Source becomes invisible
A quotation or theme is detached from the person, place and conditions that give it meaning.
About / why the Ledger exists
About Empathy Ledger / relationship before content
Stories are not content.
They are relationships.
Empathy Ledger keeps lived experience connected to its source, permissions, decisions, uses and return.
Follow the relationship
01 / The reason
What ordinary publishing loses
A recording can become a transcript, theme, report or campaign.
Too often, the story travels farther than the relationship.
Consent becomes static
A one-time form is treated as permission for new audiences, channels and purposes that were never discussed.
Benefit becomes assumed
Publication is called impact even when the promised return has not reached the people at the source.
02 / The design philosophy
Two forms / one relationship
The spiral listens
Listening can circle, pause and return.
Private reflection does not need to produce a public story.The thread travels
Public movement must remain traceable.
Person, place, permission, source, use and return travel together.03 / What the Ledger holds
The living record
Six relationships
stay connected.
The Ledger is not a container for stories. It is a record of the relationships that make each use understandable and accountable.
- 01
Person
Who shared it
- 02
Place
Where it belongs
- 03
Permission
What may move
- 04
Source
Where it came from
- 05
Use
Where it travelled
- 06
Return
What came back
Living memory
Stories combine without merging, so anyone can be lifted back out.
04 / How authority moves
Private by default / one named use at a time
One relationship / six explicit movements
Nothing travels
by accident.
Movement 01 / Listen
A person begins the record
A contribution starts privately, connected to the person, place and circumstances around it.Participation never implies publication.
05 / Bounded views
Access is not authority
The same record.
Different responsibilities.
Empathy Ledger does not make one version of a contribution available to everyone.
Storyteller
The source remains close.
See the contribution, its current permissions, proposed uses and the history of decisions.A storyteller can correct, narrow or withdraw what belongs to them.
06 / The system in real relationships
Case evidence / limits included
Not polished proof cards
The platform becomes clear through real decisions.
Case 01 / Named public use
Jeremy Donovan
The Fire and the Road- Private reviewed source retained
- Public story and consent-cleared photography released
- JusticeHub use recorded
- Return evidence remains open
Case 02 / Authority without exposure
Kristy Bloomfield
Co-Director, OonchiumpaPersonal permission, community authority, organisation context and future use remain connected without collapsing into one administrator-controlled record.
- Public now
- Public identity, role and organisation context
- Held back
- Transcript quotations, family records, youth case details and restricted cultural material
- Next decision
- Exact audience, authority, attribution and return terms
07 / What the platform refuses
Trust has a negative shape too
Care is visible in what does not happen.
These are product boundaries, not aspirations. Each should be testable in the interface and data model.
- 01
Turn participation into automatic publication.
- 02
Treat an administrator as the owner of every story.
- 03
Expose hidden material by revealing that it exists.
- 04
Detach a quotation from the person and public story that give it meaning.
- 05
Present an interpretation as the storyteller’s own taxonomy.
- 06
Claim impact or reciprocity before return evidence is recorded.
The stewardship triad
No one holds the centre.
08 / The continuing relationship
A public story is
a release, not a default.
The thread only closes when the people at its source can see what travelled, where it was used and what came back.Return to the platform homepage →