Site of the Month: Our Stories

www.ourstories.org

Oral history can be a powerful learning tool. But where to begin? For guidance and inspiration, try pointing your browser to Our Stories. Newly founded by UNICEF, One Laptop per Child (OLPC), and Google, Our Stories seeks to collect, preserve, and share the stories of people around the world in a unique online initiative. There’s a particular focus on the involvement of kids, with low-cost XO laptops by OLPC intended to help children in developing countries record their stories and interviews. These efforts, together with stories recorded for UNICEF by young people in Ghana, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Uganda, will form the initial library, which will grow with user contributions. Personal stories will be available in their original languages on the site, where they can be found using a Google Map and there are interview guides for both students and adults. “Google as both a company and as a culture loves a good story,” says Elliot Schrage, a Google spokesperson. “We hope that this collaboration will not just encourage better storytelling but better listening to stories.”