The University of Guelph has launched a Multimedia Digital Archive of Rural and Northern Ontario Stories. 

Experiences of rural Ontario residents will be the main focus of a new online digital archive project which has been set up by the staff members of the University of Guelph.

The project, titled “The People’s Archive of Rural Ontario,” or PARO for short, will use various digital formats in order to share the stories told by Ontario residents in an attempt to keep an online archive of the events which have taken place within the area.

The archival project was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and was launched during an online event held by Dr. Charlotte Yates, President & Vice-Chancellor of University of Guelph, and the PARO advisory board. The board was also joined by the Founder of the People’s Archive of Rural India, the project which initially inspired PARO.

The Digital Archive website is already proving to be a success, with many residents submitting their experiences.

“PARO is intended to be an online multimedia repository that is widely accessible, a fully open – access space to share stories from rural storytellers and bring value to those stories,” said Dr. Josie Wittmer, PARO coordinator and a recent graduate of the Uni.

“These important stories will live on in perpetuity on the website, allowing people to read, view or listen to them well into the future.”

“There is great importance to documenting stories in the people’s own words. Being featured in a space where their voices are seen and heard by the border audiences has great value.

“People have been very excited about presenting their stories and sharing them with their families and communities.”

Organizers of the digital archive hope that the project will be an educational resource for students from elementary to post-secondary school, as well as for anyone interested in studying rural Ontario, such as policy makers and academics.