Irene Digital Storytelling produced by the Vermont Folklife Center (review)

Oral historians may remember that in August 2012, the Vermont Folklife Center (VFC) sent an announcement to the H-Oralhist discussion list about its new audio documentary, “Weathering the Storm,” which drew on documentation created through the Irene Storytelling Project (ISP). The project was created in response to the impact of Tropical Storm Irene on Vermonters in August 2011. This review will examine the effectiveness of the ISP as explored through its web presence, including production pieces such as “Weathering the Storm.” There are multiple points of discovery for this project, most of which are centered through the website http://www.vermontfolklifecenter.org/irene/ (accessed May 6, 2013).

The web presence for the ISP seems to reflect the reactive situation of dealing with a natural disaster. The first thing to do is assess and address the basic needs and then move toward rebuilding from there. It is clear from the project homepage that the goal of the ISP is to facilitate participatory community storytelling events and community-initiated documentation projects in order to “explore the impact of Irene.” The layout even reflects a sort of emergency triage of initial contact, by offering basic locations of where one could find these community events and directions to points of contact in specific physical locations. The details here are very sparse; continuing with the informational triage theme, there are minimal links to supporting information from this entrance point, including details about storytelling events called Story Circles (addressing mental health), a link to the Irene Digital Memory site (i-reporting), Updates (latest news), and Resources (general assistance).

It is also evident from a cursory evaluation that this site was developed to dole out time-sensitive information, and that timeframe has expired. Like any good emergency plan, when the response period ends, it is necessary to step back and look at the situation from a bird’s eye view to make sure the original framework still makes sense. The same can be said for the ISP website in general. There are some excellent tools, resources, and outcomes that could be much better accessed with a more holistically built infrastructure.

Take the idea of Story Circles, for example. This concept is given a unique menu link from the homepage, where one can learn about Story Circles or see the Story Circle calendar (one of the expired features). The “what,” “how,” “why,” and “when” are clearly articulated in very simple explanations, but to understand the rules of participation, arguably an integral part of the project, there is a Story Circle Guide that links to an offsite web document. So, one can learn that, according to the VFC, “A Story Circle is a community-organized event where people come together to share their experiences of Tropical Storm Irene,” and these events are recorded and archived by VFC staff. What is not clear to the reader is whether these events are still taking place or if this is a retrospective look at an aspect of this project. This confusion is further muddied by the lack of new events on the calendar or changes to the Updates section in over a year. Why not use this valuable homepage real estate to highlight project accomplishments?

It turns out that the Resources page is where the ISP starts to show some hidden muscle. Here you find some of the enduring products developed for this project, such as instructional videos, a link to another webpage with “Advice for Interviewing in the Wake of Tropical Storm Irene,” an interview guide, and tutorials for documenting with audio, video, and photography.

Given the time that has passed and the value of these assets, now would be a good time to review and re-evaluate the real currency of these resources and prioritize access and reference to them accordingly. For example, consider the instructional videos, which...