People have started to “Talk.” Candidly. They are sharing intimate, humorous, and touching stories with those around them.
Art History student Marisa Fonseca loves her family. Professor John Mitchell lost his daughter. Advertising student Evan Schultz is afraid of the future.
“Talk” is a University of Oregon (UO) community-building project that uses video to spark conversation about what people have in common.
Here’s how it works: UO students, staff and faculty members are interviewed about a variety of “life themes,” including family, travel, and faith. At the end of each interview, participants are asked to share something they love, something they have lost, and something they are afraid of. Then their personal stories and experiences are shared online for discussion.
“Talk allows us to see and share all the ways that we are connected.”
“Talk allows us to see and share all the ways that we are connected,” said Isaac Viel, Talk’s technology director.
The project, which was born in spring 2008 when the UO Office of the Provost requested a diversity-oriented campaign, is the product of Allen Hall Advertising – the UO’s student-run advertising agency. Talk founders Rachel Hom, Jamison Merrill and Tyler Kirsch wanted to approach the topic of “diversity” in a new and creative way.
Instead of a traditional “check the box” method of recording diversity, we wanted people to start talking, Hom and Merrill explained.
Talk’s nine team members hope to strengthen the campus community with this project. They also hope that individuals will learn more about their community not only as passive observers of other people’s stories, but also as participants in conversation with one another.
Though the project is based at the university, Talk team members believe that its mission of sharing stories and sparking conversation can scale to the Eugene community at large.
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