LONDON - Visitors to BVE this year, which ran from Feb.23 - 26., will no doubt have had the opportunity to see the latest camera releases, improved audio tools, product updates, and the new launches of countless other pieces of gadgetry. Yet at the heart of BVE, of broadcast, and of this wealth of technology is something less tangible: storytelling. This subject was the focus of a keynote session on the last day of the show, presented by Kati Price, head of digital media at London's Victoria and Albert museum.
An anthropologist, Price's career change to digital communications in 2013 didn't involve the dramatic shift one may expect: today's digital media and social media are not that different from cave paintings , she opened, what we have is people trying to tell stories and communicate culture . She provided a brief history of communication culture, starting with cave paintings and Egyptian tablet and stylus (terms which have come full circle today), moving on to the first Edwardian camera, cinema, and the invention of the television. Today we are using a massive variety of media to communicate and engage, but the purpose of these different channels, said Price, is the same as cave paintings and papyrus, there are just more of them.
We may have the same desire to communicate as civilizations before us, but a point or a fear which is raised repeatedly is that we spend too much time on communication devices rather than communicating in person. People fixated on their phone or tablet is a typical sight on a daily commute, but is also increasingly common among members of the same family, in the same house, consuming their own content on their own devices. Price was quick to play this down, asserting that this problem' has long existed, showing an illustration from 1906 of a couple not communicating with each other' and instead using wireless telegraphy. The fear then, and now, is that technology is separating these two people and not empowering them .
Technology, though, is merely a way of transmitting stories and what people want, ultimately, is stories , said Price. Stories are our way of transmitting culture, of sharing ideas and emotions and something Price as an anthropologist said we are hardwired to understand and appreciate . With the proliferation of physical pieces of technology on show at BVE then, where do objects come into this storytelling? Price demonstrated the literal value of storytelling by using the example and telling her audience the story of a buggy which sold on eBay for over £150,000. This was a result of the seller attaching a personal anecdote to the advert, which cited the buggy as signifying everything that ended my happy carefree low cost child free life. It is stories that bring objects to life and give them value, but Price takes this one step further, and asked, what if objects themselves could tell stories?
This is an interesting question when considering the potential of the internet of things, a network of physical objects and smart devices which enables extensive connectivity and communication. In the internet of things , said Price, objects may start determining their own futures . The idea of objects telling stories has been explored in projects including Hello Lamppost, a 2013 project in Bristol and city-wide platform for play' which allowed participants to communicate' with street furniture via text, with prompts and questions. The possibilities that digital enables are really interesting , but how does this translate to a museum setting? With over a million objects at the V&A how are these possibilities being seized to communicate and tell stories?
Objects remain at heart of the museum's digital initiatives: Physical objects nothing beats them Price said. But, we're exploring how to do what digital does best, and what can't be done by the physical . This includes London Recruits, an experiential documentary to accompany Disobedient Objects, a recent exhibition which examined the role of objects in movements for social change. The Strawberry Thief game was another digital development at the museum, which allowed users to interact with and learn about a William Morris pattern of the same name, which received 50,000 downloads in its first week, Price reported.
Digital technology helps bring people closer to, and educate them on, physical objects and their stories, but this will also help bring people closer to people. The V&A's upcoming Alexander McQueen exhibition, Savage Beauty, will showcase the late designer's body of work, allowing visitors to the museum to see items from his 1992 MA graduate collection to his unfinished A/W 2010 collection. However, it is the digital element which will add an extra dimension, allowing visitors to get up close and personal with objects in the exhibition including sharing McQueen's designs via social media.
Digital initiatives such as these are not intended to replace the physical experience of visiting the exhibition and understanding the stories behind the objects on show don't try to replace or replicate physical experiences , Price warned but to augment them. She concluded that we should remember the value of stories (think of the extortionate cost of the buggy after it was partnered with a story); we should think about objects as the new storytellers themselves; and use digital to do what digital does best . This is, in the end, is the continuation of storytelling which began which our forebears and which will continue to generate citizenship and interaction between people into the future.
See original story at TVBEurope.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
02/07/2026
BLAST, a competitive entertainment company focused on esports, has announced more than $133 million in revenue for 2025, representing more than 40% year-over-ye...
02/07/2026
Riedel Communications has announced official SKAARHOJ panel support for SimplyLive production workflows, enabled through the SimplyLive 2.1 release. The integra...
02/07/2026
The Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic has deployed LiveU video-over-bond...
02/07/2026
Gravity Media USA has announced the appointment of Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development, effective July 1, 2026. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Bosto...
02/07/2026
TwelveLabs, a video intelligence company, has announced $100 million in Series B funding co-led by NEA and NAVER Ventures, with participation from Amazon, Radic...
02/07/2026
The Pro Padel League (PPL) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports that will air five PPL championship matches on CNBC during the 2026 season, the...
02/07/2026
LiveLike, a digital fan engagement platform, has announced eight confirmed FIFA ...
02/07/2026
Cobalt Digital has received Future's Best of Show Award, presented by AV Technology at InfoComm 2026, for its blueCORE family of standalone signal processor...
02/07/2026
Synamedia has announced the appointment of Dr. Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transition...
02/07/2026
The Esports Foundation (EF) and Sony Group Corporation have announced an expanded collaboration for the Esports World Cup 2026 (EWC), taking place in Paris, Fra...
02/07/2026
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. ( Z') has announced exclusive broadcast and digital rights for the Bundesliga in India for five years, beginning with the...
02/07/2026
An effort uniting News, Sports, Local, and Telemundo, the 50+-camera live produc...
02/07/2026
Zoey Deutch, John Slattery, Ken Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, and Ben Wang appe...
02/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
02/07/2026
A new era in unmixing and spectral editing
The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...
02/07/2026
Aims to simplify additive synthesis
Sine Machine is the debut launch from Melatonin, a Vienna-based developer who have spent the past six years creating wha...
02/07/2026
Products to remain fully active & supported
Following the news of Native Instruments joining the inMusic brand line-up, Academy and Emmy Award-winning visua...
02/07/2026
What you missed!
Last weekend, Saturday 27 June 2026, saw the debut of Sound On Sounds new GearExpo UK event, the largest dedicated pro-audio event to take ...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Following the successful launch of its inaugural APAC Mentoring Programme last month, the Rise AV APAC Regional Council will bring the conversation around mento...
02/07/2026
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out
Brie Clayton July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Highly mobile camera supports tense and de...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, medi...
02/07/2026
Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversar...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien...
02/07/2026
Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has extended the ingest facility at leading Brazilian sports company LiveMode, work...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV
Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...
02/07/2026
Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia backs audience-led filmmaking with new insight-driven initiativ...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia refines guidelines for Narrative Content Development and Docume...
LONDON - Visitors to BVE this year, which ran from Feb.23 - 26., will no doubt have had the opportunity to see the latest camera releases, improved audio tools, product updates, and the new launches of countless other pieces of gadgetry. Yet at the heart of BVE, of broadcast, and of this wealth of technology is something less tangible: storytelling. This subject was the focus of a keynote session on the last day of the show, presented by Kati Price, head of digital media at London's Victoria and Albert museum.
