Heather Smith | Family Conversations Using AI Technology

What if your grandchildren could have a video chat with your grandmother, even if they didn't live at the same time?

That is the vision behind StoryFile, a way to preserve and share personal experiences and stories in an interactive platform.

Heather Smith, co-founder and Chief Visionary Officer of StoryFile, shares why it was important to her to create a new way to have conversations and make connections across generations and experiences and how you can, and should, make a StoryFile for yourself and other family members.

StoryFile is revolutionizing the way we connect with each other by introducing conversational video with Audio Visual technology at the forefront of this generation. Through the click of a button, StoryFile magically turns video into a conversation. This next generation of technology uses artificial intelligence to support video conversations on any device. StoryFile transforms traditional one-way video into a two-way conversation. This is the biggest audio-visual evolution since video was first created.

Go to StoryFile.com to create an account and use the code STORIESINOURROOTS for 20% off (valid through November 26, 2022).

You can also follow StoryFile at:
Instagram @storyfile
Facebook @StoryFileApp
Twitter @storyfile
LinkedIn  StoryFile

Are we connected on Instagram or Facebook yet? Find me @msheathermurphy

Transcript

Heather Smith | Family Conversations Using AI Technology

Stories in Our Roots – Episode 65

Heather M.: Hi, Heather. Thanks for joining me today. 

Heather S.: Thank you for having us.

Heather M.: Would you start and just give an introduction about who you are and what you do.

Heather S.: Very interesting. It's right up your alley and all your listeners alley. We preserve family history in a very interesting way. We preserve it via video, first of all. And I can explain why later. but on the website StoryFile Life, you can go in and you choose all the questions that you want your interviewee, so it's your relative or yourself to answer. And. Just gives you prompts, you record the answers to each question and it puts it all into a database and future relatives will be able to have a conversation with you. So they'll be able to just ask you questions and feel as if you are on Zoom with them.

And it, what we find is that, people have different questions during the, you know, their lives and they're interested in different things. So we wanted people to be able to just ask their own questions whenever they wanted to. So hence the video recordings and, uh, the interactive part of it, because we didn't want you to have to go through eight hours of video and watch the whole thing and, uh, you know, just find bite size pieces. Plus we've found that people that have a conversation with someone that are asking them questions and then getting their answers, they connect more deeply. And remember those, those stories. Um, it's a different experience than just passively listening.

Heather M.: Okay. That was one of the questions I had. Like what was the difference versus reading it? Or I guess even a step beyond that, even if you're just listening to something, but making it an active process. I think that's really interesting.

Heather S.: Yeah, well it, so if you're reading something or you're hearing an audio you're missing about 40 plus percent of the conversation, because you're not seeing the verbal cues or the body language, which we as human beings can actually intuit so much from a person. So we really, really felt strongly about maintaining the video recording and just being able to see you answer the question, even in the pauses that people take that tells you a lot about the person and what they're thinking, and, you just, you experience them fully with this, with this conversation. And especially if it's video.

Heather M.: What's your own experience learning about your family history?

Heather S.: okay, so unfor, well, fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your, like I was adopted, so I actually don't have my, biological, you know, history, but here's the thing we are all made up of those people that lived before us in our family, whether you're biological or not, you you're influenced by all of those stories and all of those people that you've been surrounded with and, and heard about.

For example, I was really, really, really close to my grandparents on my mother's side. And they passed away when my children, my two daughters were about four and six ish. so they never really got a, a sense of them, you know, and really got to know them. And it breaks my heart that they, you know, for somebody that has really, really influenced your life to not have that at least them be able to talk to them and see them and hear their voice and just kind of get a sense of them would be an amazing gift. And I would've loved that, but they passed away a lot, a long time before I thought of this concept. So , or even a long time before it was even possible. So.

Heather M.: And in, in reading about you, it seems like you took a journey to get to this point that you've been involved in storytelling and presenting, especially like in Holocaust exhibits, can you describe this kind of journey that you've made in, in storytelling and keeping memories alive of past generations?

Heather S.: Yeah, I, um, for some reason I became somewhat of a specialist in intergenerational memory for Holocaust, within Holocaust education, and it kind of expanded to genocide, as well, but primarily Holocaust education. I was doing a lot of what they call now, experiential exhibit designs for, museums and libraries and schools and different, uh, institutes. And the one thing that would fascinate me is aside from the intergenerational memory thing, um, with the Holocaust survivors, is that. I would watch them talk in the public a lot. And the minute that it opened up into the Q and A that's when the energy changed in the room and they, the audience really engaged at that point.

Also, I was sitting in these people's homes and recording them, you know, and interviewing them for hours. And we would have really interesting conversations at their kitchen table, you know, and I thought to myself, you know, my great grandchildren, my grandchildren are not gonna be able to have these types of conversations, whether in the public, or actually sit down, with a, a Holocaust survivor and actually have be able to have a conversation.

I started thinking there must be a way to replicate that after they've gone. because it was, it's interesting that group of people, more than any other group that it has experienced trauma in such a mass scale. and I would equate, you know, veterans of other wars in this bucket as well, but they were speaking in the public about their experience and their lives and what they learned and mostly how they went on afterwards and the resilience that it took and what it took to live after that, and live a life, and for the most part really successfully. and so we were just fascinated by that and wanted to continue those conversations. And we learned so much, we, I didn't wanna lose that part of it.

You know, we had videos, we've had documentaries, we have autobiographies, we have a, a lot of information and overload of information, in fact, but you didn't have that actual human to human connection like that interaction. So that's what we were trying to preserve. We started this, I came up with a concept in, early 2010, late 2009.

And it was a long haul. , you know, I, I went through periods where people called me crazy and oh, you know, this is the seance project. It was called for a while. but as we progressed and as we did a couple pilots and things like that, and people were actually seeing it in the public and the public was interacting with them.

Everyone pretty much came around and. Said, okay. We get it now, you know, and, and it, you know, cause we didn't know if it would do what we thought it would do when we started it. and when, definitely not, when I had this concept, I didn't even know if I could do it. So once we had, it took about five years until I realized, yes, it, it will do exactly what we wanted it to do.

Heather M.: And that's a good story for your generations after you, the perseverance you had to make to stick with this project till you could see that it could actually work. 

Heather S.: yeah, what's interesting. I never thought about this, but your question about my history, maybe not knowing my biological history and, you know, having that super close connection with my grandparents just kind of made me possessed in a way, you know, and just so determined to do this for other families.

And, one of the things I also get got asked a lot, it, it was the number one question I would get is can I do this for my grandparents? Can I do this for myself? And I went all over the world, you know, interacting with these Holocaust survivors and asking people to, to have conversations with them.

You know, after a while you say to yourself, okay, what would it look like if we actually gave everybody the opportunity to do this for their families? People could literally have their grandparents and parents conversations and ask them questions, have conversations with them anytime they wanted to.

They'd have it on their phone. They could just open it up and say, "hi, I love you." You know, it just, and, and hear and talk to that, like, hear that back and talk to them. It's an incredible gift. I can't even describe it. I really can't. I've seen it hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times affect people.

And I just wish to God, I could just shake everybody and tell them you need to do this now because so many people wait until it's too late. Or, you know, I get calls all the time. My grandfather's dying. Can we do a StoryFile and da, da, da. Or my parents were just, you know, one of my parents was just diagnosed with this, can we do a StoryFile? And it's just so sad, you know, that, that yes, you, to whatever capacity they can do, the StoryFile will do, we should do it. And I would encourage anybody to do it, whatever condition their, their relatives are in, because whatever you get, you get, you know, and, and it's better than nothing, but people need to do this also for themselves for their own to understand their life's journey and to, you know, you answer questions that you never really think about and it, and you go through your whole life during these interviews and it's, it's really amazing. It's an amazing process for the actual person actually going through it.

You learn so much about yourself. You think about things you haven't thought about in a long, long time. You explore different area, you know, things that you might not have ever thought about even, and you leave your mark, you know, that's what it's all about is we call it a fingerprint, but you leave a fingerprint for future generations to really get to know you and get to know what your journey was like, what you went through, what they can learn from you. it's magical. It really is.

Heather M.: Yeah. And it's way more than you can learn by researching somebody's documents in an archive. 

Heather S.: Oh, well, that's another thing. How many of us have gone into a photo album or gone into photos, and looked at them and said, I don't even know who these people are. You know, I don't, I don't know why my parents, my grandparents, my great grandparents you know, saved these photos. I have no idea who's in them. I have no idea what was, what was happening, or you look at a document and you just see a name and a signature. That's. It's amazing. But what about the story behind that? There's a story behind every single photo. If you also pick, you know, a number of photos and you talk about that photo and talk about who's in that photo show, the photo up, you know, upload it.

You can't do this right now in StoryFile Life, but you will be able to in the future, just to save those stories, everything your prized possessions have stories. Why is this so important to you? So I, I mean, I think it would be beautiful to have and so much richer and more meaningful. Right? I guess if my grandmother gave me something, yes, she might tell me the story behind it, but would my generations know what that meant to me and, and really cherish it like I did? Probably not. unless they know the story and they heard how much it does mean to me. So hopefully they would anyway.

Heather M.: Yeah, like we have a, an old sewing machine of my husband's grandmothers and it has a card in it that tells when it was bought and who bought it. But if that card's gone, then nobody knows the story behind the sewing machine.

Heather S.: Yeah. Yeah. Or the things that his mother, grandma, you know, they might have told him about it or the stories that he's seen her working on it and the clothes that they made from it, it is fascinating.

Heather M.: You mentioned earlier about intergenerational memories. Could you talk a little bit about that?

Heather S.: Okay. Well, especially in with traumatic experiences, they've found that those traumatic experiences can be passed down to future generations. And this just supports the fact that we are all made of, of our past experiences, whether we met those people or not, because everything is all the, the story is part of our identity and it all, it makes up all of our identities.

And one of, one of my, um, interviewees said, if I can influence someone in the future, someone in my family, in the future and really let them know the stories firsthand and possibly make a mark on them. Why wouldn't I do that for the generations? but anyway, for intergenerational memory, Each generation remembers things a bit differently, takes a different stance on it.

Children have a different look at their parents' history versus grandchildren and even great grandchildren. it's just an interesting dynamic that happens and how that, that history and how that person's journey is transferred, understood, and identified with each successive generation. I just, I found find it all fascinating. 

Heather M.: Me too. It's, especially as I've looked at my family history with the intention of looking to see how their stories have influenced mine and how I see the world, then it brings a new awareness and I'm able to move into the future more purposefully, knowing the reason why I have certain behaviors or certain beliefs. 

Heather S.: That's FA it's, it's fascinating. And it's an incredible insight for you to have, because most people don't, most people just don't think about it. It does affect them, nevertheless, but most people don't think about it as like you said, more purposefully move through life. Isn't it a peaceful thought? It's like a, it's like a security blanket almost. It's like, um, it's an understanding. I think it's a beautiful thing. If you can do that, if you're able to do that. Good for you.

Heather M.: And then especially then you can change things now. And with that purpose, then that affects the future generations. Because even though we have different traumas or different things that happen to us, It's not just the trauma that can affect us and the next generations. It's how we deal with it. So if we can look at how past generations have dealt with it and choose our own way with dealing with it, then that can benefit the generations going forward. They don't have to be subject to the negative effects of trauma.

Heather S.: Sure, absolutely. Especially if you talk about it and you know about it, and then you, you look at it and you analyze your feelings with it and how it sits with you within you. it can have an incredibly positive experience on your life and, and truly help you. it's in our DNA actually as human beings, this is nothing new. you know, we used to sit around the campfire and people talk about, you know, oh, we would hear all the old stories from, you know, orals, oral histories from their elders, you know, and we would talk about things. We don't talk about things. We don't ask questions of our relatives as much as we used to, but that it's because we learn in a lot of other ways, right.

 Back, for thousands of years we would hear and absorb and see those, those influences in action and hear those stories. And we do it purposefully, human beings, so that we can understand our world. So we know better how to navigate it. I think that's something I hope human beings never lose, but , you know, I think it's just in our DNA to do it.

Heather M.: So some people might think though that like the past in the past, it's not worth remembering or there's no benefit to remembering. How would you respond to that?

Heather S.: After World War II there was this big push and you probably remember, you know, so, uh, what is it, "Keep Calm and Soldier O n" or something like that. and things they say, you know, more publicly talked about as much as they are now, which I think has helped remarkably. Think that the more you know the more informed you are, the better you're able to make decisions for yourself.

If you really confront that path and learn, attempt to really learn, it's like you said, it's purpose and move forward intentionally, then I think it's a blessing. It can be a blessing if you look at it, like, oh, woe was me. Oh, this happened, I can't move on. And da, da, da. And you wallow in it, then you're not learning from it. You're just staying in it. You're not moving forward. 

Heather M.: Yeah, and I think that can even go generations. You can still be stuck.

Heather S.: Hmm.

Heather M.: In something that somebody else lived, but you don't realize it unless you take the time to look at it and, and figure out what's going on. 

Heather S.: Yeah. 

Heather M.: StoryFile has a lot of well has different projects that they're working on to bring awareness of people's experiences to the present so that people don't forget them. Can you tell us about one or two of those projects that you have?

Heather S.: One is called the Black Voices Collection. The black experience in our country, it's been documented, you know, it has been movies made of it, et cetera, but there's never been, concerted effort to do any sort of large on a, on a large scale, any sort of oral history archive.

We noticed this when we were working on a, a project with Time Magazine, they were doing a VR immersive experience with regard to Martin Luther, King's the speech, the March, and that anniversary. As we were going through this with them, we realized there were so many people, you know, that were at an age where if you didn't capture their story, now it was gonna be lost forever.

And a lot of them had passed away already. We said, all right, whenever we can, we're going to film these individuals and really document that past and their, their experience and that history for humanity and, and mostly for the black community themselves, because it would be a shame if they didn't have an archive of that story and, what those people experienced and lived through. And it, it, it's different when you, when you have a large archive, because yeah, you can, you know, you can have individual stories. That's, that's great. But when you look at it in mass it tells a different, it almost tells a different story.

It's like a collective. and each one is so different, that you can really see and feel that experience from, kind of a 180. I mean, it's not a 360 cuz you, I'm not in, you know, we're not interviewing, you know, the people, the sheriffs of the towns and the people that were, Kind of fighting them and we're not, we're, we're not interviewing like the KU Klux clan and things like that. Although there's probably an argument to be made to do that as well, but we're not focusing on that right now. We're focusing on, you know, the original freedom writers, for example, We're trying to get a corporate sponsor to fund that one, but there are, I believe 12 that are still alive of that original group and to not have their story would just, for me as a historian would be, A real missed opportunity and a, a travesty, if it, if you didn't get it, if you didn't, if we don't attempt to get it.

And we've been working on it for a couple years and we're very, very close, so , but, we're trying to do them as, as we find them and as we're able to do. So we're making considerable progress on that front. So that's good. 

We're also documenting in the Ukraine right now. and they're using StoryFile to tell their stories about what they're going through in real time, because this is another thing that's often, overlooked that we have the technology to do now is to tell that history in real time, which has never really been done before. you know, the more people that know about it and do it, the larger that voice and that experience, that collective will be as well, which will help us understand what they're going through and why and what they knew before it, you know, learn the lessons of, how much did you know before? What did you see happening? What were you thinking? And it it's sadly, it's true. You know, you're doomed to repeat the past if you don't learn from it. And oftentimes there's not something you can do, but more than not, there is a lot you can do. If you just know, you know, know what to do and experienced that through other people and what it, what it did and where it led to, then you can make adjustments and you can make decisions based on that. Hopefully.

Heather M.: Well, I looked at your website and I looked at some of the things that you had on there and the different people that you have on there that you've professionally videotaped. And you have like all these cameras and all this great lighting. And it was actually a little intimidating to me, cuz I was like, I don't understand how this can work on just like, I wanna interview my grandma. So can you tell us a little bit, like, what does it look like? If a person is like, okay, I wanna do this for my grandma. What's that experience gonna be for them?

Heather S.: Okay. I'm I personally am not very well lit right now, but you see me on Zoom and that's pretty much exactly what it can look like. You can add lighting to it. You can do it with a nice webcam. or you can just use your computer, your laptop computer camera, um, or your phone, your smartphone, any phone, any camera you have.

you wanna prop it up and you may wanna get a ring light. you do kind of wanna be mindful of the daylight that comes into the space so that, you're not answering one question in complete darkness and the other one and your, your resting PO what we call a resting pose, which is in between each answer, is not complete daylight, like morning light Yeah.

Heather M.: the AI technology works, even if you don't have this, you're not completely surrounded by cameras.

Heather S.: oh yeah. Oh no. The AI technologies, uh, we built a, a really robust system. It's just, AI, which we are using one part of, uh, what you, you might call the bigger picture of AI. we're pretty much relying on, um, speech recognition and, uh, natural language processing and that both of those, fields have come a long way in the last six years.

Our system is as robust as you're gonna get right now and it will continue to get better and better and better, um, and continue to learn from itself. The more you talk to these StoryFiles, the better they will get at answering accurately. but right now it's, it's really good. It's amazing. but those it's all natural.

You, you just record your answers. It goes into our algorithms and within seconds of finishing the interview, you can interact with it. You can actually share it, you know, send it to your family, share it with whomever you want or not. You know, we have some people that put it in their will. Um, we have some people that share it publicly.

So you can, you can do anything you want with it. It's remarkable. And it's, it's instantaneous, especially the, the DIY version, the StoryFile Life. The studio version's another animal all itself, you know, all onto its own. We do that pretty much for museums and people that really wanna capture history and have that data primarily to play with in the future. If that makes sense. Um, because we don't know what's gonna happen to visualizations or how people are gonna be able to experience things in the future. So what we do oftentimes, if the Institute wants to do it, is you film at the best you capture the most data you could possibly capture of an individual during this interview so that you have that and you can do different, Conceivably, you can do different things with it in the future.

Heather M.: So, if you could sum up your hope and purpose for StoryFile and how it can be part of the average person's life. What would that be? 

Heather S.: Everybody will have a StoryFile of their own, probably in five years. Everybody around the world. It'll be in all different languages. You can get to know someone in a region of the world that you never visited. We will have that kind of collective human experience to actually interact and learn from each other the way we were intended to do back when we were all together in the same village and we could learn from each other. So everyone will have a StoryFile. 

 Kids will be able to talk to past presidents or astronauts or other people that have lived through things that, you know, experiences that they're learning about. How amazing would've it been if every student could talk to Martin Luther king or JFK right now, as they're learning about these, these histories. They can do that now. If everybody does a StoryFile now, 25 years from now, 50 years from now, a hundred years from now, whatever we end up doing as an individual in life, and you never know, those kids could be learning from us. So that's the vision.

Heather M.: And how can people learn more about StoryFile? 

Heather S.: Storyfile.com. and we're, on all your usual channels, Instagram and Twitter and LinkedIn and things like that. So, yeah, just visit the storyfile.com website. The, you can get to StoryFile Life, which is the consumer product, and you can get to Conversa, which is the enterprise SAS product. And we're here to help. We're here to help everybody tell their story.

Heather M.: Great. And I will have links to that image show notes. Thank you so much for taking your time here today. 

Heather S.: Thank you.