A StoryCorps app lets anyone capture someone's story
When鈥檚 the last time someone listened to you? Really listened carefully? A time when the person listening wasn鈥檛 trying to get something out of you? How did it feel?
Maybe you felt understood. Appreciated. Noticed. Chances are, it felt pretty good.
It鈥檚 a special experience, especially for people who have been made to feel that they don鈥檛 matter. And it鈥檚 at the heart of , the nonprofit that 鈥減rovides people of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives.鈥�
That mission got a boost last month when the organization launched the first version of its . The tool enables users to record an interview, take a picture to accompany it, and then tag and share the story. And like the rest of StoryCorps鈥檚 more than 50,000 recordings, stories uploaded using the mobile app during its first year will be archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. They will also appear on the new website.
The app was announced when StoryCorps founder Dave Isay was awarded the by the global ideas nonprofit, granting him $1 million and the support of the TED audience to carry out a wish. He asked for help so that 鈥渁nyone,听anywhere, can easily record a meaningful interview with another human being, which then will be archived for history.鈥�
Within two weeks of the app鈥檚 release, it had already been downloaded more than 100,000 times, and Mr. Isay encourages nonprofits to use the app to support their missions.
鈥淓very organization is trying to tell the truth about whatever issue they鈥檙e so passionate about and dedicated to,鈥� he says.
Storytelling can be a part of that truth-telling.
As it is, StoryCorps to conduct interviews, and the mobile app expands the possibilities exponentially.
鈥淚magine,鈥� Mr. Isay said to the audience at his TED Prize talk, 鈥渢hat people in your community go into retirement homes or hospitals or homeless shelters or even prisons armed with this app to honor the people least heard in our society and ask them who they are, what they鈥檝e learned in life, and how they want to be remembered.鈥�
The app offers simple guidelines about getting ready, recording the interview, and sharing it 鈥� but the lessons of StoryCorps have to do with more than just the technicalities.
Mr. Isay says that a StoryCorps recording is a 鈥渂y-product,鈥� of sorts. What鈥檚 really important is the interaction between the people talking. The experience of listening and being listened to makes 鈥渁uthentic鈥� conversations possible.
Whatever truth an organization is trying to tell can鈥檛 be forced, he says.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e looking for specific answers and trying to guide people to say certain things during an interview, then it won鈥檛 work,鈥� he says.
Nonprofits have an ethical responsibility in the process.
鈥淵ou want to be transparent with the people who are doing the storytelling for your organization,鈥� Mr. Isay says.
That means speaking plainly about how the story will be used: 鈥淚f the [interviewees] are not benefiting from it, then they shouldn鈥檛 be doing it.鈥�
鈥淪o much of media today is sucking the life out of people,鈥� he says. 鈥淚n nonprofits, we should be doing the opposite.鈥�
A lot of nonprofit storytelling aims to persuade people to do something or give something. Donate money, volunteer their time, buy green products, boycott other products, or support an issue.
That鈥檚 advocacy communications, and it鈥檚 essential.
But StoryCorps鈥檚 model indicates that a more organic exchange is valuable as well.
Several years ago, I interviewed an elderly friend, David, at the StoryCorps booth in lower Manhattan. The sounds and stresses of the city quieted instantly as we entered the booth and were greeted by a facilitator. She set us up at the table in front of the microphones, and made tissues available if we needed them.
We did.
The cozy space, the bottles of water we were given, the tissues, the microphones, the recording we received later, and the knowledge that this would be archived at the Library of Congress all made the interview a special experience.
Maybe no one would ever listen to it. But that didn鈥檛 matter so much. David properly told a story that he鈥檇 wanted to share, and he had an attentive audience of one.
He testified.
The mobile app is more informal. It can be used on a couch or a porch or anywhere else. But the intimacy and the sense of the sacred can be preserved so long as the people in conversation are dedicated to it.
Mr. Isay ended his TED Prize talk this way: 鈥淭ogether, we can create an archive of the wisdom of humanity, and maybe in doing so, we鈥檒l learn to listen a little more and shout a little less. Maybe these conversations will remind us what鈥檚 really important. And maybe, just maybe, it will help us recognize that simple truth that every life, every single life, matters equally and infinitely.鈥�
How different the world would look if more of us recognized that, thanks to the practice of telling and 鈥� vitally 鈥� listening to stories.
Watch Mr. Isay鈥檚 , and follow the progress of his wish on the .
听writes once each month about some of the best nonprofit storytelling and what others can learn from it. Readers can submit examples for consideration in this feature using 听or e-mail Mr. VanDeCarr at paul@workingnarratives.org. Mr. VanDeCarr is the managing director of , an organization that collaborates with advocates, artists, policy groups, media-makers, and others to 鈥渃hange the story鈥� on the big social justice issues of our time. He is also the author of 鈥�鈥� and is working on a 听to be released this year for nonprofits, advocates, and storytellers.
鈥� originally appeared on the website of .听
