Vietnam War Stories: Stories from All Sides Patrick C. Shih School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering Indiana University Bloomington Bloomington, IN, 47408, USA patshih@indiana.edu Ronald J. Osgood Media School Indiana University Bloomington Bloomington, IN, 47408, USA osgoodr@indiana.edu Abstract—Wars are often described and discussed from a single point of view. Vietnam War Stories: Stories from All Sides is an interactive digital storytelling platform that incorporated video interviews recorded from over 150 Vietnam War veterans and survivors from all sides, including U.S., North Vietnam, South Vietnam, Europe, and Asia on a historically accurate map. This project utilizes the perspectives of network science to integrate digital historical multimedia artifacts into a coherent network of linked resources that can then be visualized and represented in an interactive prototype. This allows the historians, researchers, and scholars to easily access the previously undocumented and segmented historical content, and easily explore connections between them. It also serves as an educational platform, allowing the public to navigate war stories in a highly personal and engaging fashion. Most importantly, “Vietnam War Stories” enables historical argumentation and interpretations of the in- dividual experiences of Vietnam War by presenting multiple accounts and perspectives from primary sources as previously undocumented evidence of both sides of the Vietnam War. Furthermore, “Vietnam War Stories” will inform the design of future platforms that will offer the veterans a way to connect with other veterans and survivors and empower them with a channel to share their own stories. Index Terms—War Memories, Digital Heritage, Digital History, Digital Historical Argumentation, Interactive Digital Storytelling, Video Narratives, Crowdsourcing, Geographical & Geospatial Information System I. I NTRODUCTION “After the battle we did our body count. This guy (North Vietnamese soldier), he was like a sergeant, he had a book and in it was a letter he had written and had not posted. He was saying the same things we complained about. Now I look back at it and realize he was just like me.” Vietnam veteran Arthur Barham shared this story during an interview Professor Osgood conducted several years ago for My Vietnam Your Iraq, a PBS documentary broadcast in 2011 [15]. Barham reflected that while he was able to send his letter home, the enemy combatant, another young man, was not. This story became the inspiration for this project. We thank our collaborators Michelle Dalmau, Co-Director of the Institute for Digital Arts Humanities and Head of Digital Collections Services, and Barbara Truesdell, Assistant Director of the Center for Documentary Research and Practice, and Jacob N. Hagstrom for supporting this research. We also thank the individual veterans who agreed to be interviewed and the Vietnam Veterans of America for their input. This work is funded by IU Office of the Vice Provost for Research Collaborative Research and Creative Activity Funding and New Frontiers of Creativity and Scholarship grants. “Vietnam War Stories: Stories from All Sides” aims to identify engaging ways to bring scholars and the general public in direct contact with the lived experiences of both American and Vietnamese combatants or civilians who participated in the Vietnam War & American War. Through the lens of first person video narratives, “Vietnam War Stories” documents the Vietnam War through a wide range of first-hand accounts, which provide a unique window into the complexities of this controversial war, while offering a more holistic and personal record that will contribute to extant research and scholarship. “Vietnam War Stories” brings new insight into war through in- timate personal narratives of involvement in the war which are key to understanding the history of the Vietnam War/American War and its profound impact on both the United States and Vietnam. Likewise, in addition to understanding the political and societal impact of the war, this project reflects on the role of memoryautobiographical memory, distorted memory, emotive memoryand the importance of building empathy by humanizing the enemy. It provides diverse perspectives on a war too often described and discussed from a single point of view. The time is now ripe to document these accounts, as veterans in both countries are aging and willing to share their stories. To date more than 150 video interviews have been recorded and there continues to be an on-going effort to add interviews to the database. The interviews feature a broad sampling of topics and reveal how all sides were affected during and after the war. For example, while American vet- erans may not have been revered upon return, the situation for South Vietnamese veterans and refugees was significantly worse as many were sent to reeducation camps or forced to flee Vietnam. Although they liberated the country, many North Vietnamese civilians and veterans lived through 30 consecutive years of war beginning in 1945. The effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Agent Orange, and physical scars have created a difficult time for many veterans and civilians. The experiences of marginalized and forgotten individuals in the Vietnam War must become part of the collective narrative, along with the contributions of those from other countries, such as Korea and Australia. Now, some forty to fifty years later, aging veterans from all these countries are willing to share their experiences. The Vietnam War Stories interactive digital storytelling platform utilizes the perspectives of network science to in-