Now available: an ODK / KoboToolbox form to collect places and stories for Terrastories in the field

A common question that we get is how to gather data as well as media content for usage in Terrastories, while in the field.

There are a number of ways to do this, including using the methodology described in this guide by ACT and by utilizing the Mapeo Observations to Terrastories Places workflow in Kakawa (the offline Earth Defenders Toolkit build).

Now, we have made available one additional method to gather all three kinds of data used by Terrastories (Stories, Speakers, and Places) in one instance, using OpenDataKit, KoboToolbox, or other XLSform applications.

Using this XLSform template, you can gather all of the pieces of data that you need for a place-based story in Terrastories. You can upload this form definition directly to an OpenDataKit or KoboToolbox server. (Please consult the OpenDataKit or KoboToolbox documentation on how to manage this process.)

You can add multiple Stories for each Place, and multiple Speakers for each Story, as permitted by Terrastories.

Once you have collected some data using this form and have exported the data as CSV or XLS (with attachments), you can use the Terrastories Import feature to add all of the data to your Terrastories community. (Note: you have to export groups in order to get the Speakers and Stories data, and if you have an XLS form, you have to save each tab as an individual CSV).

Simply map the headers in the XLSform export CSV to the appropriate field in Terrastories, for each Terrastories data type. If you are including attachments and importing on a local build, make sure you are placing the media attachments in the right place as described in the documentation.)