Digital traces as a link

The immediate sharing of activity traces (recordings, photos, mind maps) via an accessible digital space strengthens the connection between sessions, fosters participants’ autonomy, and enriches the collective memory of the group.

The Importance of Connecting the Dots

When organizing successive work sessions, whether in the context of training or cultural activities, the question of the connection between each session arises. How does each individual make the link from one session to the next? For example, in a professional training program with three days per month, how does one internally connect? Or, in the case of a video club that meets every Wednesday afternoon, how does a participant connect from one week to the next? Whether it’s a theater workshop, a music class, or a series of meetings to develop a project among different partners (e.g., via videoconference), the question of connection is essential.

Here, I propose a rather general but functional vision to improve the quality of this connection. If we improve the quality of the internal connection for each individual from one session to the next, then, from session to session, what is produced will be of higher quality and deeper.

The common method is the meeting report, for which one person is responsible. However, writing a report takes time, and often it is sent much later. Though useful, who really reads it? Ultimately, it serves more as a memory tool than a connection tool, which is not quite the same thing, even though the two are related.

For activities like music, video, or painting, it seems important to create deep traces of these activities. For music, it could be the recording of certain performances. For video, it could include the raw footage shot that day or the edits made at that stage. For painting, it could be photographs of the stages of creating the paintings. Written summaries by participants about what was seen or done can also be considered.

It is entirely possible to produce and record these traces; it’s easily accessible today. The session facilitator can, for example, create a mind map in real time to keep track of what was said.

The Digital Sharing Space

I recommend sharing these traces in a digital sharing space (a “drive”), immediately after the day, meeting, or activity, ideally within the following hour. This way, all individuals who leave that day or activity depart with a QR code or a link sent by email, giving access to this digital space where all traces are stored.

Until the next meeting or activity, some participants will consult these traces, while others will not. Everyone is free. Some will share these traces with others, and they will remain accessible over time. The idea is that they are hosted permanently, serving both as a link between sessions and as a narrative of the entire process.

The Virtues of Tooled Memory

Another virtue of these traces is their usefulness in welcoming individuals who may have missed a session. They can thus familiarize themselves with the traces and reconnect more easily to what was done. I have also observed that some individuals seize these traces to create something on their own. For example, during a video workshop, a teenager took the initiative to entirely sort through the raw footage shot the previous week, categorizing images and sounds into a typology. No one had asked him to do this, but thanks to these digital traces, he was able to freely seize them and enrich his experience. Without these traces, he wouldn’t have been able to do it and would have been less involved in the project.

Thus, this digital trace tool empowers and fosters autonomy among participants. It allows them to develop something for themselves, enrich themselves with what was done previously, and prepare more deeply for the next session, while nurturing the collective project.

These traces also allow participants to remember the process they experienced. Often, we forget the steps and details of what happened, and we don’t always realize the value of our own contribution. Thanks to these traces, each individual can assess their journey and recognize the progress made. It also allows facilitators or project funders to gain concrete insight into the process.

Technical Implementation

In practice, a new folder is created for each session, dated, and organized into subfolders to store the traces of what was done. These traces can include text, images, sound, or video. The tool used must be simple to access, allowing participants to view the traces (e.g., as a photo gallery) and download them for further work.

The tool must be extremely simple to use, accessible without complications (e.g., without complex access codes). Personally, I recommend web tools not indexed by search engines but accessible directly via a link. For years, I’ve been using this type of tool without encountering issues, as we operate in a space of mutual responsibility. Of course, one can also choose to add access codes, but caution is needed: if access is too complicated, the trace becomes a barrier rather than a connection.

For example, I use this script, which I install in a specific subfolder for each project in a non-indexed area of my web hosting: Single-file PHP file manager, file sharing, file browser and photo gallery.

Memory, Connection, and Autonomy

In summary, these digital traces, accessible and permanent, help create connections, strengthen participants’ autonomy, and enrich the collective project. They become a tooled memory, as Bernard Stiegler put it, a memory that can be accessed freely, without constraint, to connect and move forward together.