Monday, January 13, 2014

Coming Soon: New Stories about Humans of Tulsa

 By John Coward
 
People are interesting. Everyone has a story—and people like to read about the other people. That's the big idea behind the 2014 edition of Tulsa Street Stories.

On this site, we will be telling stories of about the humans of Tulsa. We'll take their pictures. We'll share their experiences and dreams and disappointments. We'll make connections between one person and another right here in T-town. That’s what I want my students to do this semester.

I love this idea, but it’s not my original idea. In fact, the Humans of Tulsa idea was inspired by (or stolen, to put it more boldly) from a popular New York City site called (surprise!) Humans of New York (www.humansofnewyork.com). That site offers wonderful glimpses into the lives of New Yorkers and its creator, Brandon Stanton, deserves all the credit for this idea.

What I want to do is bring some of this journalistic energy and excitement to Tulsa. This is not New York, of course, but the people of Tulsa have plenty of interesting stories to tell. That’s what I want to do on this site.

More officially, Tulsa Street Stories is an online journalism project of my spring 2014 news gathering class at the University of Tulsa. Starting soon, my students will be looking for interesting—no, amazing—stories from the humans of Tulsa. Watch this space.

–Prof. John Coward, Faculty of Communication Contact: 918-631-2542 or john-coward@utusla.edu

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