This three year project highlights the role of community-based archives and community memory as a powerful tool toward imagining and working toward peace.

The Challenge

The Ministry of Culture of Colombia sought to increase use of information technology through public libraries. The Shift team set out to design a project that could increase technology adoption through public libraries, strengthen social capital through shared local history, and engage the whole country in storytelling to advance the peace process. This became an opportunity to leveraged Colombia’s public library system to recover the photographic memory of the country.

Our Approach

Help create a decentralized collection of Colombia’s national history through community-based history digitizing events, community programs with embedded technology training, and story sharing events designed to strengthen social cohesion.

Stats and Impact

• 900+ libraries participated

• 110,000k+ people participating in photo and memory sharing events, learning new tech skills

• 10k+ pictures in collection

• We helped design a project that could create a community-centered narrative of Colombian life

• Created methodology for digital sharing that allowed the National Archive to discover and display history without extracting materials from the community, opening the door for future community support and shared resources

• The project resulted in increased intergenerational and intercultural dialogue, and a 12% increase in social cohesion, as measured by third party evaluation by Centro Nacional de Consultoría

Case Study: Video

Partners

Funding

Research