This week, we engaged with a lot of different examples of digital storytelling methods historians have used to engage audiences. In our class discussion, we debated storytelling versus history and the pros and cons of linear versus non-linear storytelling.
I listened to “The Balance” the first episode of the Worlds Turned Upside Down by Dr. Jim Ambuske, and it was a striking example of some of the details we discussed in class, and it also just an excellent podcast. The series examines the American Revolution “as a transatlantic and imperial civil war through the lives of the people who experienced it.” 1 The first couple minutes of the episode introduces Ensign Joseph Colon de Jumeauville as, “The French-Canadian officer lay wounded in the Pennsylvania glen that would bear his name.”2 Ambuske uses the dramatic description of a man wounded on a battlefield to establish the diverse human actors and empires at play during this era. Jumeauville was one of the French officers George Washington encountered on his diplomatic mission that triggered the Seven Years’ War. Through retracing Jumeauville’s last couple hours, Ambuske does more dramatic storytelling burying the lead that the Virginian Jumeauville encountered was Washington for the first few minutes of narration.3 Once Ambuske analyzed this interaction, having hooked his audience, he gestures back and goes through a more linear narration of the competition between the British, French and Indigenous peoples that are important historical events and key figures to consider when thinking about the long history of the American Revolution. 4
An example like this podcast is a good reminder that even things that are not a traditional public history exhibit can be a highly curated experience. These in media res choices that Ambuske made were intentional, the sound design and music choices add an eighteenth-century ambience to the listening experience, the experts Ambuske has a conversation with along with his narration are all choices that engage the listener with the layers of history that Ambuske engages with here.
Prior to engaging with some of the examples and our tech demo, I had never heard of Twine. The example we played through recounted a hypothetical student’s encounters on a college campus during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was a really powerful example of thinking about the choices one makes and how that can have ripple effects. The readings for this week provided some context for that project, and I cannot say I am surprised there was controversy around the game.5 Playing it reminded me of my own experiences during the pandemic when my undergraduate university attempted to restart on-campus operations before that plan was quickly shelved when there was COVID-19 exposure on campus.
Getting to work with Twine in class really helped solidify in my mind the different elements of narrative and engaging with audiences that can happen when working with digital history storytelling tools. Through different routes a user can set up to build a Twine game with, players of this route can trace the life of a historical figure, a fictional stand-in in a historic era or explore an alternate history route, all based on the level of detail one adds to a Twine game. It was really fun to demo the material in class and think about the choices one would make if they were living through a historical event, and how the choices made in the set of a game can fuel a historical argument.
1 Jim Ambuske, “Podcast Description” The Worlds Turned Upside Down published by R2 Studio at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, streamed on Apple Podcasts, accessed October 7, 2026. https://podcasts.rrchnm.org/show/worlds-turned-upside-down/
2 Jim Ambuske, “The Balance,” The Worlds Turned Upside Down, 2:02.
3 Ambuske, “The Balance,” The Worlds Turned Upside Down, 3:03.
4 Ambuske, “The Balance,” The Worlds Turned Upside Down, 10:24.
5 Megan Zahneis, “A Ph.D. Student Simulated a Day in the Life of a Covid-19 Era Campus. It Went Viral, But It Wasn’t Pretty.” Chronicle of Higher Education, July 1, 2020, see also Cait S. Kirby, “Undergraduate Student,” Twine game, published 2020, accessed October 7, 2026, https://caitkirby.com/downloads/Fall%202020.html.
I agree the Seven Year’s War podcast seemed really well done. All the podcasts at RRCHNM look interesting. However, there are supposedly four million podcasts available world-wide. The selection here seems unsystematic at best. It is not like they are advancing the technology of digital storytelling, nor is there some central theme to the podcasts. I think they could use more focus, but I could very well be missing something.
Engaging with the Twine program was interesting. I can see how it can easily be used to create an interactive timeline or progressive narrative. However, the complexity of the mapping is very time consuming. Making me question if it’s worth the investment.
One reason I love digital media is the sheer number of ways to engage an audience in the histories you’re telling. Podcasts alone can hook an audience with first-person stories, immersive background music and phrases, conversations between experts, and more, without using any visuals at all. And, as you point out, multi-episode podcasts like Worlds Turned Upside Down can also dig into the various stories, experiences, and viewpoints that shape a historic moment.