I’m Marcus from OurLives Collective, and I’m opening up this thread to connect with anyone interested in ethical tech, regenerative storytelling, and community-led systems of voice and action.
We’re building OurLives as a long-term, inclusive storytelling and community platform where people can share lived experiences, connect through thematic or geographic collectives, and co-create better futures together. Think of it as a decentralized, culturally safe archive of our personal and collective journeys — powered by care, creativity, and the communities behind it.
What We’re Creating
OurLives will be home to:
OurVoice: A reflective story-sharing experience that uses AI to help users find words for their experiences in safe, creative ways.
StoryCore: A prompt-based tool to guide people in writing or recording stories, unlocking moments that matter.
VoxRoot (future): Synthesizing those stories into collective insights that can help communities and orgs shape action.
Community Collectives: Optional spaces for joining others with shared lived experience (e.g., First Nations, Youth Justice, Climate Hope) to curate and shape narratives together.
Civic Feedback Layer (future): An interface to align community voice with local policy and innovation efforts.
Why It Matters
We’ve seen data collected from people but rarely returned to them in meaningful ways. OurLives flips the script: stories are not extracted; they are nurtured, owned, and re-used with consent.
We want to:
Champion community authorship
Embed ethical AI as a facilitator, not an editor
Create systems that learn from the context behind the data
Make storytelling an act of resistance, healing, and construction
Open Questions + Community Input
We want to build with the community — not just for it. Here’s where we need your input:
Inclusion and Trust: What are the most powerful (or overlooked) ways to build long-term trust in open platforms that center vulnerable voices?
Cultural Safety & Accessibility: How do we make storytelling processes safe, trauma-informed, and usable by all — including those who don’t write or speak fluently?
Ethical AI Co-Creation: How can we design AI interfaces that reflect user context and honor narrative nuance?
Token or Value Layer: If we introduce a value exchange or token model, how can we ensure it supports reciprocity, not commodification?
Partnerships & Funding: What orgs or individuals should we reach out to that align with these values?
Looking to Connect
We’re especially keen to meet:
Creatives, cultural workers, and digital humanitarians
Ethical AI researchers and language model thinkers
Web3 builders focused on public good and regenerative models
People from all walks of life who have felt unheard and want to change that
Drop a reply with your thoughts, questions, or even just a to stay in the loop. We’ll keep updates flowing here, and invite early contributors into the design/testing loop in future.
Thanks @Hakendof for sharing this vision. The focus on community authorship rather than data extraction is thoughtful - good luck with the development.
This is exactly the kind of meaningful project I’ve been looking for.
As a fullstack developer with strong experience in React, Next.js, Node.js, and integrating AI (OpenAI, prompt systems), I’m very interested in contributing to the development of your story-sharing platform — particularly around:
Building ethical, accessible UIs that feel safe and intuitive
Supporting AI-assisted features like OurVoice and StoryCore
Architecting decentralized, community-first systems
Contributing to Web3/public good tech with a focus on transparency and respect
I’d love to discuss how I could help build or test MVP components, especially where frontend/AI systems intersect with user safety and creativity.
Let me know if there’s a good time to connect or any onboarding material!
I’m a Full Stack Developer passionate about building inclusive, ethical, and purpose-driven technology — and I’m genuinely inspired by the vision behind OurLives.
Your approach to community authorship, ethical AI, and narrative sovereignty aligns closely with my values. I’d love to explore ways I can contribute technically and collaboratively. Here’s how I can support:
Back-End & API Development: Building secure, scalable services (Node.js, PostgreSQL/MongoDB, GraphQL/REST) to handle sensitive storytelling data with care and consent at the core.
Front-End Experience Design: Creating responsive, accessible UI components (React, Next.js, Tailwind) that enable users to share and engage with stories easily — even across varied tech literacy levels.
AI Integration: Supporting ethical AI co-creation tools that guide storytelling without extracting or editorializing — with a focus on transparency, user control, and cultural nuance.
Community Tech Stack Architecture: Helping design systems that return ownership and insight back to the storytellers and their communities.
I’d be excited to contribute to early builds, co-design sessions, or anything where tech meets storytelling with intention.
This is GRexrr. I’m pretty new to the community (and honestly programming in general too), but I found your concept overlaps quite a bit with what I’ve been working on for my thesis project of an urban puzzle system where players explore real-world landmarks by solving context-aware riddles.
I’d really love the chance to connect and chat sometime. Not looking for anything in return — just hoping to meet like-minded people with much more experiences working in a similar spirit.
Since I cannot include any links, you can search grexrr on github and see my profile and showcase project description.
Thanks again for sharing your ideas. Really inspiring.
Thanks for putting this together and sending a note here.
There are organizations better equipped to support this kind of community storytelling and social impact work.
Gitcoin’s current priorities center on Ethereum infrastructure and OSS tooling rather than social platforms. You might find more aligned partners in the broader social impact ecosystem.
What We’re Creating
Why It Matters
Open Questions + Community Input
Looking to Connect
to stay in the loop. We’ll keep updates flowing here, and invite early contributors into the design/testing loop in future.
Supporting AI-assisted features like OurVoice and StoryCore
Architecting decentralized, community-first systems
Contributing to Web3/public good tech with a focus on transparency and respect