I’ve been asked for some advice about a ‘digital life stories‘ hyperlocal project, and in particular about ‘stimulating community appreciation and participation.’
Blimey.
I bashed out an email, and then realised that it was worthy of… sharing, if not anyone else then for my own referral.
Ultimately all comes down to JUST CHUFFING DOING IT.
"Yeah, but anyone can do that." But *I am* doing it. "Sure, but anyone can do it, fella. "Yes, but *I AM* doing it* cc @SLHC #punkdiyethos
— Jason_Cobb (@Jason_Cobb) January 23, 2014
You won’t get everything right and there will be many imperfections. Edits and re-edits are for the big boys. That’s why I don’t play with them.
If you become absorbed in the perfection of your own beauty [aha!] then you may as well be creating content in not so glorious isolation. You are creating hit and miss content that might just appeal to someone, if not now, then possibly in the future.
To sit back and ponder the merits of giving it a go or not is to fail. The tools are there and so is the audience.
Some random thoughts…
Helloooo! Mrs XX
This project sounds incredibly exciting. I can already see many opportunities and creative possibilities. The beauty of using digital tools to capture hyperlocal content is that these can then be easily shared.
I respect that traditional forms of media still appeal to some, but by capturing digital content, making it available at virtually no cost, and then archiving - you can soon create an impressive online library for others to refer to.
Some initial thoughts and tools…
I work mainly with online audio, both professionally and personally.
Soundcloud is a great online audio platform. You can upload content of varying length. Once the max file size on your account is reached …simply start a new account with a new gmail address.
Parallel to soundcloud is audioboo. At a push, I probably prefer audioboo to soundcloud - it’s what I mainly use in the schools that I work in.
The main difference is the instant appeal of audioboo. The platform was developed with the aim of enabling to break down the barriers of traditional podcasting. There is no painful editing, file converting and then publishing - you simply press record and then publish.
Your file is then archived at your audioboo page. You can embed the boos across other online platforms. The only downside is that a free account has a three minute max recording time. This is no bad thing. Sometimes the most effective audio is simple and to the point.
Here’s how I use the platform in schools. We partnered up with audioboo at one school in particular, who gave us flagship status and helped us out greatly with a tech learning project:
You could then perhaps use thinglink to help visualise any audio content.
This is a platform that allows users to take an image, and then position any content on a particular location. An example might be a map of the area, and then audio recordings tagged to a specific patch, depending on what the content of the interview is about.
It may be worth considering a stand-alone blog? I started something similar in Stockwell. Very effective if you can amass a set of recordings themed around a similar subject.
Plus don’t forget that Radio Wivenhoe would simply love to have a supply of long-form audio content in which to broadcast. I created a short run of hyperlocal interviews that I published on my blog, as well as sending along to Radio Wivenhoe.
An interesting recent development is the rise of audio slideshows. I hate working in video! It is sometimes far too easy / far too complicated. Audio is far better at telling a story.
An audio slideshow is a happy halfway house. You create a series of images, and then place the audio alongside this. The idea is for the user to focus on the audio, with the matching images supplementing the story.
Outside of audio then you could also use Pinterest or flickr to help share any images as part of a story. Pinterest in particular is great at assembling together a series of images that form an overall strand so that a single theme can be seen.
Or how about Twitter? There are some great historical projects being published on the platform:
The talk is, who the King is like to have for his Queen – and whether Lent shall be kept with the strictness of the King’s proclamation.
— Samuel Pepys (@samuelpepys) February 14, 2014
ARP drill at Immanuel & St Andrew's church hall this evening, before the Mayor, Alderman Bonney. Much talk of 'bouncing' bombs on the Ruhr.
— Cllr Arthur Pembury (@WW2councillor) May 18, 2013
If you had access to an old diary or record of events (church logs maybe?) then these could be tweeted to form an ongoing narrative.
All of these various online elements could also be quite easily embedded into a single blog. It’s a format that I have used to capture various Wivenhoe events, drawing in video (!) audio, slideshows, images, texts and tweets.
It is rather… time consuming:
Finally…
You could then use an aggregator service such as Rebel Mouse. This pulls in content across different platform, and then publishes them all into one place.
ALL of these services offer a free model. You can build up an impressive online archive at pretty much no cost.
So yeah - JUST CHUFFING DO IT.
[I didn't say this as a sign off to the charming Mrs XX...]