WFOT has suspended submissions to the Occupational Narratives Database from January 2025.
The videos in the Database will remain accessible but the submission closure will allow our project volunteers to focus on researching the rich qualitative data regarding occupation that is contained within the narratives.
Thank you for your desire to contribute your story to this digital collection.
The occupational narratives provide a meaningful learning experience regarding the impact of what we want or need to do. Contributing your occupational narrative provides you with a link to people around the world to share your story of what is important for you to do and why it is important.
Watch our video below to understand how to contribute your occupational narrative.
Instructions
Digital stories or occupational narratives can be completed in the language of your choice. The stories should address the following questions either by self-narration or as facilitated by an interviewer:
- WHO are you/your group?
- WHAT do you do/want to do that is meaningful?
- WHERE do you participate/want to participate in the occupation? Why is this context important?
- WHEN do you do this or what prevents you from doing this? What is this experience like?
- WHY is the occupation meaningful to you? THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE DIGITAL STORY AND SHOULD TAKE THE MOST TIME
Stories can focus on an occupation that you/your group can or, alternatively cannot do.
It is intended that digital stories should show, as much as is possible, rather than just describe your choice of occupation.
Explanation regarding the meaning of the occupation should be the primary focus of your narrative and span approximately one half of the video.
Occupational Narrative Database Submission Criteria
WFOT screens all videos submitted to the Occupational Narrative Database. Eligibility criteria for videos include:
- The video is maximum of four minutes long
- The video depicts a person or persons doing or describing an occupation. Narratives should focus on individual, family, group or community occupations rather than tasks. Gardening, for example is an occupation whereas weeding is a task.
- If the video depicts a minor or vulnerable adult, the completed consent form must be uploaded.
- The video does not contain music. Please do not use music in your video because of copyright restrictions regarding the use of music.
- The video does not mention other people or institutions without their proper consent.
- The video does not contain discriminatory images or remarks.
- The video does not promote a product or service.
To assist you to develop a quality digital story, it is suggested that you view the following occupational narratives. These narratives have been selected as good examples of digital stories that address the questions and criteria listed above:
https://occupational-narratives.wfot.org/spazieren-gehen/
https://occupational-narratives.wfot.org/reiten/
https://occupational-narratives.wfot.org/wreathmaking/