Voices for the Lake is a timely and innovative ECHO initiative to inspire Lake Champlain Basin stewardship through social media; connecting people who care about the health of their watershed with shared stories and regional resources.
Voices for the Lake (VFL) was established in response to
an urgent need to connect the public with issues
concerning the stewardship identified by the LCBP State of
the Lake Report. Established by the ECHO Lake Aquarium
and Science Center at the Leahy Center and funded by the
Institute of the Museum of Library Services, the project
aims to build community participation through online,
exhibit-based and outreach programming. VFL uses social
media tools to build a virtual community of people with
rich, personal stories about Lake Champlain and its
rivers and streams. In collaboration with the Vermont
Folklife Center, VFL uses storytelling as a means to
move individuals to reflect on their personal
connections to water and connect to their communities.
With support from the Vermont Department of Libraries,
VFL works with watershed communities in both Vermont and
New York to help build digital storytelling skills. This
community-generated archive of stories is also part of
an innovative exhibit at ECHO where visitors can
interact with existing stories and contribute their own
stories to the project. Please visit our Credits page to
learn more about the technology behind this unique open
source project.
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posts from our blog:
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federal support for the nation’s 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums.
The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that
connect people to information and ideas.
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