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum," Assemblage 9 ( 1989 ): 59·

struct the past. media. This approach promotes the

One other, more subtle example of
relationship building can come from
acknowledging the present. It has been
mentioned that visitors who come to
the USHMM are not told what to
think but provoked to draw their own
self-conscious understanding that anti-
semitism is a modern, ongoing issue
that concerns communities and coun-
tries. Memory, remembrance, and
memorial will always be relevant to
the human condition. •
5· Quoted in Cathleen McGuigan, "He Built a Space
of Terrible Beauty;' Newsweek, April 26, 1993.
6. Mark Bernstein, Beyond Usability and Design: The
Narrative Web, www.alistapart.com. This Web site is
an invaluable resource for anyone working with
this medium.

z
0
~
(,)
;;;)
Q
w
:!!
;;;)
w
Ill
;;;)

...0:!!
...c
z
a:
;;;)

..,
0

11