An archive interface that reorganizes 104 Institute of Black Imagination podcast conversations into three analytical layers of intellectual movement.
Independently built from public IBI podcast data
Scope: Research, prompt design, episode analysis, relationship mapping, interface design, frontend
Dataset: 104 podcast episodes; 10 full transcripts tested
Tools: IBI RSS feed, Whisper, Claude API, Playwright, React + Vite, Cursor
Product Walkthrough
Three analytical layers / entry view
The archive opens through three vertical panels: Memory, Position, and Future. Instead of browsing by release date, users enter through an interpretive lens. Clicking a layer shows all 104 episodes organized through that analytical frame.
Memory layer page
After clicking the “memory“ layer, the user sees all 104 episodes through each podcast guests’ memory.
Episode page
Each episode is analyzed across all three layers. The summaries are named, specific, and grounded in what the guest actually said — not generalized themes. The episode page makes one conversation readable as inheritance, stance, and future-making at the same time.
Episodes as connected ideas
For every layer, the system identifies three to five related episodes that share a specific thread: a historical figure, institution, method, question, or tension. The goal is not general thematic similarity, but precise intellectual connection across the archive.
Workflow / pipeline
Tools used
IBI RSS feed, OpenAI Whisper, Claude API, Playwright, React + Vite, IBM Plex Mono, pre-computed JSON, Cursor, Claude.ai.
Outcome
Memory / Position / Future transforms a chronological podcast archive into an interpretive reading interface. It lets users trace how ideas move across conversations — from inheritance, to critique, to possibility.