The Australian Centre for Oral History

StoryKeepers is a new initiative that facilitates and promotes awareness, appreciation, knowledge and sharing of people’s stories through the compelling possibilities of the new digital technologies.

StoryKeepers is the brain child of television producer and media professional Giampaolo Pertosi (GP) and scientist and IT innovator Dr. Bob Jansen.

They believe the stories of ordinary Australians have value and they matter.

For StoryKeepers, the “story” and its keeper are the core elements which inform, define and lead the writing of the narration, it’s recording by the participant, and the edit of the visual material as led by the narration.

These are stories about events, people and places, told in a personal voice and reflective of first hand experience or enthusiasm or passion and a high emotional commitment of the participant. As the keepers of their story, participants choose the story they want to tell and the way it will be told to reflect the richness and variety of life.

StoryKeepers is the “real” people’s answer to the constructed lives of “survivors”, “big brothers” and the other denizens of “reality TV”.

What is StoryKeepers?

StoryKeepers is a sophisticated yet user-friendly multimedia production system that draws together oral history and film material, graphics and object data into one communication package that can be published through the Internet, an organization Intranet and via CD ROM/DVD

StoryKeepers is a process as well as a product branding and partnership initiative which contains a central vision

• to give individual, local voices a chance to be heard telling their own stories of people, places and events through images, dreams, memories, anecdotes, observations, local history, autobiography, current perceptions, and visions for the future.

StoryKeepers is an idea, a movement, a website, a meeting place and an ideal. It is the conceptual home to a family of projects that can be clustered under individual banners.

StoryKeepers is also an agent and an information broker that brings a variety of services, products, ideas, initiatives and contacts to the community. 

The technological core of this initiative is TESTIMONY SOFTWARE developed by Dr Bob Jansen of the Australian Centre for Oral History. This software has already been used to record stories from Australian artists, develop museum kiosks, and record what happens in several conference sessions and workshops. TESTIMONY SOFTWARE allows the user to draw together oral history and film material, graphics and object data into one communication medium, a powerful DVD. An index of available topics in the story or other available stories is presented to enable the viewer to navigate to a relevant part of the current story or other available stories in the collection. The story can be published - singly or built into a collection- through the Internet, an organization Intranet and via CD ROM/DVD.

Why StoryKeepers?

People have experienced the magical charm and engaging power of stories for thousands of years and stories continue to remain a record of our memories and other significant experiences. They are often the vessel that brings things to life.

StoryKeepers are individuals or groups who are connected to or fascinated by the narratives behind people, houses, public buildings, industrial sites, halls, schools sporting clubs, gardens, parks, cultural landscapes, streetscapes, bridges, monuments and maritime objects, cemeteries, ruins and archaeological sites.

StoryKeepers can help people to come together to chart the things which they value locally, to make their voice heard, to inform and assert their need for nature and culture on their own terms, and to take action and some control in shaping the future of their place.

This is to be achieved by a number of collaborative activities including an online web-based archive (that would eventually include oral history, digital storytelling, personal stories and accounts, photographs and artwork), print publications and community-based workshops and events.

Community and special interest groups already carry out a range of activities in local history, social history, family history and genealogy, storytelling etc. StoryKeepers can add to this by providing a wider framework for further involvement of community historians and volunteer researchers.

From a wider societal perspective, StoryKeepers has a huge potential as a tool for community development as it builds community capacities and contributes to the uptake of new technologies and skills in appropriate and effective ways.

Who are these StoryKeepers?

There is no better way to find out what is valued by a community than by asking people about their story. StoryKeepers are 'ordinary' people who enjoy the fascination of these stories and have set about finding more about their chosen topic or interest.

They often have no qualifications, no rarefied expertise, no specialist skills, and almost invariably lack the legitimacy of an academic background. But they all share certain characteristics: passion, patience, perseverance, an enquiring mind, they enjoy a challenge and they all have a sense of purpose.

They have knowledge and passion and often are veritable human storehouses of local stories.

They are the guardians and the “keepers of their story”.

• Giampaolo Pertosi, +61-(0)432 352 601, gpertosi@bigpond.net.au; or
• Dr. Bob Jansen, +61-(0)414 297 448, bob.jansen@acoh.com.au