Process and projects

In our collaborative work with Vision for Vermont (VfV), we will convene Vermonters to discuss their visions of a beloved community and then curate those conversations into top-notch podcasts. Our goal is to help VfV members to achieve their mission: “Vermonters caring for each other, their communities, and the Earth.”

Based on our recent discussions, here is an updated (as of Sunday, March 3) description of the goals and schedule for your projects, the final outcomes of that collaborative work.

  • Each group will create a set of podcast episodes, based on interviews with members of VfV as well as other Vermonters, chosen in collaboration your VfV partners. 
  • Each group should create a unique story for its podcast, based on a set of questions that you craft in collaboration with your VfV partners. (In The Brave Little State, the producers address a single question in each episode: consider this as a model for your podcast.) Each group should include music, online photographs, and other material in your podcast in order to enhance its unique story.
  • In your interviews with your VfV partners, to be completed by Friday, March 12 (the end of Week 6), you should record their stories and visions for the future. During these interviews (following the model of Andy at the Vermont Folklife Center), you may choose to ask two questions that have shaped our course: “What matters to you?” and “What is your vision of a beloved community?” For these and your next interviews, you may also use questions you all have drafted as well as questions that emerge during the interviews.
  • On Thursday, March 21 (Week 6) in the first part of our Lab Session, we will review what we have learned with our core VfV partners.
  • Subsequently, you will meet with Joe Antonioli, Senior Curricular Innovation Strategist, who will guide you on the the nuts-and-bolts of converting recorded interviews, music, and other material into a podcast (using the software that Cameron Weiner ’20 and Sabine Poux ’20 used for their Love Cast).  
  • Each group should plan and execute their interviews of other Vermonters, to be completed by Friday, April 19 (the end of Week 9), with your VfV partners, since these interviews should help VfV to learn from and create bridges with other Vermonters.
  • On Thursday, April 18 (Week 9) in the first part of our Lab Session, we will review in further depth what we have learned with our core VfV partners.
  • Starting on Thursday April 25 (Week 10), you will have time to design and practice your colloquium presentations in class and on your own.
  • You will formally present your projects to the Middlebury College community, our VfV partners, and George Lakey on Thursday, May 9 (Week 12) in the Woodin Colloquium.  
  • After the May 9 Lab Session, we will celebrate over food with our VfV partners in the Coltrane Lounge (details TBD). 
  • No later than Tuesday, May 21 at noon, you must submit your episodes. (Note that this is a hard deadline: grades are due the next day at noon.) Together, we will work with VfV to decide where all the podcasts will be posted to support their ongoing work this summer and beyond. 

 

Project Documents

Interview Release Templates

As a class and in collaboration with the core working group members of Vision for Vermont, you will decide how you want to share back all of what you hear and learn from your interviewees. In the event that you want to capture audio and/or video of your interviews, you will need to get permission to do so from your interviewees. Below are two example interview release agreements that you can download and modify to fit your selected approach.

Vision for Vermont Fall and Winter Summit Notes

Shared Project Space on Google Drive

Shared Google Drive

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