Tell Us A Story: Designing Digital Humanities Projects That Resonate

Digital humanities projects often begin with a rush toward technology before their purpose is fully understood. From my experience building public-facing projects such as Native-Land.ca, Project '44, and Women of the Ancient World (in development), I've found that the most impactful digital work begins not with tools, but with clarity—who a project is for, what story it tells, and why it should exist at all. This talk proposes a three-part framework for designing meaningful DH projects: Audience, Imagination, and Story. Audience asks creators to narrow their focus. Who, realistically, are we trying to reach? Stakeholders, students, the general public, or motivated specialists all have different needs. Thinking carefully about how these users will find, use, and share a project is the first step toward creating something that truly connects. Imagination invites creative freedom before technical constraint. Academics often worry about what is or isn't "possible" digitally, but the ideation stage should be wide open. Creators should draw from diverse media and forms, explore emotional tone, and allow space for conceptual freedom before considering tools or platforms. Story urges us to see digital projects as acts of public storytelling rather than repositories of information. Clear narrative framing can transform an academic project into something refreshing and immersive, encouraging curiosity and self-learning. Stories that surface ethical questions or hidden histories often make the deepest impact. They may even reveal when parts of a project are better left analog. A small, well-told digital story can resonate more deeply than an ambitious but diffuse platform. This talk shares practical methods for scoping, ideation, and focus, drawn from over a decade of DH practice and software development, with one aim: not more digital work, but better digital work.