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Getting your family banking

People love to talk about themselves. The best way to get your family in on the act of storytelling is to bank some stories about them. Once you have uploaded a story about someone in your family to your story bank, email them a link to it so they can log in and comment on it. Once they’re familiar with Zahmoo, suggest that maybe they have a story from their childhood or about you to share.

Contributing photos might be an easy way for people to get started as well. All it needs is the photos to be scanned or copied and uploaded to your story bank.

If you run into resistance from people who are uncomfortable with technology or too busy to sit down and record or write something, you can organise it yourself. Have a coffee with whoever isn’t into the idea and bring a notebook. Ask them what their earliest memory is, or the first party they remember going to. Take some notes and retell the story later to be uploaded. Send them a link and show them how to comment. They might have some clarifications or things to add that they left out or you forgot.

Keep talking to people and they will want to tell you their stories. Once they’re used to it, they will start to seek you out and you will have your hands full.

Image credit: Mrs. Jack Wright reads her two sons Ralph and David a bed-time story / À l’heure du coucher Mme Jack Wright lit une histoire à ses deux fils, Ralph et David by LAC/BAC under a Creative Commons Attribution licence.

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