OurStory Scotland has recently become part of an exciting new project and it would be great if you would consider participating.

The Mass Observation Communities Online (MOCO) project is working together with community groups from across Britain, and we are happy to be one of them. In fact at the moment we are the only LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) organisation and the only organisation from Scotland in the project. We are very excited by this opportunity as it is the first time we have had the ability to contribute material about our lives directly online.

The project, which is based at the University of Sussex, uses Mass Observation material to assist people to record the changing history of their own communities. The Mass Observation Archive specialises in material about everyday life in Britain.  For over 60 years, it has been developing questionnaires and diary writing techniques which build up a picture of life round the country.

OurStory Scotland has worked with MOCO to develop a series of activities or ‘tasks’ that help to record our lives. You don’t have to do all the tasks at once – select a task, complete and submit it, and do another later if you like. Whatever you contribute will be available online on the MOCO website, and we shall also be able to archive it in the OurStory Scotland collection in National Museums Scotland. The tasks we have developed with MOCO can all be accessed from this webpage, which also has full notes on each of the tasks:

You may take part in any or all of the tasks. They include the following:

OURSTORY SCOTLAND QUESTIONNAIRE

This is probably the easiest one to begin with, as you can write as little or as much as you like, with just 7 questions to think about. The questions are interesting and can make us reflect a bit about our past and present.

KEEP A DIARY FOR A DAY

It can be a typical or a special day. You can write as little or as much as you like. When submitting the diary do remember to click ‘OurStory Scotland’ when you are asked the name of your community group.

OBSERVE LIFE IN A PUBLIC PLACE

This is you observing life in a café or other public place where you feel comfortable and where you might typically go. Again what you note down about your observations can be as short or long as you like. When submitting your observation do remember to click ‘OurStory Scotland’ when you are asked the name of your community group.

PHOTOGRAPH A PUBLIC PLACE

This is an opportunity to photograph one or more public places which are significant to you – for example, places where you feel you can be yourself, where you met someone significant in your life, or which are memorable for you. You can submit up to six photographs. Don’t forget to read our notes about avoiding identifying people etc. When submitting your photos do remember to click ‘OurStory Scotland’ when you are asked the name of your community group.

This opportunity to submit material to MOCO is time limited: they will not be able to accept any material after the end of next month (end of September 2010). So do consider making an early start on this. MOCO have also come up with the interesting idea of getting as many people as possible to submit their diary and/or photo contributions for the same day – a diary of Thursday 12 August. If you can do the diary for that day, it would be brilliant. If you would prefer to choose another day, you are very welcome to do that – or indeed submit two or more diaries if you like!

In any case I do hope you will contribute to one or more of these interesting tasks, and do also encourage any LGBT contacts to take part to.

link for all the OurStory Scotland tasks for Mass Observation Communities Online