I am constantly amazed throughout this class that these communities of online sites exist. I grew up in the Southern Idaho town of Twin Falls where we had quite a few refugees. One of my close friends from Armenia had lived with her family in a Catholic church for four years before being able to come to America as a refugee when she was a child, and it was always astounding to hear stories like hers. I am glad there is an online community building and coordinating these stories so others can learn more about the experience of refugees, which is exactly what Mapping Memories is doing. I was shocked to hear stories like that of Leontine Uwababyeyi, who escaped the Rwandan genocide as the sole survivor in her family. Even using only photography stills and narration from Leontine, it was an extremely powerful story.
In the ‘about’ section of the site we are told that “Interview Project is a road trip where people have been found and interviewed.” It was a 20,000 mile road trip over 70 days across and back through the United States, with the crew finding people willing to tell their story. Each piece has great cinematography and music, perhaps the advantage of having someone like David Lynch behind the project. Each person interviewed seemed to be open about their life, their views, and I did feel as if I knew the person somewhat afterwards, though the interviews are short and sweet.There is something enticing about hearing the detail of a stranger’s life journey.
The Center for Digital Storytelling seemed to have a well curated site, with access to stories organized by category on their YouTube channel. The stories were orchestrated in a way similar to Mapping Memories. Although there were some interviews, they mostly consisted of stills featuring the subject and the overlay of their voice telling the story. Some were better than others, but both sites seem to have a kind of cohesion that made them easy enough to navigate.
The style of using stills seems to work a lot better since many of the people were referencing their past or the past of their parents, and we can’t exactly time travel back to get video footage. Some stories do have footage, which is great, and they seem to use the totally awesome vintage photos these people have, which is really interesting. It can draw you into that time in the past, providing a good context for the story, whenever and wherever it took place.
These sites seem great for not only learning from people, but also for sharing with people. Some of the questions that came up for me this week were; what is the best way of sharing the links to these sites with others? Letting the Internet handle it through social media? Or advertising on TV in order to pull people to the web? What is the future of these sites in making themselves known to the world?
I like that you bring up your own connection to refugees in your town! I think what was really important about the Mapping Memories project is that it places the refugees in neighborhoods within the cities that we live. We have all heard refugee stories in one form or another, but it’s when we know that they live down the street from us that their stories are able to have a bigger impact. Something that is reminiscent of what we have already talked about with respect to facts and stories. We can go on a bus ride and hear them tell us about their experience in Rwanda or Armenia and what their experience is like now living in Montreal or Twin Falls. And even if we don’t know the refugees in our own neighborhoods, in our own cities I think when we see projects like these that show their existence in other cities in relation to people whose families have a longer history in those places we are able to imagine having that connection ourselves.
Mapping Memories has me thinking about Portland and all of the African immigrant communities in North/Notheast Portland. I wonder about their experiences. Are they here as refugees or have they immigrated here for other reasons? Yeah, I love going to all of the Ethiopian restaurants because the food is amazing, but is there a way to have a richer connection and gain a deeper understanding of their lives? Mapping Memories definitely seems like a project that could migrate to different cities.
I too have been amaze with all the different online sites that we are exposed to through this class. I’ve also wondered what the future is of these sites in making themselves known. If i’ve learned anything from this week’s reading, its that sites have to remain “spreadable” in order to be well known. It’ll be interesting to see how many of these sites are around in the next 10 years.
I think many of us had that feeling Lauren of the amazement that all of these sites exist. But I have to agree with the above comment of the survival of these sites. They are doing great work in documenting these stories and saving them for future generations. But they do not seem to get much traction and do not seem to spread that much. I think that may have to be because although they are spreading a story that users want to share I’m sure, but the knowledge that they exist out there is not well known among the potential viewers.
I agree Brett! I consider myself pretty online savvy and check multiple micro-blogging sites every day…Reddit, Memebase, etc…What I don’t understand is how no one knows these sites exist. I certainly hadn’t heard of them before this class, and I don’t think I’ve seen them shared on Facebook by any of my peers. Do you think it’s because it costs money to advertise and many of these organizations are non-profit? Whatever the reason, it would be worth it for them to get the word out, somehow. As people in the media field, I guess our big question should be…how?
I have become an official participatory media junkie. Am I the only one who puts off writing a blog post by watching video after video? It’s a great avoidance technique: Even when it’s not actually “homework,” you can delude yourself into believing that it is! I highly recommend it.
With regard to the differing style of the digital stories on this week’s sites: You’re right, Lauren. You can’t go back in time to get video footage. But remember the Precious Places “Brothers and Sisters Sharing Our Legacy: Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity House.” That video incorporated video of the people telling the story AND historical still images. The combination of the two mediums made the presentation all the richer. “Alley Cat” from the Center for Digital Storytelling is a prime example of a digital project that would have had a lot more life and engagement quality if viewers could see the emotion on the storyteller’s faces and still images. The story is more personal in person – seeing the storyteller adds engagement.
As I’ve mentioned, I’m fascinated by The Interview Project. It feels like stepping into someone’s living room and swapping stories over coffee – even if the swapping is only one way.
There’s another reason I find The Interview Project compelling: It makes me ask myself the same questions that the interviewers asked. How do I want to be remembered? Do I have regrets? Did I follow my dreams?
I wonder what it feels like to be a subject in one of the Lynch interviews. What is it like to bare your soul and tell your life story to the world? How does it feel to watch the final edit? What do friends, families and neighbors think? Are they even aware of it?
Would I participate in such an interview?
The longevity of some of these sites definitely touches on a comment I just made on Stephen’s post. I feel that a lot of these sites really need to organize themselves better, rather than just being broad collections of different material. I find it surprising that there’s not even recommended viewings on many of them. Perhaps this is why some of these videos are a couple years old but only have a few hundred hits on Youtube.