THREADS: A Digital Storytelling Multi-stage Installation on Industrial Heritage

Storytelling enables us to connect through narratives that create reflections on our experiences. When storytelling concerns cultural heritage, it brings forth tangible and intangible assets that characterize activities and events of the past, which may sensitize visitors of a cultural site. In this paper, we present our cultural storytelling project THREADS, a four-station installation that narrates a story of a worker in a textile factory. The system comprises: (a) a welcome station (an animation on public display) that explains the main story and challenges to visitors, (b) the fabric design station (multi-touch display) where the visitor can create a simple fabric for production, (c) the punched cards station (Arduino mechanism), where the visitor codes their initials to binary form and receives a punched card, (d) the Jacquard production station (gesture-based interface with Leap Motion and Unity), where the visitor uses the card to repair a mechanical loom. THREADS has been installed in an abandoned building of a textile industry, which operated between 1914–1986, and it is now renewed and open to visitors. A preliminary empirical evaluation of THREADS revealed that it is not the variety of technologies that engages users, but a storyline flow that retains their attention and interest.