Data-driven storytelling about the colonial past
Challenge
When discussing the period around the Second World War, the shared history of the Netherlands and Indonesia often remains overlooked. Yet there is a wealth of digital heritage available, from archival material to objects and personal records. How can we make these sources digitally accessible in a way that helps the communities involved better understand their own (family) stories, while also offering the wider public deeper insight into the colonial history of the Netherlands?
Result
Onsland.nl is the platform where historical and heritage information about the shared Dutch-Indonesian past is brought together. Thanks to an extensive network of participating heritage institutions, museums and archives, visitors can access more than 250,000 sources, including data, documents, timelines, maps, detailed and personal stories (oral history). In doing so, Onsland.nl contributes to the collective recognition of this complex history.
What we did
Concept, data driven storytelling, strategy, visual design, UX design, development
Impact
Versatile past
Around two million people in the Netherlands have a personal connection to the former Dutch East Indies. This connection is diverse and may trace back to the colonial period, the Second World War, the Bersiap period, the war of independence or the transfer of New Guinea. The reasons for migrating to the Netherlands also varied greatly, making the Indo-Dutch community far from homogeneous.
Multiperspective
A key goal of Onsland.nl is to do justice to this diversity of voices. The experiences of a Moluccan KNIL soldier, for example, differ greatly from those of an independence fighter or an Indonesian nanny. These perspectives are often missing from heritage sources, as such materials were usually collected from a Western, colonial point of view. That’s why personal stories hold a central place on the website, in the form of oral history interviews. Relevant stories are proactively suggested when users search for related people, places or events. The oral history interviews are divided into segments and tagged with keywords, making it easier for users to search and explore them in a targeted way.
I can find pieces of my history in many places, but here I can truly bring them together into one story.
Themes, timelines and maps
The vast collection of sources on Onsland.nl has been made searchable using Linked Data and enriched with the right context. The stories come to life through various themes, timelines, maps and personal accounts. Because all these elements are interconnected, users can zoom in and out: from a specific source to the broader historical context, or from an ancestor to an event that took place during their lifetime.
Education
To raise awareness about the shared history between the Netherlands and Indonesia, the education section is a key part of Onsland.nl. Teachers can easily filter by themes, education levels and teaching methods. In addition to firsthand accounts, topics such as colonialism, slavery, decolonization and resistance are addressed. These subjects are connected to contemporary themes like citizenship, freedom and equality. In the coming years, the education platform will be expanded with even more teaching materials, tutorials and webinars.
Smart backend and user-friendly CMS
Onsland.nl was developed by Norday in collaboration with the Indisch Herinneringscentrum, Spinque (search engine and backend) and WO2Net (manager of a World War II collections database). The data-driven platform, integrated with the user-friendly Story Engine CMS Sanity, enables the IHC to easily link large volumes of data and present them in an accessible way. Thanks to the CMS’s preview function, stories can be managed in real time. In this way, more than 250,000 sources have been made searchable using Linked Data and enriched with the appropriate context.
Expanding the digital collection
Onsland.nl originated from the Digital Indonesian Heritage Program, funded by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS). The program makes it possible to digitize, enrich and make heritage collections accessible. Through crowdsourcing, the IHC continuously seeks new sources and perspectives to expand the digital collection. Museums and heritage institutions with relevant collections can apply for funding to sustainably digitize and publish these materials, both on their own websites and on Onsland.nl.
Ready to change things?
