Learning to tell stories with PlaceStories

Representatives of rural policy networks from across the country met in Washington, DC, in mid-September to learn how to create multimedia stories about their work. The participants practiced their story-telling and multimedia skills by sequencing and then narrating digital photographs. To make the pieces, the participants used thePlaceStories software, a digital story production tool that places the finished stories on an interactive map. The software’s mapping feature allows users to learn from others in their own community, or to search globally for stories related to their interests.

The trainees can take these multimedia production skills back to their networks and help member organizations tell stories. The idea is to build an online community that will allow organizations and networks to learn from each other. They will be connected through the PlaceStories platform and their mutual desire to inform rural policy.

View some examples produced by the participants:
Creating Change by Equality State Policy Center
Ajo from SW Rural Policy Network
MidSouth Rural People Rural Policy Members Tour Heifer Village

See the complete project here.

Drawing Resilience: Jaiden Dokken

Jaiden Dokken is a writer, printmaker, ceramicist, cidermaker, and self-described highly persistent pen pal. They are Clallam County’s first Poet Laureate and will spend the next two years bringing poetry to the northwesternmost corner of Washington State. Dokken’s work has been published in Fiction International, Algorithm, Muses and Vices, SpeakEasy, Superfroot Magazine, and Pile Press. They are an editor and reader for Perennial Press.

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How to share your story at Everywhere

Save the date for Rural Assembly Everywhere, a multimedia production designed by and for rural leaders and their allies, on June 28th!

A free virtual event, Everywhere: Toward Safer, More Connected Communities will explore the ways rural people are pushing back against harmful policies and narratives and the steps they are taking to create safer, more connected communities.

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Coming soon: Rural Assembly Everywhere Summer 2023

Save the date for Rural Assembly Everywhere, a multimedia production designed by and for rural leaders and their allies, on June 28th!

A free virtual event, Everywhere: Toward Safer, More Connected Communities will explore the ways rural people are pushing back against harmful policies and narratives and the steps they are taking to create safer, more connected communities.

Read More »