Storytelling and Digital Epigraphy-Based Narratives in Linked Open Data

Carefully curated digital collections, structured with rich metadata sets and accessible via search engines and APIs, are not enough for users anymore. Multimedia narratives on the web and other digital “wayfindings” help a wider audience access the content of digital collections and also familiarize them with the research products that are published online. Digital humanists, then, face a twofold challenge: how to create scientific-oriented resources that serve the need of both scholars and general users and how to introduce nonspecialists to the digital collections produced by academics. The case of epigraphy is interesting, as there are already several examples of how niche content can be introduced to a wider public using multiple tools. This chapter illustrates the effort made by the Europeana network of Ancient Greek and Latin Epigraphy (EAGLE) in both integrating the largest collections of digitized inscriptions in Europe in a single database and providing users with tools for research, interaction, and fact finding. In particular, we will focus on the web-based storytelling tools that help users build engaging multimedia narrative based on inscriptions and ancient monuments and on a virtual exhibition that showcases some of the most spectacular items in the EAGLE collection.