Contributions welcome

What if our experiences, borne of hardship, were made visible and palpable to the world? What would change?

Natalie Bear

and I (supported by Laura Malan, Fran Cook and a distributed cadre of friends and supporters) are building a community-driven storytelling, data, and change initiative.

All focused on people and experiences that tend not to make it out into the world - because those experiences ‘fringe,’ scary, complex, emotional, taboo, and/or come during moments/states of overwhelm and low capacity.

Think, for example - late identified neurodivergence; chronic illness and covid; abuse; ‘mental health crisis’ experiences; single parenting; the intersectional pressures arising from some or all of the above at once.

What if those (often isolated, often invisible, sometimes taboo) experiences were made - more easily - visible and palpable and real?

In ways that transport us? That we can feel, imagine, resonate with, reckon with? Despite the low capacity of those with stories to tell and wisdom to share? Despite the effort taken to navigate tricky terrain, often in the dark, mapless?

How would that change how we understand our own experiences? Connect with our kin and learn from each other? Be 'counted' and included in decisions and by systems that shape our lives? Shape fairer, kinder futures?

We are beginning to make headway, starting with some pilot project work this summer.

Over the next few months we will also start gathering feedback, ideas and counsel from wider group, maybe including you.

Please get in touch if you'd like to lend a hand on helping us think through:

• Community and data governance for an initially small initiative with plans for scale and big impact

• Non-exploitative, safe convening processes for diverse and sometimes ‘vulnerable’ groups (we have all seen this fail in the name of profit and are aiming to embed transparency, accountability and emergent safety upfront…)

• Lean capture and safekeeping of sensitive oral history data - at scale

• Large scale complex qual/citizen science capture

• Distributed payment models that help ensure contributors are acknowledged and rewarded

• Financial support models for emergent social enterprises

There's minimal money in it yet - £60/hour for your reflections. Sorry, friends. We hope to fix that soon, but for now we’re building this city on rock and roll, sweat equity and communal love, plus a little out of pocket cost.

More soon, or eventually, dependent on the tides, moon, health, fortune.

If you have questions that need answering now, ask.

If you have questions that can wait, enjoy the tension. Us too! But they seem to be slowly finding answers and direction...

Xc