How the archive works
Collecting
Anyone aged 16 or older can contribute through the share form, in any language. The form asks a few background questions (country, type of place, age group, whose experience it is) and open questions about what has changed, what has been good, what has been hard, and how someone else in the same community might see it differently.
We ask whether the account is the contributor's own, their community's, or an outsider's observation, because these are different kinds of evidence and are kept apart in analysis.
Editing
Every contribution is read by a person before anything is published. Names, exact places, workplaces and other details that could identify someone are removed. The contributor's voice is kept; grammar is touched only where readability requires it. Contributions in other languages are translated into English and the translation method is shown on the note. Original answers are kept privately and never shown.
Location
Notes are placed at region level, never at an exact place. Points are slightly offset so that several notes from one region do not stack on a single spot. The map does not zoom in further than region scale. Contributors can choose to hide the country entirely.
Themes
Each published note is coded by the editor with one or more themes:
- Family & generations — Relations between parents, children, elders; who holds authority
- Work & money — Livelihoods, trade, mobile money, new kinds of work
- Religion & tradition — Rituals, belief, customs, how they change or are kept
- News & politics — Information, rumours, misinformation, political participation
- Wellbeing & sleep — Mood, attention, sleep, loneliness, mental health
- Children & school — Childhood, learning, play, schooling
- Relationships & dating — Friendship, courtship, marriage, gender relations
- Community life — Shared spaces, meetings, celebrations, mutual help
- Language & culture — Language use, music, storytelling, identity
- Safety & surveillance — Harassment, scams, monitoring by state, family or others
- Distance & migration — Staying in touch across distance, diaspora, leaving and returning
Contributors can also choose themes themselves. The two codings are stored separately.
What the archive is and isn't
The archive is not a representative sample of anyone. People who choose to write in are not typical, and some places will always be over-represented. Its value is in showing what kinds of change people notice and how often similar observations appear in unrelated places — the starting point for questions, not final answers.
Compensation
Contributions through the open form are not paid. If experiences are later collected in the field with compensation, those notes will be marked as such.
Data and research
The full schema and coding rules are documented and versioned. Contributions are used in research only with the contributor's separate permission. See the privacy notice.