Maggie Rogers – INFO 287 – The Hyperlinked Library

Jeanna replied 1 weeks, 5 days ago

I love the idea of giving prompts like this to parents or grandparents — getting the ball rolling, especially if you have a talkative one who wants to share, but even if you have reticent ones who may still want to be seen. Imagine collecting all your aunts and uncles stories together to pass to their grandchildren before they start to pass or dimentia starts to set in. We tend to think of this in terms of the elderly, but we’re all going to get there someday — might as well start the project now.
- Maggie Rogers replied 1 weeks, 4 days ago
  
  Thanks @jeanna! I thought the prompts from Storyworth were really interesting and provided a useful framework for participants to use to gather their thoughts. What I didn’t put in my initial reflection is that we also purchased a subscription for my in-laws as the same time. Although they are both great storytellers who love to share family history, they didn’t really like getting a weekly email asking for a story. We ended up interviewing them and finishing the book on our own with their family stories. We also asked all the siblings and grandchildren to write a story/memory or a tribute to the grandparents. It ended up still serving the same purpose of collecting stories but just not quite as seamlessly as we hoped!
Michael Stephens replied 1 weeks, 5 days ago

@maggierogers oh, this is absolutely wonderful. I am going to save this because you pulled out such interesting questions from all of those references. Thanks for this. I also really like the picture of the bench.
- Maggie Rogers replied 1 weeks, 4 days ago
  
  Thanks @michael. There are so many good questions out there it was hard to pick!
  - Michael Stephens replied 1 weeks, 3 days ago
    
    @maggierogers Absolutely!
Mary Joy (MJ) replied 5 days, 13 hours ago

Hi, Maggie! I wanted to echo the value of Storyworth – what a fantastic website! I remember all the way back in high school, as part of one of my English classes we had to contribute a recording to Storyworth and I had such a fun time creating and listening to other classmates’ contributions. The question “What is the first major new story you can remember living through as a child?” is such a fascinating and powerful one, and I think does a lot of work to help engage with people in a different and challenging way and to gauge where people are in their lives beyond just age. I was only two years old at the time, but I do vaguely remember when 9/11 happened by sheer virtue of the fact that we were on vacation in Florida with my grandparents and weren’t sure how we were going to get home to California when the whole country froze from the trauma. Answering that question opens up so many others – “Tell me more about vacationing in Florida,” or, “Tell me more more about your grandparents,” or, “So, how did you end up getting home?” Thank you for this wonderful post!
- Maggie Rogers replied 5 days, 13 hours ago
  
  Thanks MJ! I also think that question is one of the most powerful questions with so many layers. My first news memory is also from a vacation although much longer ago than yours. 🙂 It was 1974 and we were living in Germany (my Dad was in the Army). We were returning home from a road trip and the first thing we did when we arrived back to the Army base, even before we went home, was to go to the Post Exchange and buy a newspaper. The big news of the day was the President Nixon had resigned. So many follow-up questions that I should probably remember to ask my Mom before I forget. Thanks so much for your response and reminder that I have more stories to gather.
Denise Jessie replied 4 days, 8 hours ago

I love the idea of creating an autobiography of sorts by answering questions. Simple questions can trigger great memories. I lost my mother a few month ago, and quite often, I think of a question I want to ask, and then realize that opportunity is gone. How I wish she had participated in something like Storyworth or StoryCorps to keep her memories alive. Thank you for sharing.
- Maggie Rogers replied 4 days, 8 hours ago
  
  Hi Denise. I am so sorry to learn about the loss of your mother and offer you my sincere condolences. I’m happy to know that my post might guide you to a new tool to capture your own stories and perhaps remember some of your mother’s as well. Wishing you peace and fond memories!
  - Denise Jessie replied 3 days, 23 hours ago
    
    @maggierogers Thank you Maggie.

Maggie Rogers replied 2 weeks, 4 days ago

Hi Emily!
Sorry for my late reply to your kind and thoughtful post. I guess I really took a break over Spring Break! I love your ideas for additional incentives for kids to come into the library at lunchtime — especially the idea for them to have control of a display. They would love that! And thanks for the video of the eSports at the Cleveland Public Library. I really like the wrap-up where he talks about the community building aspect of the program. It’s clear from the video footage that they have created a thriving community of gamers really enjoying their library. So much positive human interaction present there!

And it’s funny that you ask when I eat my lunch…it’s always a struggle and I hate to close the library any time during the school day so I end up eating at the circulation desk AFTER the two lunches are over. I usually get interrupted but no one seems to mind that there’s a plate of food on my desk!
Michael Stephens replied 1 weeks, 5 days ago

@maggierogers both of your ideas are good ones. I think having one day a week when students could have lunch would be so interesting to try and it might be a very valuable experience to see if something like that could work more than one day a week. Please keep us informed if you try it.
- Maggie Rogers replied 1 weeks, 4 days ago
  
  Thanks @michael. I’ll keep you posted!
  - Michael Stephens replied 1 weeks, 3 days ago
    
    @maggierogers 👍😀

Roya Koutchekinia replied 1 months ago

Hi Maggie,

What a wonderful idea! As a parent volunteer, I helped 6th graders write a monthly newsletter about their school community. I loved the energy and level of engagement from the kids. I think podcasting would be an even more attractive tool for middle schoolers (I seem to remember much excitement when kids were allowed to make announcements over the PA announcement). I also really appreciated the presentation of your innovation roadmap!
- Maggie Rogers replied 1 months ago
  
  Thanks Roya! We do have students who make the daily announcements and they definitely get excited about it. Also, I worked with a few students interested in podcasting when we were online during COVID but I think I made it too complicated. I was learning myself and trying to find ways to engage these kids from home but it fizzled out. After putting together this roadmap, I think it’s doable and much simpler than my first attempt. Looking forward to trying it next school year. As for the presentation, I must thank Canva for offering some really fresh templates this year. I’m pleased you liked it. Thanks!

INFO 287 – The Hyperlinked Library

@maggierogers

@maggierogers