_Memory Traces

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, the MIT Mobile Experience Lab (MEL) collaborated with the Italian Consulate of Boston to create 150 short videos that capture the experiences and memories of first, second, and third generation Italians in Boston. The project celebrates the Italian immigrant experience while preserving it for future generations.

The project team overlaid video stories on a map of the city, geo-locating memories in the locations where they occurred. In addition to being searchable by location, stories can be filtered by person, time, period, or theme. A Memory Traces mobile application lets users create their own walking tours, following the stories through the city of Boston. Through digital technology, Memory Traces links oral history to the physical urban environment. MEL’s open source location-based storytelling platform Locast powers the project.