My Witness

To commemorate the one-year anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History mounted a temporary exhibition, September 11: Bearing Witness to History, which contains artifacts, images, and personal stories that all bear witness to the events of September 11. A key component of the exhibition are the Bearing Witness and My Witness interactives—a collection of 25 first-person narratives available on five touch-screen kiosk stations. The stories convey a variety of individual experiences, memories, and responses to September 11. The kiosk stations were built using a design system that reflects the unique mood and narrative of each individual story, and enables visitors to easily interact with a consistent meta-navigation as they travel from station to station. Each story is constructed to follow a linear, first-person narrative, enhanced by animated sequences of images. Of the five kiosk stations, four stations were designed to display silent, text-driven stories, and one station was built to include audio narration, video, and music. Some stories tell of the loss of loved ones, some describe the experiences of rescuers, and others acknowledge community efforts of people who responded to the tragedy. As a collection, these stories document some of the many witness accounts of September 11 and its aftermath.