Add Your Marathon Story to the ‘It’s Our Boston’ Mosaic
Photo via ItsOurBoston.com
AT&T has teamed up with the Boston Athletic Association to create a digital mosaic that details people’s progress as they gear up for this year’s marathon.
Using the website ItsOurBoston.com, race participates—both past and present—can upload video diaries or photos with special messages attached to help create an online portrait that sets the backdrop of the city’s skyline. People visiting the site can scroll over the colored parts of the mosaic and read each submission, helping them get a sense of what it’s like to train for an epic 26.2-mile run.
AT&T, which has been a marathon sponsor for the last six years, will contribute $1 to the One Fund for each of the first 10,000 submissions. After the digital portrait gets loaded up with personal training stories, a large screen will be set up at the Athletes Village in Hopkinton on race day, where the photos and video tributes will be displayed to help motivate those getting ready to make the trek from the starting line all the way to Boylston Street.
“We wanted to create a unifying way for Bostonians and marathon fans around the world to be a part of the Boston Marathon,” said Patricia Jacobs, president of AT&T New England. “There’s a real sense of community bringing all of us together as we approach Marathon Monday. The digital mosaic is an opportunity for the public to share what Boston and the marathon means to them and to provide much-needed support for One Fund Boston.”
While the notion is inspiring, the only way to submit photos and videos on the designated website is by forking over some personal information, including email addresses and phone numbers. To avoid that, however, runners who want to share their tales of triumph and training can simply use the hashtag #ItsOurBoston, either through Twitter or Instagram, to have their images weaved into the digital billboard. Fans that want to send some positive vibes to the people lining up in Hopkinton are also being asked to say a few words. Starting today, a team of videographers will be roaming the city streets stopping people that want to contribute to the online mural. During the week of April 7 and from April 13 to April 17, AT&T’s will tour college campuses, running clubs, sport events, and other local destinations along the marathon route to collect additional mosaic submissions.
Submissions for the project end on April 17, a few days before the actual race. Organizers hope by then the wall will be filled with interactive narratives and words of encouragement.
