StoryCatcher is the sister project to the Happiness Assessment Survey, and is about the use of the telephone as a tool for the preservation and exploration of oral histories and cultural memory.


Objective
To an outsider faced with the immense technical and logistical challenges of developing nations, it is easy to see how more subtle concerns for the intangibles of local life might be overlooked. New methods of communication, transportation, education, utility distribution and organization, among countless other potential changes, can have irreversible effects on facets of everyday life in the transforming society. StoryCatcher is an attempt to address the cultural effects of rapid technological change by using some of that technology to preserve and share the culture itself.
The project aims to take advantage of relatively wide mobile phone distribution in developing countries to "catch" personal stories over the phone, and then to share them with others using a phone or web interface.

Prototype
StoryCatcher was prototyped with an automated, cold call approach, as that was understood to be the strength of the Asterisk telephony server that would eventually drive the project. The script was recorded using Audacity, and played back using a Winamp playlist, set to manual advance, as a soundboard. Skype was used to make the calls, and Audacity again used to record the conversations.
The test-run was made with a small sample of about 20 phone numbers between 6 and 8pm on Tuesday, March 11th, 2008. All numbers were within the 619 and 858 area codes in San Diego, and subjects were known to span a wide age range, from college students to retirees. Subjects were not told about StoryCatcher before receiving the call, in order to accurately test cold-call response.

The Prototype Script was as follows:
Hello, this is StoryCatcher, an oral history project by students and researchers at the University of California - San Diego.

We're calling to see if you have a brief story you would like to share about a joyful, stressful, or otherwise memorable moment in your life.

Would you like to share a story with us?

Answer: No
Thank you for your time, and have a nice day. *END CALL*

Answer: Yes
Ok great. Are you at least 18 years of age?

Answer: No
We're sorry, but we cannot accept your story at this time. Thank you for your time, and have a nice day. *END CALL*

Answer: Yes
Your story can be as brief or as detailed as you like. We will ask no specific questions, so you may choose to remain anonymous, or you may include personal information if you prefer.

Please take a moment to gather your thoughts if you need to, and press 1 when you are ready to start telling your story.

On: 1
Ok, go ahead, and press 1 when you are finished...

*WAIT*

On: 1
Thank you for sharing your story with us.

The goal of this project is to create a public oral history. May we share your story with others?

Answer: Yes / No
Thank you for your time, and have a nice day. *END CALL*

Prototype Results and Reflections
Of the roughly 20 calls made with the prototype, none resulted in a successful story recording. A few people listened to the prompt, but most people hung up only a few seconds into the call.
The impression was that most call recipients were hanging up when they realized they had a machine on the phone. Based strictly on personal experience, that is not an uncommon attitude in San Diego. Responses may be different in an area where automated phone surveys are regularly used for important government functions, etc.
Convincing someone to tell you a story, even someone you know, can take a fair amount of effort. You are asking them to share something personal, and they have to know that it will be appreciated and that they won't be judged. These things are obviously that much harder to accomplish via an automated system during a cold call. A more interactive approach will probably be required.

Ideas
One possible variation of this project would be to take a call-in approach. In this situation, participants could call the phone server to get a prompt and record their story. This would take the challenge of convincing the user off of the Asterisk "robot," which is not a very effective "salesman." Unfortunately, this approach would also require some kind of outside advertising, and that's where the convincing would have to happen. A slight twist on this would be to advertise the ability to listen to the stories, over the phone or otherwise, as a kind of entertainment or edutainment service. Once the user is engaged with the application as a listener, a built-in call for submissions could get the now comfortable participant to share a story. This approach still requires initial advertising, however.
Another approach would be to offer the chance to hear and share the stories of someone else who you already know and love, as opposed to telling your own story. This puts the challenge of the "sell" on a friend or family member, who already has the advantage of familiarity as well as a clear motivation. The system could use three-way calling to get both parties on the phone, and have the interested participant interview the subject themself. More simply, it might record a prompt from the interested party, and then call the subject with that prompt.
Another idea would be to use an appointment setting type system, wherein the participant can opt to receive a call at a specific time, during which they can record their story. This takes some of the pressure out of the call, and doesn't put the potential storyteller on the spot. This could be combined with the other variations if it proved effective.
Finally, and perhaps most obviously, would be to do away with some of the automation. Live operators could be much more flexible, and personal, than Asterisk, and might be met with a warmer response. This presents a new set of hurdles in operator logistics, but might be the most practical approach.