Problem
Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.
digital archives
conversational knowledge systems
in-person exhibit experiences
The Living Library: Transforming Archival Collections into Conversational Knowledge Systems -- Lessons from the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library
🤖 AI Summary
该研究通过数字化、AI处理和检索等方法，将分散的档案资料转化为互动式对话体验，应用于西奥多·罗斯福总统图书馆。
📝 Abstract
We present the Living Library, an end-to-end framework for transforming fragmented digital archives into governed, conversational, in-person exhibit experiences. Developed and deployed at the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, the framework comprises four layers: digitization and corpus creation, AI-powered processing, retrieval and reasoning, and an optional embodied conversational interface. The first three layers aggregate a 300,000-record collection, apply OCR and structured metadata enrichment for expert curatorial review, and publish records to a hybrid dense/semantic index. Expert review is conducted through the Archivist App, a curator-facing interface that supports correction of AI-generated transcriptions and metadata.
The governed corpus powers both a researcher-facing interface and Talk to TR, a continuously operating exhibit that embodies Theodore Roosevelt as a full-scale digital human within a museum environment. To support live, face-to-face interactions, Cross-Era Analogical Grounding reframes contemporary questions through documented historical parallels, allowing Roosevelt to address present-day topics without inventing facts. Dual-path retrieval and end-to-end streaming keep responses grounded and responsive. Layered watchdogs, visitor-session isolation, automated conversation management, and independently restartable services enable reliable unattended operation for hundreds of visitors. Avatar realism, spatial audio, lighting, staging, and conversational design are developed and evaluated as an integrated experience. Rather than report a controlled benchmark, we describe lessons from operating Talk to TR as a public exhibit and offer a transferable model for transforming archival collections into believable, in-person conversational experiences.
Innovation
Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.
Living Library
Cross-Era Analogical Grounding
Dual-path retrieval
Embodied conversational interface
Hybrid dense/semantic index
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