Kronofoto: displaying images more beautifully and supporting an archival fediverse

Kronofoto is an open source digital archive platform application for chronologically displaying digital objects in an engaging interactive timeline or grid; users can also explore the same images by interactive map, emphasizing place over time. The software was built to power the Fortepan US photo history portal, a collaborative archival portal for family snapshots and local historical photos. A Kronofoto platform can support any digital object collection, including photographs, video and audio files, maps, documents, and 3D artifacts. Kronofoto is dedicated to user experience and nimble navigation by showcasing the image and prioritizing user-friendly search: users organize, juxtapose, and explore collections according to place, time, theme, and donor. 

Kronofoto beautifully displays images in a large-display timeline format or chronological grid. The timeline is particularly dynamic because images from diverse collections can form immediate, associative connections. Delightfully scrolling through them feels like a journey through time. Digital objects can also be mapped according to pin-point geolocations. 

By bringing digital objects into a single interface and encouraging users to explore variations of place, time, or theme through a tag (e.g., “football”), Kronofoto can showcase a single collection or instigate profound conversations between image files from different collections. Kronofoto also supports user creativity and public engagement with its suite of “creation tools”:  “FotoAlbum” for organizing images by a customized theme; “FotoStory” for building beautiful interactive digital stories; “FotoSphere” for precisely photo-matching historical photos to a present-day 360º image, and “FotoSphere Tour” for creating virtual street-view walking tours by interlinking FotoSpheres. Moreover, any filtered version of the platform, including a FotoAlbum, FotoStory, or FotoSphere Tour, can be shared and easily embedded  into another website. 

Kronofoto can be used independently, or interlink Kronofoto platform instances through a federated network. By integrating the social networking protocol application Activity Pub, which powers social media networks like Mastodon, Kronofoto platform instances can “talk to each other” and share actual  files (not just metadata), even as these files are hosted on completely different servers. To learn about how this works, visit Fortepan US: two instances within the platform, Iowa (IA) and Connecticut (CT), exist on different servers but share files from each others’ collections when fulfilling relevant search parameters. More instances are coming soon. “The potential for a network of interlinked archives for users to explore is unlimited,” says project co-director Bettina Fabos. “We are pushing the boundaries of what digital archives can be, and building a much richer and more accessible creative and image exploration environment for users.” Kronofoto could mark the beginning of an archival fediverse.

Our small team enthusiastically  invites collaborative partners to get involved! Start building collections and interpretive digital exhibits! Help us test, build upon, and improve the code front-end design, and creation tools. We are happy to help others set up their own Kronofoto instance so we can keep testing the power of the federated network, improve documentation, and make Kronofoto more easily accessible to anyone. We are devoted to open access code and tooling; Kronofoto is available here on GitHub.