Contributing Stories
After viewing the websites from this week and last week, I feel that when I create a website, history-based or otherwise, I want to include a section where people can contribute their own stories. While I found many of the stories to be rather run of the mill and not that interesting, they were still oddly addicting. I spent way more time reading the stories on the website than actually exploring the website. A lot of the additional exploring often came from someone referring to something in their story and instilling a desire for me to go look up similar things on the site. The personal anecdote has always been a great hook in my mind to draw people to a topic. To have a section on a website of only personal stories is brilliant (If you did not read this and immediately say it again in the Guinness voice, please try again…Brilliant!). Did anyone else feel the same draw to the personal stories? Did they influence you in exploring the website further, either positively or negatively?
January 29th, 2006 at 11:34 pm
As an element of public history (as these websites, while not directed to everyone, are certianly available to everyone) the personal anecdotes and stories are crucial. These stories and the ability to contribute your own experiences makes the direct connection between the history and the eyewitness to history….making history relevant in a meaningful way. That being said–as we’ve seen by looking at either the Pearl Harbor site or the site dealing with 9/11 or Katrina there are distinct differences to the interfaces and how these stories are presented…
January 30th, 2006 at 11:20 pm
I definitely felt drawn to the personal stories on the websites. They did make me want to explore the rest of the site, especially if the stories related specifically to other parts of the site. Actually, the 9/11 site really made me want to contribute my story…which is crazy, I’ve never really been interested in doing that before. It’s actually kind of weird…you know, we always hear our parents talk about where they were when Kennedy was shot (insert other important historical events) but now we’re part of a generation that remembers 9/11.
January 31st, 2006 at 12:24 am
And the Challenger explosion. Or, at least, I am.
But, you’re right, Ed. Personal stories are both an excellent way to pull readers (viewers, surfers) further into your site while at the same time personalizing their interaction with history. (I wrote about my reactions to Josh’s site in my own blog, so I won’t repeat them here.)