Focus group discussions in Volda, Norway

On Tuesday 13 September 2022 the Norwegian Museum of Written Culture presented the project Exhibition on Latgalian and Nynorsk: cooperation and experience creating modern digital solutions to a focus group at Volda High School. The 11 students study Art, Design, and Architecture and found both the project design and scope interesting.

The students shared thoughts about the majority and minority languages in Norway, and they were interested to learn about the dynamics between languages in other countries as well. They were interested in hearing more about the Latgalian language, which music and cultural expressions it is used in, and also more about how the language is used in society. The students liked animations, pictures, videos of people using the language, and people talking about something meaningful in their life. The majority preferred scrolling through the material, rather than clicking.

As the students attend a creative education, they might want to contribute content to the exhibition later on, for instance, drawings or posters about the lesser-used language (Nynorsk) in Norway.

Their teacher is from Latvia herself, and she could provide more insight into how she met the Latgalian language as a student. She was motivated by the direction the project was taking. It is encouraging to promote the language in a modern way and look into the future.

Context: House of Languages (Language Museum Association) in partnership with the Norwegian Museum of Written Culture (Nynorsk kultursentrum) and the Association LgSC from Latvia started implementing a project Exhibition on Latgalian and Nynorsk: cooperation and experience creating modern digital solutions. Within the project, we are organizing special activities, for example, discussions with society on topics covered in the project. During the development of the digital exhibition, we are organizing focus group meetings with target audiences to both introduce target audiences with the main theme of the exhibition and, based on the recommendations, ideas, and opinions of the target groups, evaluate the concept of the exhibition.

More about the project and involved organizations: Exhibition on Latgalian and Nynorsk: cooperation and experience creating modern digital solutions.