CAPTURING THE NEXT GENERATION OF CULTURAL MEMORIES – THE PROCESS OF VIDEO INTERVIEWING TSUNAMI SURVIVORS

Traditional story telling is rare in many cultures these days and yet stories are an effective way of educating people of all ages. The technology of modern media is increasingly accessing all corners of the world and if used wisely can help capture and communicate messages of disaster preparedness. Planned video interviewing of tsunami survivors began around 1998 and an extensive archive has been assembled at the Pacific Tsunami Museum. Video interviewing is an effective way to collect data that are both educational and scientific. The technique however, is not simple and a protocol has been developed to achieve the best results. We explain the protocol in detail using examples where appropriate, and discuss a wide range of applications that have been developed using interview materials. Recent advances in analytical techniques mean that the previously difficult to access qualitative data of these interviews are now available for more robust scientific analysis. The database continues to grow each year. It seems likely that this publicly- available database will now be available for a whole suite of new applications that can be developed.