Online Storytelling

Most of our storytelling has been face-to-face, for example in one-to-one oral history interviews, in group discussions where we have gathered together to explore a theme, in events where people have spontaneously jotted down handwritten episodes from their lives, and in workshops where we have expressed our stories through artistic means such as visual art and drama.

With the physical distancing necessitated by the coronavirus, from 2020 we have initiated a new project:

Queer Distance encourages people to contribute stories from their lives online, whether as episodes, diaries, observations, questionnaires, brief or lengthy autobiographies. We may have to be physically distant, but we can make the distance queer, creative and supportive.

You may like to tell us about your life story, a key episode in your life or, in these special circumstances, your day-to-day life while having to maintain distance under lockdown to avoid the spread of Covid-19.

Inspired by the MOCO project (Mass Observation Communities Online: see right panel) we have now made available several ways for people to tell online about their lives. We have devised a questionnaire that guides you through a number of questions and lets you write as fully or briefly as you want. You may want to focus on a key episode in your life, perhaps a turning point in becoming who you are today. In the spirit of Mass Observation, we have also designed diary and observation tasks that can be submitted online.

Remember to read our Terms and Conditions before submitting online. Your contribution may be made public! Clicking on the headings below will open a pop-up window to enable you to submit online (you may have to allow pop-ups for OurStory Scotland).

Questionnaire

Episode or Diary

Observation

Here is a small sample of the contributions to the OurStory Scotland archive made through Mass Observation Communities Online

Questionnaire completed by 41 year old female Call Centre worker
I grew up in the city of Glasgow, mainly in the East End...
[ read in full ]

Diary for 12 August by 62 year old retired male living in Scotland
Chiswick en route to Edinburgh. I wake from a dream of having a deadline...
[ read in full ]

Observation by a 29 year old PhD student from Glasgow
I spent a couple of hours in a university cafe...
[ read in full ]

If you would like to contribute your story in another format, perhaps with a particular theme, such as 'Coming In' or 'Love Out of Bounds', you can either use the online episode form, or get in touch with us to discuss what you would like to do: just contact us.

OurStory Scotland Archive

The collection of online contributions (questionnaires, diaries, observations, digital storytelling, etc.) will be archived at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh forming part of the OurStory Scotland Collection.