“visceral and deeply moving”

— The Wall Street Journal

The Superstorm

On October 24, 2012 Tropical Storm Sandy became a hurricane. Over the next few days it hit Jamaica, Cuba, and the Bahamas. And caused flooding, damage, and deaths in Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.

Abnormally warm sea temperatures caused by human-induced climate change enlarged the storm as it traveled along the the coast of Florida. Atlantic hurricanes are typically forced east out to sea as they head north. But as Sandy arced away from the East Coast it was blocked by a ‘kink’ in the jet stream created by melting Arctic ice. This forced the hurricane back towards New Jersey. The unusual merger of two large weather systems, and the media’s usual sensationalism, lead TV outlets to nickname the hurricane, “Superstorm Sandy.” It became the largest Atlantic Hurricane on record, by diameter, impacting 24 US States, and 8 countries.

Our Response

As meteorologists began to forecast Hurricane Sandy would hit the tri-state area hard, the Storyline team made two decisions. Along with a couple friends from Occupy Wall Street, we mobilized a response that we named Occupy Sandy. The effort became a massive regional community-led relief and rebuilding effort. We also convened several Occupy friends, journalists, and two colleagues at MIT’s Center for Civic Media to create Sandy Storyline. We knew that storytelling, direct relief, and long term rebuilding needed to be intertwined.

A woman with short black hair holding a baby dressed in a pink puffy jacket, in a dimly lit room.

A collage titled 'Sandy Storyline' with various photos of people and scenes, connected by lines to words representing emotions or themes: 'community', 'rebuild', 'beforestorm', 'redhook', 'delight', 'anger', 'coneyisland', and 'hope'.

The Process

The initial team that created Sandy Storyline began meeting before the storm made landfall. In the following days and weeks, the team would grow considerably. Our friends at MIT’s Center for Civic Media lead the process of mapping possible tools that would facilitate submissions and distribution of stories. App-based smartphones weren’t ubiquitous yet. Instagram was only two years old. It didn’t allow audio or video, and was not widely used among affected communities. We needed solutions to reach across demographics.

Hurricane Sandy battered the region on Sunday, October 28 into Monday the 29th. As the skies cleared, but before the water receded, the newly formed Occupy Sandy teams headed to Red Hook, Staten Island, and The Rockaways to check-in with friends and family, and set-up a network of community-led rebuilding sites. Within a day we were directing donations and resources. Almost as quickly as those sites were established Sandy Storyline started holding rotating public meetings at relief sites. We extended an open invitation to residents and volunteers interested in not only sharing their stories, but helping design and direct the process for how communities could document the impact, and communicate their needs.

We call this process a participatory documentary. Click here to See Michael Premo present Sandy Storyline's participatory model at the Creative Time Summit.

“Sandy Storyline is beautiful, powerful, democratic and visionary”

— Naomi Klein & Avi Lewis

A group of diverse people sitting around a table with food and beverages, in a room decorated with colorful curtains and cardboard boxes.

A group of people attending a presentation or workshop in a conference room, with some sitting at tables, and a woman standing and speaking to the group. There are whiteboards with notes, a projector hanging from the ceiling, and various items on the

People sitting and standing around a table with laptops, notebooks, food, and coffee cups, in a room with a staircase and a ladder in the background.

Four people sitting at a table during a meeting or discussion, with a whiteboard behind them filled with handwritten notes and colorful sticky notes, papers, and food items on the table.

A collage of diverse people, including children, adults, and seniors, surrounding a central poster promoting sharing stories about rebuilding communities after Sandy, with contact information to call, text, or share online.

The Web Platform

It was important that we develop a way for stories to be shared quickly. It didn’t have to be as instantaneous as we’ve become accustomed to with contemporary social media. But it had to be much faster then most documentary, oral history, and even many news programs.

There was a long list of questions, including how could people submit, and in what mediums? Voice, still images, video, audio, or writing? Maybe, there was value in all of them. What submission pathways would ensure that we are reaching the many different affected demographics? Could this work in places where it was still unclear when electricity would be restored? And how could the people directly affected help co-design the process, and co-author the outcome?

As we began to work with our neighbors to create solutions, one thing became clear. Whatever we did, it would constantly shifting, and evolving. This is a process that Storyline is vary familiar with. We call it “iterating in public.” Which means that we create and release successive iterations of the creative product that the people formally known as the audience can see and react to. Most art and documentaries are created privately, sometimes even in secret, before a single, final product is released.

Here are some iterations of our website that we used over the first few years of the project. There is also two versions of the postcards we distributed to invite collaboration. A bare bones archive, including some of the original stories still exists at www.sandystoryline.com. Due to the cost and rapidly changing web technology we have not been able to maintain the original collection, as we would have liked.

First Website Iteration with Cowbird integration.

A father and four children sitting on a black sofa, with the father kissing a young girl on the cheek. The children are smiling; the girl with braids and jewelry, the boy on the right with short curly hair and a striped shirt, and two other girls smiling and relaxed.

Survey results chart with star rating and categories, and a story question about fears during a storm, accompanied by a photo collage of diverse people affected by storm damage.

Piles of trash and garbage at a landfill with a blue sky and clouds overhead, birds flying in the sky.

A middle-aged man with gray hair and a beard sitting in the driver's seat of a car, looking back over his shoulder with a serious expression. The car interior is visible, and the man is wearing a light-colored shirt. There is a yellow text box over the image that says, 'What did you fear the most at the day at the storm?'.

A large pile of trash and debris at a landfill site with a blue sky and scattered clouds in the background; overlaid is a circular infographic with sections labeled 'Time,' 'Place,' 'Point of View,' and 'Emotion,' with the central word 'Explore'.

Images of people, a man in a car, a person in front of a house, children sitting together, an older man outdoors, and a man standing in front of a door. Background shows a landfill or dumpsite.

A large landfill filled with trash under a blue sky with clouds, with black seagulls flying overhead.

A man standing outside a house holding a water bottle. The house has white siding and a white door. The yard appears overgrown and dry. There is a concrete and brick structure on the left side of the image.

Exhibits

Four people sitting on a bench in an exhibit room, looking at a large monitor displaying a cityscape image. The room has dark blue walls with some text and metal fixtures.

A group of people sitting in a dark room, likely at a documentary screening or event, with a large informational sign to the right about Sandy Storyline, a documentary about Hurricane Sandy's impact, and a blue backdrop featuring children and text en

A dark room with a wall displaying blue text asking questions about personal experiences during a storm, and a sign in the foreground that reads, 'Share Stories. Get Power.' next to stacks of papers or brochures.

Poster about sharing Sandy stories, featuring photos of diverse people, with instructions to call, text, or share stories online.

Indoor library or community space with shelves of books, a display promoting the Sandy Storyline project featuring a large sign with a photo of people marching, and tables with children's books and toys.

A woman with dark hair wearing a black top and red skirt displays a framed photograph to two children, one boy in a white shirt with green print and one girl in a red hoodie with dreadlocks, in a bright room.

Young boy holding a framed photograph of a child playing basketball outside, with a man in the background working at a table in a room.

A man in a suit and purple tie is speaking to a group of women in white shirts, inside a room with framed pictures on the wall. Other men are standing nearby.

Five people standing indoors in front of large windows, participating in a discussion or presentation, with photo frames on the wall behind them.

A display stand with a sign titled 'Sandy Storyline' that encourages sharing stories about Hurricane Sandy. The sign includes instructions for submitting stories via text or photo, and features images of Hurricane Sandy, a person in front of a window

Educational Programs, and Pop-Up Events

A diverse group of people sitting around a table in a meeting room, engaged in a discussion or activity, with notebooks, pens, and water bottles on the table, and a glass block wall in the background.

Group of five diverse young people standing together outdoors during fall. Two girls are wearing pink jackets, one girl has colorful headband and headphones, one boy has a gray beanie and backpack, another boy has a black jacket and hoodie. They are

Young person talking to an emergency medical technician (EMT) in a garage or storage area with oxygen tanks in the background.

A group of diverse people attentively listening to a man with long hair and a camouflage jacket, who is speaking to them outdoors on a cloudy day.

Group of six people sitting around a table, engaged in writing or reading activities, with various items on the table including bottles, papers, and a brochure, in an indoor setting.