Exploring Large Audiovisual Archives through Embodied Experiences in Immersive Environments

Audiovisual archives are the mnemonic archives of the 21st century, with widespread platforms of video sharing like Youtube or TikTok on one hand, and important cultural institutions increasingly digitising their video collections, such as the BBC with its 1 million hours of footage or the Italian national television Rai with its multimedia archive RaiTeche, that has already digitised the entire production of its three main channels since 1999. 
However, these large archives remain mostly inaccessible, due to the sheer amount of content combined with the lack of a compelling system to explore them. Only 20% of the 200000 hours of the RTS audiovisual archive are accessible online for instance. Moreover, archival scholars have stressed the importance of innovative forms of engagement through compelling frameworks for the exploration of these large collections.
This presentation will argue how the idea of embodiment in immersive environments can be used to propose a compelling experience, revealing how narrative can emerge in such frameworks through the concept of immersive generosity. The focus will be on employing data as material for the creation of a virtual world and the social interactions that result from multi-user environments placing users as actors of the storytelling rather than mere spectators, with clear benefits in terms of enjoyment of the experience and understanding of the cultural aspect.