Story Interviews

Stories are helpful tools for community planning as they allow citizens to explore personal connections to their town and draw out underlying values in their own words.

Story Interviews allow an interviewee to share stories while an interviewer takes in these experiences, helps draws out important reflections, and even reflects on how his or her own values may relate to the speaker. For both parties, Story Interviews provide a setting to explore how personal connections to a town influence individual values and how these values can be maintained and expanded upon in future plans.

Story Interviews are also ideal to document and share through audio recording, video, or just taking notes; communities can create a rich archive of stories or multimedia pieces. While Story Interviews can proceed in many different ways, The Orton Family Foundation’s Quick Guide to Story Interviews explains how to conduct successful interviews. For the final product, the subject should always have the option to decide “how public” the material will be.

Important considerations for any Story Interview include:

• Time and technology. How long will the interview be and what device will you use to record? Know how to use the technology and find a comfortable, quiet location to conduct the interview.
• Careful thought to whom you are interviewing. Make sure to get a range of people and opinions so your interviews reflect a good cross-section of the community.
• Questions that allow the interviewee to tell specific stories or memories that reveal a connection to people, places, or events in the community. The goal of these stories should be to discover underlying values.
• A plan for how you are going to edit the interviews. Editing is a time consuming and difficult process, so know what you want for the final product going into the interviews.
• A final product that showcases the interviews. Knowing your goal ahead of time will impact how you conduct the interviews and will help with the editing process.