I should have learned by now that it'd be tough to write a post while J plays Halo on the big screen. Yet here I sit.
The post on episodic stories got me thinking about changes in television viewing. Gavin Purcell made an interesting observation at the 140 Conference - that "living room conversations are now shared with millions". We've moved from raptly listening without uttering a sound to radio theatre, to silently absorbing TV, to cracking remarks with those in the room, to today.
Today's TV shows are enhanced when viewing by SMS, Twitter, Facebook, and various live blogs, fan boards, etc. People try to adapt language to avoid spoilers for the time-shifters, though that doesn't always work. As I type and J kills Covenant beasties, I'm seeing quick blurbs come in about a fellow Red Jacket alum on this season's Top Chef (since I don't have cable, I have to get the iTunes version, hopefully not too delayed).
Bringing in a community of fans to the living room conversation could be viewed by some as yet another distraction from the family in the room with you. To me, it makes the show and conversation with family in the room that much more interesting. Just as in the episodic reading of American Gods, in the collective TV viewing space, I'm keeping an ear out for good quotes, trying to spot subtle references, connections, plot points (and getting help from others when I miss something). And being part of a community of fans discussing it live gets me more excited - like being at a crowded gig for a band vs a practical private show - because sharing my enthusiasm is one of the best parts.
Plus, J thinks I'm weird if I talk to the TV. If I talk instead to Twitter friends about what I would say to the people on TV, he's none the wiser. ;)
Last fall, Fringe aired a Tweet-peat - a repeat episode where they invited live Twitter conversation. Certain members of the cast & crew were also tweeting live & answering viewer questions. A portion of the tweets appeared at the bottom of the screen during the show, or users could follow the hashtag elsewhere. The additional layer of information on a live episode is something TV has been experimenting with off and on for a while - special 3D moments or pop-up video commentary are examples that come to mind. I hope to see the Twitter experiment repeated, it was fun.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Episodic stories
My favorite TV shows are enhanced by sharing with people who love them [almost] as much as I. With Mom over the phone, with friends at work. Heroes was that much better for the Tuesday Heroes review lunches at work. We shared our favorite details, theories, I shared the scoop on the graphic novel backstories - alas, no more :(.
This is also enhanced by getting the story in bits & bites. It gives you enough to talk about but not so much that details are forgotten in favor of the overall gist.
I'm noticing the importance of this as I participate in #1b1t (One Book, One Twitter) - a twitter-wide bookclub started by @Crowdsourcing. We are reading Neil Gaiman's American Gods - there's a reading schedule that the general conversation (using the hashtag #1b1t) follows. Chapter-level discussions allow those who are reading faster to still talk about details without spoiling for others (hashtags #1b1t_1c, _2c, etc).
Because of this setup, I find myself pausing after I finish each chapter to spend some time in the discussion for that chapter, before moving on.
I've been in a bookclub before, where we'd read a book over a month (or a couple of months) and discuss it when everyone had completed the whole book. I'm afraid I wasn't a great bookclub member. When I read a book straight through, I'm finding that what I get from it is mostly gist of plot. I focus on language and tone and style of storytelling, rather than absorbing details about characters, placenames, and whatnot. (I also tended to take a much more critical view than others - sorry I just don't find Mitch Albom's style compelling)
In an episodic construct, however, the Heroes fan comes to the fore. I'm tracking conversations, doing a bit of research on my own, keeping threads at hand for when the story weaves them back in. Part of this could be that it's my second time through the book, but I really think it's the way #1b1t is running. The book is striking home more.
And it follows me around, so that I look at things through the lens of the book's premise of the gods we bring with us from our countries of origin - and what happens when those beliefs and traditions are left by the wayside.
It's those bits & bobs - the bite size story consumption rather than a massive binge. Hmmmm - Twitter-style storytelling (like the stories told by @AngelaShelton a few weeks ago to showcase abuse) is a bit like this - although it needs a bit more structure to accommodate varied paces and thread conversations a bit more clearly. Potential, potential.
This is also enhanced by getting the story in bits & bites. It gives you enough to talk about but not so much that details are forgotten in favor of the overall gist.
I'm noticing the importance of this as I participate in #1b1t (One Book, One Twitter) - a twitter-wide bookclub started by @Crowdsourcing. We are reading Neil Gaiman's American Gods - there's a reading schedule that the general conversation (using the hashtag #1b1t) follows. Chapter-level discussions allow those who are reading faster to still talk about details without spoiling for others (hashtags #1b1t_1c, _2c, etc).
Because of this setup, I find myself pausing after I finish each chapter to spend some time in the discussion for that chapter, before moving on.
I've been in a bookclub before, where we'd read a book over a month (or a couple of months) and discuss it when everyone had completed the whole book. I'm afraid I wasn't a great bookclub member. When I read a book straight through, I'm finding that what I get from it is mostly gist of plot. I focus on language and tone and style of storytelling, rather than absorbing details about characters, placenames, and whatnot. (I also tended to take a much more critical view than others - sorry I just don't find Mitch Albom's style compelling)
In an episodic construct, however, the Heroes fan comes to the fore. I'm tracking conversations, doing a bit of research on my own, keeping threads at hand for when the story weaves them back in. Part of this could be that it's my second time through the book, but I really think it's the way #1b1t is running. The book is striking home more.
And it follows me around, so that I look at things through the lens of the book's premise of the gods we bring with us from our countries of origin - and what happens when those beliefs and traditions are left by the wayside.
It's those bits & bobs - the bite size story consumption rather than a massive binge. Hmmmm - Twitter-style storytelling (like the stories told by @AngelaShelton a few weeks ago to showcase abuse) is a bit like this - although it needs a bit more structure to accommodate varied paces and thread conversations a bit more clearly. Potential, potential.
Monday, May 17, 2010
"Ecstatic truths" and everyday stories - some thoughts from 140
Returning from 140Conference, I got hit with a massive cold and slept two days then continued in misery several more. When that was over my parents moved. So now, here I am, finally able to share some of my thinking following the mega-meetup...
The night before the conference I shared the seed of an idea from Jonathan Harris - contrasting "accountant" and "ecstatic" truths and the type of stories that emerge. How the truly powerful and amazing stories are the ones full of emotion, the "ecstatic" stories that require something more than our day-to-day status updates. I headed into the sessions thinking about how to make the stories we share in social places more powerful, or how to transfer them to a place where the power could be put back in.
And then 140Conference happened and the wonderful people that took the stage had me hollering, wiping my eyes, laughing, and yes, making farm noises. The stories they told in the brief moments they took the stage ranged across a wide spectrum, but there was one huge point - Twitter and other networks & spaces provide a tool to share big emotions, too. To rally people to a cause. To save lives. To give voice to the voiceless. Pretty darn emotional.
I realized, too, that the day-to-day does not lack value. I skimmed an article recently on the similarity of tweets to diary entries from the 1800's (or earlier, I don't exactly recall), when ink, paper, and time were in short supply and people just conveyed quickly (in, oh, 140 characters or less) what they were up to. But imagine finding such a diary from an ancestor. It wouldn't be like reading American Gods for plot, but you'd find it fascinating to get the view on their life.
"Accountant's truths", the every day flow of life, have value, too.
There are so many stories we can tell and each day brings new ways to tell them. This is an awesome space!
The night before the conference I shared the seed of an idea from Jonathan Harris - contrasting "accountant" and "ecstatic" truths and the type of stories that emerge. How the truly powerful and amazing stories are the ones full of emotion, the "ecstatic" stories that require something more than our day-to-day status updates. I headed into the sessions thinking about how to make the stories we share in social places more powerful, or how to transfer them to a place where the power could be put back in.
And then 140Conference happened and the wonderful people that took the stage had me hollering, wiping my eyes, laughing, and yes, making farm noises. The stories they told in the brief moments they took the stage ranged across a wide spectrum, but there was one huge point - Twitter and other networks & spaces provide a tool to share big emotions, too. To rally people to a cause. To save lives. To give voice to the voiceless. Pretty darn emotional.
I realized, too, that the day-to-day does not lack value. I skimmed an article recently on the similarity of tweets to diary entries from the 1800's (or earlier, I don't exactly recall), when ink, paper, and time were in short supply and people just conveyed quickly (in, oh, 140 characters or less) what they were up to. But imagine finding such a diary from an ancestor. It wouldn't be like reading American Gods for plot, but you'd find it fascinating to get the view on their life.
"Accountant's truths", the every day flow of life, have value, too.
There are so many stories we can tell and each day brings new ways to tell them. This is an awesome space!
The stories of objects
During each of the last couple of moves I've helped with, I've found areas of surprise & delight. Themes that keep popping up and bring a smile and giggle each time they do. Giggles that can be shared with the others in the house because the themes are so universal for that particular case. For dear Jenny, it was marveling at the sheer number & variety of her collections :).
At my parents, it was Dad's paystubs. For the past 20 years or so, he would collect his weekly paystub at the store, bring it home, and tuck it away somewhere "safe". We found them EVERYwhere, tucked into drawers, corners, shoeboxes... We took a paper-box of them out to a burn barrel in the backyard and fed them in bit by bit. And still found more.
I find it exciting that even such simple things can generate a story. Mom and I will be able to giggle about this months from now as we recall the move.
My parents move brought a lot more stories to light, especially because we had a little more time to pack than expected... The outfit I wore in kindergarten that our neighbors, the Goebbels had given me. Dad's Boy Scout uniform. Strange things from Danny's closet, like art projects none of us had ever seen before.
I think that's part of where I got my appreciation for story. When we were kids, we moved several times - the longest in one place was 4 years (until the house my parents just moved out of, where they had stayed for 20+). Mom asked this time why it was so much harder than when they had kids to herd and our stuff to deal with. I think the relatively frequent moves forced us to create a system. Each kid had a paper box of their important stuff. Each kid knew their room & stuff. There was a tomato box of pictures. As part of this system, we reviewed the contents of these boxes. We shared the stories of what was in them and why it was moving with us. All very informal, of course, and I probably see more of a pattern than my brothers might.
But I appreciate it, these stories of objects - important and trivial - in our lives. I'm adding them to the pile of story types that I want to explore further.
At my parents, it was Dad's paystubs. For the past 20 years or so, he would collect his weekly paystub at the store, bring it home, and tuck it away somewhere "safe". We found them EVERYwhere, tucked into drawers, corners, shoeboxes... We took a paper-box of them out to a burn barrel in the backyard and fed them in bit by bit. And still found more.
I find it exciting that even such simple things can generate a story. Mom and I will be able to giggle about this months from now as we recall the move.
My parents move brought a lot more stories to light, especially because we had a little more time to pack than expected... The outfit I wore in kindergarten that our neighbors, the Goebbels had given me. Dad's Boy Scout uniform. Strange things from Danny's closet, like art projects none of us had ever seen before.
I think that's part of where I got my appreciation for story. When we were kids, we moved several times - the longest in one place was 4 years (until the house my parents just moved out of, where they had stayed for 20+). Mom asked this time why it was so much harder than when they had kids to herd and our stuff to deal with. I think the relatively frequent moves forced us to create a system. Each kid had a paper box of their important stuff. Each kid knew their room & stuff. There was a tomato box of pictures. As part of this system, we reviewed the contents of these boxes. We shared the stories of what was in them and why it was moving with us. All very informal, of course, and I probably see more of a pattern than my brothers might.
But I appreciate it, these stories of objects - important and trivial - in our lives. I'm adding them to the pile of story types that I want to explore further.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Psyched to meet some storytellers
I'm in NYC tonight for the #140conference - a gathering of hundreds of Twitter folks telling stories about social media, technology, education, and connecting. I'm very excited! I have interests in many of the topics, as I believe all feed into the storytelling strategy I'm about to start drafting - and to my general appreciation of and understanding of storytelling overall. (Plus I get to meet Twitter friends IRL!)
PSFK has a post about a presentation by Jonathan Harris. In it, he talks of Werner Herzog's two ways of viewing reality "accountant's truth" and "ecstatic truth". To Harris, gathering status updates and tweets provides an "accountant's view" of reality. For the storytelling that moves souls and mountains, we need the "ecstatic" - to build on the accountant's view with emotion.
Ideas are bubbling. I think I'll force some retreat time on Thursday, after my great encounters this week, with my whiteboard, colored pencils, and colored paper and see where the bubbles take me.
PSFK has a post about a presentation by Jonathan Harris. In it, he talks of Werner Herzog's two ways of viewing reality "accountant's truth" and "ecstatic truth". To Harris, gathering status updates and tweets provides an "accountant's view" of reality. For the storytelling that moves souls and mountains, we need the "ecstatic" - to build on the accountant's view with emotion.
Ideas are bubbling. I think I'll force some retreat time on Thursday, after my great encounters this week, with my whiteboard, colored pencils, and colored paper and see where the bubbles take me.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The wonder of stories
I left ... that afternoon, marveling at how different stories can be, how some stories can make us laugh, while others make us cry. I thought about bedtime stories, which send us off to sleep, and Zen stories, which wake us up with their strange paradoxical twists.
In his book, The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness, Joel ben Izzy explores the power and meaning of story. As a travelling storyteller who loses his voice, ben Izzy takes us along on his journey of discovery. A wonderful, quick read - interspersed with classic tales that have a direct relationship to his path.
It's the beauty of stories; whatever you give, you get back more - if you listen.
I am excited to listen and absorb the stories of those around me - and learn from them how to help others build their own.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Where I'm headed right now
A couple of events converged recently to get me seriously thinking about career stuff again. I grabbed my favorite bright paper and sat down to map out my thoughts in an effort to figure out where I should be going.
As I worked, it became clear that a common thread ran through both my external interests and my highest passion points about my career. Storytelling.
If you read this blog at all, which I know not many do [YET, Aprille, YET], then you've seen that fascination here.
As a kid, I thought I'd become an author. I still might, although I don't feel the nugget of a unique, unborn story rattling around my head at the moment. In high school, I wrote many Twilight-style short stories - typically an underappreciated witty, spunky village girl who wins the affections of the sarcastic on the outside, but really quite sweet prince.
My years in market research were focused on building stories from the data we gathered from our potential customers. The real plus to me about working in the company I do - we are a significant player in helping people to build & revisit their own stories. (Insert Italian handgestures here).
My fascination with stories is broader than creating or telling them, though. It's how they're told, what they mean, how this changes with technology and multimedia mashups, across geographies. What are the psychological principles behind them? How can companies help? Besides the straight-up reliving of memories and bed-time imagining, what role do stories play in how people learn? Heal? Grow? How can stories be used to better communicate what people need in products to companies? To better share what companies have to offer to people?
I'm really excited by this discovery, which was really right in front of me. I think becoming a storytelling subject matter expert (or storytelling "master") is something tangible that I can do for my current employer and it lays out potential opportunities ahead, if that is the path I choose or need to take. I can also see it shaping the crafting and reading I do in my personal life. Oh, this will be fun!! Let's go!
In that light, I reach out to you readers and those I'm pointedly sharing this post with.
Any book recommendations? Conferences? People to connect with? I'd love to hear suggestions. I have some initial ideas, but want unbiased suggestions first.
More to come!
[Funny, as excited as I am, I'm nervous too, and sat on this post for a day after completing it]
As I worked, it became clear that a common thread ran through both my external interests and my highest passion points about my career. Storytelling.
If you read this blog at all, which I know not many do [YET, Aprille, YET], then you've seen that fascination here.
As a kid, I thought I'd become an author. I still might, although I don't feel the nugget of a unique, unborn story rattling around my head at the moment. In high school, I wrote many Twilight-style short stories - typically an underappreciated witty, spunky village girl who wins the affections of the sarcastic on the outside, but really quite sweet prince.
My years in market research were focused on building stories from the data we gathered from our potential customers. The real plus to me about working in the company I do - we are a significant player in helping people to build & revisit their own stories. (Insert Italian handgestures here).
My fascination with stories is broader than creating or telling them, though. It's how they're told, what they mean, how this changes with technology and multimedia mashups, across geographies. What are the psychological principles behind them? How can companies help? Besides the straight-up reliving of memories and bed-time imagining, what role do stories play in how people learn? Heal? Grow? How can stories be used to better communicate what people need in products to companies? To better share what companies have to offer to people?
I'm really excited by this discovery, which was really right in front of me. I think becoming a storytelling subject matter expert (or storytelling "master") is something tangible that I can do for my current employer and it lays out potential opportunities ahead, if that is the path I choose or need to take. I can also see it shaping the crafting and reading I do in my personal life. Oh, this will be fun!! Let's go!
In that light, I reach out to you readers and those I'm pointedly sharing this post with.
Any book recommendations? Conferences? People to connect with? I'd love to hear suggestions. I have some initial ideas, but want unbiased suggestions first.
More to come!
[Funny, as excited as I am, I'm nervous too, and sat on this post for a day after completing it]
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