The Soul of Athens isn't a single story. It's not even a single project. Every year, students at the Ohio University School of Visual Communication create a new edition of the multimedia site that takes a closer look at a place most people have probably never heard of: Athens, Ohio, population 22,000. Four editions have been created so far. With upwards of 45 different stories in each project, the scope here is huge for such a small city. Topics in the 2010 version include a child being raised by her great-grandparents, the building of a highway, a college basketball player, and bluegrass music. The stories are organized according to nebulous categories like "Expression," "Thrive," and "Shelter." A previous edition opted for the themes of "Spirituality," "Creativity," and "Youth" – it obviously can be tricky imposing structure on such a variety of stories. The stories themselves are usually short documentary videos or photo videos, but there is also the occasional photo slideshow, illustration, audio clip, and odd bit of text. The 2010 version also included a Twitter feed about Athens (appropriately titled "The Pulse of Athens") and comments via Facebook.
The Soul of Athens isn't about linear narrative structure. These are all individual stories following the minutia of a college town. The topics tend to focus on the personal. Taken together, they provide an overview of the diversity even a small city can possess, but if you skip one, you're not going to miss a vital part of what makes Athens Athens.