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StoryCorp is an organization that aims "to provide people of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share and preserve the stories of our lives." Featured stories are broadcast nationally on NPR.
StoryCorp has published more than 50,000 interviews with almost 100,000 participants since they launched in 2003. A small to mid-size non-profit organization, StoryCorp's interviews are logged in the Library of Congress, and over the years they have created new and ingenious ways to enable story telling.
There are recording booths in a number of cities throughout the country where anyone can go and record and interview or story. The first was in Grand Central Station, though it's since shut down due to budget issues. However, booths are open in Atlanta, San Francisco, and Chicago where anyone can make a reservation to record.
They also have an Airstream trailer that travels the country and records interviews all over the place. Creating ways for people to share stories is the heart of StoryCorps mission.
[caption id="attachment_12144" align="aligncenter" width="752"] The StoryCorps MobileBooth. Credit: StoryCorp Flickr[/caption]
One WordPress developer that worked on the StoryCorp project told me, "I cry almost every time" as they listen to StoryCorps on their local NPR station every Friday morning. The stories to tend to be very powerful. I was nearly brought to tears by one where a lady hugs her son's murderer. Another moving story (from my hometown no less), features a father that comes to terms with his daughter's homosexuality. Or there's one where President Obama interviews a boy who overcame adversity to join My Brother's Keeper.
StoryCorps.me is built on WordPress, and utilizes the WordPress REST API to enable access to a customized content architecture. The StoryCorps app utilizes the API to consume data and publish stories from the app back to the website.
I interviewed Dean Haddock, Director of Digital & Technical Innovation at StoryCorp, about how the idea for the app came about, how they use and think of WordPress, and other insights from their short three month development period.
Dean's team expanding on the idea, and the event turned into a micro-site using SoundCloud's API that made that process easier. That project eventually expanded into the idea that would become StoryCorps.me.
[caption id="attachment_12145" align="aligncenter" width="752"] Dave Isay at TED[/caption]
- TED Prize website
The new app makes this mission even more plausible, by having almost no barrier for interview creation. The $1 million TED Prize made it possible.
With "one tap", interviews can be created and uploaded to the StoryCorps.me website and the Library of Congress archive.
Dave shared some of his vision for the app during the TED Talk:
The StoryCorps team did project management, communication, and handled RFPs for app and website development. They also ensured that everything fit the StoryCorps model, and ensured that the new website and app talked to existing StoryCorps software and APIs properly.
10up built the website infrastructure, manages scalability issues, and managed the integration of the WordPress REST API.
MAYA design designed and built the app for the end-user, utilizing PhoneGap so that the app could be launched simultaneously to both iOS and Android platforms.
[pullquote align="right"]"We knew we going to use WordPress before we started looking for partners to help us build this thing."[/pullquote] As a "small to midsize non-profit," StoryCorps has few resources. StoryCorps.org has been on WordPress, and they wanted to use WordPress for StoryCorps.me as well.
The development phase was quite short: from funding to launch took only three months. They launched at TED after receiving the funding last October.
Dean noted, [pullquote align="right"]"You have to be willing to completely submit to the process."[/pullquote] He says it wouldn't have succeeded if 10up and Maya weren't committed as StoryCorps to the success of the project.
They also learned what Dean calls "more tangible" things, like the usage of PhoneGap. Without using a tool like PhoneGap, they wouldn't have been able to "get to market as soon as possible." However, he admits the app could be slightly better if it were built in a native platform to either iOS or Android.
While there may be an element of noise to the StoryCorps.me archive, it's already evident that many gems will emerge, and who knows what ideas people will come up with for creative ways to perform interviews and record stories.
The apps are available on Google Play and in the App Store. It'll be improving over the next weeks and and months. If you're excited about technology at StoryCorps, you can reach Dean at [email protected] or you can also report issues or ask questions about the app at [email protected].
StoryCorps is a great testament to WordPress and its ability to be an infrastructure to an app at scale, while also enabling efficient development cycles. This is probably my favorite utilization of the new REST API yet.
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StoryCorp is an organization that aims "to provide people of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share and preserve the stories of our lives." Featured stories are broadcast nationally on NPR.
StoryCorp has published more than 50,000 interviews with almost 100,000 participants since they launched in 2003. A small to mid-size non-profit organization, StoryCorp's interviews are logged in the Library of Congress, and over the years they have created new and ingenious ways to enable story telling.
There are recording booths in a number of cities throughout the country where anyone can go and record and interview or story. The first was in Grand Central Station, though it's since shut down due to budget issues. However, booths are open in Atlanta, San Francisco, and Chicago where anyone can make a reservation to record.
They also have an Airstream trailer that travels the country and records interviews all over the place. Creating ways for people to share stories is the heart of StoryCorps mission.
[caption id="attachment_12144" align="aligncenter" width="752"] The StoryCorps MobileBooth. Credit: StoryCorp Flickr[/caption]
One WordPress developer that worked on the StoryCorp project told me, "I cry almost every time" as they listen to StoryCorps on their local NPR station every Friday morning. The stories to tend to be very powerful. I was nearly brought to tears by one where a lady hugs her son's murderer. Another moving story (from my hometown no less), features a father that comes to terms with his daughter's homosexuality. Or there's one where President Obama interviews a boy who overcame adversity to join My Brother's Keeper.
StoryCorps.me is built on WordPress, and utilizes the WordPress REST API to enable access to a customized content architecture. The StoryCorps app utilizes the API to consume data and publish stories from the app back to the website.
I interviewed Dean Haddock, Director of Digital & Technical Innovation at StoryCorp, about how the idea for the app came about, how they use and think of WordPress, and other insights from their short three month development period.
Dean's team expanding on the idea, and the event turned into a micro-site using SoundCloud's API that made that process easier. That project eventually expanded into the idea that would become StoryCorps.me.
[caption id="attachment_12145" align="aligncenter" width="752"] Dave Isay at TED[/caption]
- TED Prize website
The new app makes this mission even more plausible, by having almost no barrier for interview creation. The $1 million TED Prize made it possible.
With "one tap", interviews can be created and uploaded to the StoryCorps.me website and the Library of Congress archive.
Dave shared some of his vision for the app during the TED Talk:
The StoryCorps team did project management, communication, and handled RFPs for app and website development. They also ensured that everything fit the StoryCorps model, and ensured that the new website and app talked to existing StoryCorps software and APIs properly.
10up built the website infrastructure, manages scalability issues, and managed the integration of the WordPress REST API.
MAYA design designed and built the app for the end-user, utilizing PhoneGap so that the app could be launched simultaneously to both iOS and Android platforms.
[pullquote align="right"]"We knew we going to use WordPress before we started looking for partners to help us build this thing."[/pullquote] As a "small to midsize non-profit," StoryCorps has few resources. StoryCorps.org has been on WordPress, and they wanted to use WordPress for StoryCorps.me as well.
The development phase was quite short: from funding to launch took only three months. They launched at TED after receiving the funding last October.
Dean noted, [pullquote align="right"]"You have to be willing to completely submit to the process."[/pullquote] He says it wouldn't have succeeded if 10up and Maya weren't committed as StoryCorps to the success of the project.
They also learned what Dean calls "more tangible" things, like the usage of PhoneGap. Without using a tool like PhoneGap, they wouldn't have been able to "get to market as soon as possible." However, he admits the app could be slightly better if it were built in a native platform to either iOS or Android.
While there may be an element of noise to the StoryCorps.me archive, it's already evident that many gems will emerge, and who knows what ideas people will come up with for creative ways to perform interviews and record stories.
The apps are available on Google Play and in the App Store. It'll be improving over the next weeks and and months. If you're excited about technology at StoryCorps, you can reach Dean at [email protected] or you can also report issues or ask questions about the app at [email protected].
StoryCorps is a great testament to WordPress and its ability to be an infrastructure to an app at scale, while also enabling efficient development cycles. This is probably my favorite utilization of the new REST API yet.