Case Study Week 7

Anne Elias
Jul 22, 2017 · 3 min read

StoryCorps: Transformative Storytelling

The first time I heard about StoryCorps, I was sitting in my driveway listening to NPR’s 2013 segment on the non-profit organization. They were interviewing Bonnie Brown, a woman with intellectual disabilities and her daughter Myra Brown, a gifted teenager bound for Cambridge University. It was such a sweet, heartfelt recording. I don’t cry very easily in public, but this made me well up. I wanted to reach through my radio and hug both of them. This, I thought, is storytelling done well. Thanks to StoryCorps’ mission, Bonnie and Myra were able to share their story:

StoryCorps’ mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world. We do this to remind one another of our shared humanity, to strengthen and build the connections between people, to teach the value of listening, and to weave into the fabric of our culture the understanding that everyone’s story matters. At the same time, we are creating an invaluable archive for future generations.

“What makes a great story?”, is the question I asked when I started this post. To answer it, I turned to the founder of StoryCorps, Dave Isay. Here are some of his thoughts as summed up by the editor of the Ford Foundation:

Authenticity is the mark of a great story.

Audio is an intimate medium, perfectly suited for emotional stories.

Good listening is essential for an interviewer — and it allows us to find beauty in the people around us.

What makes StoryCorps an effective platform for storytelling is that it affords participants the comfort of telling their stories to engaged, compassionate listeners and provides the technical polish of audio editing to enhance the listening experience. Additionally, the stories are archived, thus preserving them in their digital formats for future generations.

Some of the stories will make you both laugh and cry.

Series Themes

In addition to stand alone stories, StoryCorps’ Discover Page archives series stories revolving around topics ranging from family legacy, 9/11, stories of people of color, LGBT individuals, military and people suffering from memory loss.

What I like most about StoryCorps is that the stories are not told by professionals. They are told by the people who lived them. Many of the stories involve family dynamics, and often, the story is enhanced by the realness in the narration; the result of being nervous, ashamed, excited or afraid. Unrehearsed.

Like Blank on Blank, the audio is often set to animation, enhancing the experience for the audience by immersing listeners in a multimedia experience. But unlike Blank on Blank it’s the people who make the experience really special because of their lack of celebrity. Generally the stories are short; small glimpses into realizations or moments in a person’s life. Here’s Anthony “Tony Bees” Planakis talking about how he wound up as a bee hive re-locator (not exterminator). “I’ve learned from the bees patience, respect and, I guess, work ’til you die.” He thinks of the bees as his children.

It’s amazing how the most ordinary story in a person’s life could be so engaging when told in this medium. You can close your eyes and live their experiences for brief periods of time.

Next time you walk down the street, take a look around at the faces you pass. Realize these are the voices of StoryCorps.

Anne Elias

Written by

Information, Instructional Design & Digital Education.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade