Project lead Dr. Sneller sat down with Michigan State University's Alumni Office to talk about MI Diaries and how we are tracking real-time language change with our data. The event was live-streamed and included some really excellent questions from the audience. Click here to watch on Vimeo, or watch the video below to hear about the especially exciting findings from our Baby Boomer participants! https://vimeo.com/930699489

MI Diaries partnered with Inquiry Arts as part of the STEAM Expo Day at the MSU Science Festival on April 1st and 2nd, 2023. We invited Michigan residents and visitors to reflect on their lives, curiosities, and hopes for the future while learning about sociolinguistic research. In addition to providing information about MI Diaries, we shared some of our featured participant stories with with Science Festival attendees and welcomed them to record their own stories! You can see some photos from the event below: MI Diaries team member, Yongqing Ye, shares one of our featured stories with a Science Festival visitor. Annabelle McClanahan, MI Diaries team member, talking with attendees about her Citizen Scholars project with the MI Diaries. Two MI Diaries team members talking with a visitor about the goals of the MI Diaries project. Yongqing Ye, MI Diaries team member, helping a new diarist sign up to tell their story. We brought a lot of freebies, like pins and stickers, for people to take with them. See us at our next event if you want some! Some of the MI Diaries team that took part in the Science Festival this year! A few more of the MI Diaries team members that were at the Science Festival this year!

MI Diaries partnered with the East Lansing Public Library to hold a "Diary of a Michigan Kid" event on November 14th, 2022. The focus of the event was helping kids from ages 7 to 12 learn about diaries: fictional, real, written, and audio! Playing off of popular children's book series like “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”, the MI Diaries team worked with participants to make their very own Diary of a Michigan Kid that will stand the test of time. You can see some photos from the event below! MI Diaries team members and event participants collaborating on a group activity. The MI Diaries team and some participants getting ready for the Diary of a Michigan Kid event. Drake Howard, MI Diaries team member, talks with participants about different examples of diaries. MI Diaries team member, Jack Rechsteiner, talking with event participants about audio diaries. Some participants working on event activity worksheets. The MI Diaries team assisting participants with their activity sheets.

On June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned the ruling made in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case for the fundamental “right to privacy” that protects a pregnant person’s choice of whether to have an abortion. Some of our diarists shared their experiences and opinions about this ruling which can be found together in our collection of stories related to this event. . Click here to listen

MI Diaries partnered with the East Lansing Public Library to hold a "Diary of a Michigan Kid" event on July 8th, 2022. The focus of the event was helping kids from ages 7 to 12 learn about diaries: fictional, real, written, and audio! Playing off of popular children's book series like “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”, the MI Diaries team worked with participants to make their very own Diary of a Michigan Kid that will stand the test of time. You can see some photos from the event below! MI Diaries team members and event participants collaborating on a group activity. Betsy Sneller, the PI of MI Diaries, talks with an event participant. The MI Diaries team members who helped make this event happen. A participant working on an event activity worksheet. MI Diaries team members, Jayce and Hannah, listen intently to Betsy's portion of the presentation. MI Diaries team member, Jack Rechsteiner, talking with event participants about audio diaries. The MI Diaries team members having some fun at the event!

MI Diaries was the focus of this year's Digital Humanities Locus conference, which brought together our project with a number of offshoot projects that took some inspiration from MI Diaries. Go to DH Locus Conference Video Page

Ripples from the tragic Oxford High School shooting impacted people of all ages across Michigan, as schools heard of more threats and either closed or went into lockdown. Some of our kid, teen, and adult diarists shared their experiences and responses about this event that can be found together in our collection of stories regarding the Oxford tragedy. . Click here to listen