See a photo of Steve, his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, and Part 3.

Q&A with Steve Krizman, Question 4:

Q: What future trends or directions to do foresee for story/storytelling/narrative? What’s next for the discipline? What future aspirations do you personally have for your own story work? What would you like to do in the story world that you haven’t yet done?

A: There already is greater emphasis on visual storytelling in organizational communication. The sensational success of YouTube told us that’s what the audience wants. The challenge now is using the right visual medium for the right audiences at the right time. My team is using Flip camera video — and expert editing — to develop Web-only stories that are told in a less formal context (Facebook fan page or employee intranet, for example). Higher production values are used for videos that will be shown on TV or large screens and for which polish is needed to convey our health care expertise (advertisements and patient care videos, for example).

I look forward to what expert storytellers can do with all the visual storytelling tools now at our disposal. Wouldn’t it be great, for example, if PowerPoint were used to tell stories as opposed to displaying speakers’ notes?

Personally, I would like to explore ways to calibrate stories so they resonate with people of different cultures. Health care providers use stories and analogies to help patients understand their condition. If providers were aware of African or Latin American story traditions, would that help them frame stories that are more effective for their African-American or Latino patients?

I am currently intrigued by fotonovela technique — using photographs with comic-like dialogue bubbles to tell a story. The Mexican culture has some familiarity with this storytelling technique, and I wonder whether we can use it in health care to convey important health information.