What is Community Reporting?

Community Reporting is a storytelling movement that was started in 2007 by People’s Voice Media, and it uses digital tools such as portable and pocket technologies to support people to tell their own stories in their own ways. Using the Internet to share these stories with others, we are able to connect them with the people, groups and organisations who are in a position to make positive social change.

Central to Community Reporting is the belief that people telling authentic stories about their own lived experience offers a valuable understanding of their lives. Through creating spaces in which people can describe their own realities, Community Reporting provides opportunities in which people can use storytelling to:

  1. Find their voice
  2. Challenge perceptions
  3. Be catalysts of change

We believe in achieving positive change for communities by bringing peoples’ portrayals of lived experiences together to influence change from the ground up via Community Reporting methodologies. Community Reporting has three distinct components – story gathering, story curation and story mobilisation – based around the Cynefin decision-making framework for complex environments (David Snowden, 1999), as depicted in the diagram below.

About Us

Through gathering, curating and mobilising stories from our growing network of Community Reporters, we seek to inform policy, processes and practice.

The Institute of Community Reporters

The Institute of Community Reporters (the ICR) was founded by People’s Voice Media in 2012 and is the overarching entity that supports the Community Reporter movement. The movement currently spans mainly across the UK and Europe. The ICR’s functions includes:

  • Acknowledging the achievements of our members via a badging system (i.e. bronze, silver, gold, platinum depending on scope of your Community Reporter activities and training activities accessed).
  • Quality assuring Community Reporting practices (i.e. overseeing our Responsible Storytelling methodology and continually developing relevant training materials).
  • Engaging with the network via communications, events and Community Reporting activities (e.g. social media, emailers, annual conferences, network training sessions).

The Community Reporter network consists of 3 different types of members, that are:

  • Community Reporters: People who have accessed an ICR approved Community Reporting training programme and have been badged accordingly. They contribute to the network by sharing stories on https://communityreporter.net and engaging in the ICR’s activities.
  • Trainers and Digital Curators: People who the ICR has approved and contracts to deliver Community Reporting training programmes and story curation activities. They contribute to the network by sharing their expertise with trainee Community Reporters and developing their skills.
  • Partners: Individuals, groups and organisations who we work with to deliver collaborative projects, share knowledge and develop new practices, methodologies and training materials. They contribute by writing funding applications, providing links and connections to people, places and organisations to the network and by supporting us to develop the Community Reporting practices in a multitude of ways.

For more information about Community Reporting and the Institute of Community Reporter contact People’s Voice Media on enquiries@peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk. You can also visit our website: https://peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk or download this brochure.