A Social-Media Week Story Project and a Life-Story Seminar

Two notable back-to-back story events coming up:

Jill Golick is organizing a Social Media Week Story Project, Social Media Week being Feb. 1-5. Golick wants to “use the social media to tell some stories about how social media are affecting relationships” and is recruiting writers, actors, designers and other interested collaborators to “put together a story room … to turn … data into story arcs.” Then, Golick wants to “have each writer create a character on the web using social media tools like blogs, social bookmarking, FriendFeed and Twitter. They can cast actors to ‘play’ their character in profile pictures, photo albums and other media they may develop.”

“During Social Media Week,” Golick says, participants can “play out the stories of our characters through their social networking activities.” She invites interested folks to e-mail her.

Then, on Feb. 6, Noa Baum (pictured), whom I had the pleasure of meeting at the 2009 Golden Fleece Conference last April, is holding an all-day seminar called “Your Life’s Story and the Legacy You Leave” under the auspices of the Smithsonian Resident Associate Program.

Some snippets from the seminar description:

Noa Baum shows how to shape memories into a personal narrative and how to reveal underlying universal themes.

The morning session provides an introduction to the oral tradition of storytelling as the oldest tool for transmitting wisdom and values from one generation to the next. After lunch, participants learn techniques for deepening and expanding the images within their stories, exploring the connections between personal narratives and universal archetypes. They also explore the role of the listener in shaping a story and learn how to interact with their listeners to gain insight into how stories become legacies.

Go here to reserve a spot in the seminar, which is held in Washington DC, at the S. Dillon Ripley Center of the Smithsonian.

Thanks to Thaler Pekar for alerting me to this one.