HistOracle Project

The HistOracle is a means of of exploring oral histories that have organized to answer questions falling into Who, What, Where, When, Why and How categories. Its goal if to bring archived oral histories of Hawaii Filipinos "back to life" through a dynamic interface allowing a student to directly pose questions to the system. This interaction will help young people "speak" with their ancestors by establishing a relationship with the "voices" of history. It is hoped that users will be able to think critically about historical empathy: the taking of another's perspective and interact with primary documents.

Initial funding for this pilot project has been provided through a grant from the Hawaii Council for the Humanities.

Principal Actors

David Goldberg, Project Co-director
Theo Gonzalves, Project Co-director

Lead Consultants

Patricia Halagao, assoc. prof., College of Education, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Peter Bratti, CEO, User Logic, Inc.

Participating Collaborators

American Studies Department, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Ethnic Studies Department, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Special Collections, University of Hawaii at Manoa Library
Center for Oral History, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Rudy Acoba, teacher, Waipahu Intermediate School
Judith Miguel, teacher, Waikele Elementary School
Todd Wyrick, Palama Settlement In-Community Treatment Program
Filipino American Historical Society of Hawaii
Filipino American National Historical Society
Filipino Community Center

Public BETA website of HistOracle is viewable here. [link]