Two J-School alum are bringing a different perspective to local journalism

Toronto Rewind is the newest experience bringing local journalism to life—at least virtually—by Talk Media, a journalism events company.

Two J-School alumni have been a part of the team since the beginning. Adam Chen is the founder of Talk Media, and Aurora Zboch is a lead producer of Toronto Rewind and digital journalist.

"Toronto Rewind is something that's kind of hard to describe a lot of the time," says Chen. "In my mind, it's going out for Nuit Blanche or going to a museum night, but you don't have to leave your home."

While the event began on Nov. 10, 2021, the planning for Toronto Rewind has been a long process.

"We were ready to launch our first show, which ended up getting cancelled right before the pandemic," says Chen. "So once the pandemic hit, we were like 'oh crap, how are we going to do this still if we can't do events?' Then our teams put our heads together, sort of experimenting with how we can use the internet to create the value we want to have out of in-person experiences."

The pre-pandemic event was called “Cutting Class (external link) ,” and it was a live one-hour show about Ontario’s education system and the arts. The show was to be a piece of reporting, done live, with some audience members being a part of the performance.

As the story goes with COVID, all live shows had to be postponed. This is where the idea of Toronto Rewind really began.

The event as it is known now is laid out in a “festival” style. It features six stories from around the city of Toronto that have been reimagined as virtual immersive experiences, rather than written pieces. Those who purchase a ticket to the event enter an online map that reflects several Toronto neighbourhoods, where they can “walk around” and visit any or all stories that interest them.

The event operates through Gather (external link) , an app that can create customizable chat rooms. In the app, guests can make their own avatar for the event, but can still keep cameras and microphones on to chat with other participants.

Zboch was in charge of building the virtual map where the event takes place, which was created from a mix of Google map images, graphic design work and photos contributed by some people on the team.

"Essentially, you build a world," says Zboch. "And that means you can upload whatever content you want."

One of the best parts, Zboch says, is how certain authors engaged in the recreation of their story, particularly a journalist whose piece focused on the Lawrence Heights neighbourhood.

"The storyteller was most involved with us in the process of re-adapting her story from a long-form feature into a mix of audio and images," says Zboch. She did this "using bits of interviews and using actual pictures of art pieces and the neighbourhood."

While virtual, the event is created with audience engagement in mind.

"People don't necessarily feel as engaged in live streams as they do in in-person performances," says Chen.

With Gather, folks can control what they get to experience within the event, engage in conversations with other participants and virtually visit parts of Toronto that they may never have seen before.

You can buy tickets to the event's final day, Dec. 15, 2021, through Talk Media's website (external link) .