Ford Harding wrote to me about a recent posting: You adapted criteria for stories (as published in RainToday) to sell professional services to those to be told while job seeking. It works, too. You recommended that the hero of the story be the job seeker. I suggest a possible alternative. … Continue reading
Author Archives: KatHansen
Offerings from Steve Denning
Steve Denning continues his generous ways by sharing several articles of interest: Putting Narrative Into Practice: Tips, Tricks, Exercises and Templates Creating an Organization That Is Comfortable with Change The Morphology of Stories That Spark Organizational Renewal. This one is for the academic journal Organization, to which I’m also submitting … Continue reading
Sidebar Nominees
A couple of entries ago, I asked readers for suggestions for blogs and sites I could list on my sidebar. Thanks to Stephanie West Allen, Tom Clifford, and “Tim E.” for these suggestions: Memory Writers Network about which, creator Jerry Waxler writes: Memoir writing means different things to different people. … Continue reading
Were You There?
What a concept … I actually found a cool new resource through the Google ads here on A Storied Career. It’s Were You There? which is in beta. I’d consider this another convergence between social media.
Here’s what the founder, Jonathan Hull, says about the site:
Our mission is simple: to create a comprehensive and easy-to-use archive where the memories that shape our lives – and history – can not only be preserved but shared, creating a conversation about the moments in life that mattered.
The concept grew out of my own passion for storytelling both as a former TIME magazine bureau chief in Jerusalem and Chicago and a bestselling novelist. Over the years I’ve received many letters from readers who were moved to share some of the unforgettable moments in their own lives, hopeful that someone might listen. Because what are stories without an audience? At heart, we are all storytellers, telling and retelling our stories to give structure and meaning to our lives. The more letters I read, the more I realized that we all have stories that deserve to be told and remembered. But when I looked online for a place where these memories might come together in a meaningful way, whether from years ago or something that happened last week, I couldn’t find one.
So I created WereYouThere.
Hull invites “select a category and follow your memory back.” He says that if you can’t can’t find what you’re looking for (for example, I didn’t see the Kent State shootings or the Challenger or Columbia tragedies), “simply add a new topic yourself.”
Hull notes that you can also join a Community or start your own.
Hull’s examples of things you can do at WereYouThere:
- Share stories, photos and videos of growing up in your hometown, your old hangouts, high school or college.
- Remember the March from Selma, Woodstock or what it was like to live through Katrina.
- Reunite with others who served in your combat unit at Omaha Beach, Chosin Reservoir, Da Nang or Takrit.
- Relive the sites and sounds of the Summer of Love, your favorite travel spot or the Whisky a Go Go when The Doors took stage.
- Share a passion for ‘56 Chevys, Elvis or Coltrane.
- Recall the everyday scenes of a time gone by, from the fads and fashion to the cars, the music and the dreams that defined your generation.
People really are starting to share stories in this venue.
Extended entry lists other categories on Were You There?
Once Upon a Time
I’m excited about Terence Gargiulo’s 2007 book, Once upon a Time: Using Story-Based Activities to Develop Breakthrough Communication Skills because it offers story-based activities that can be used in the classroom. You can download a sample from the book.
Best Storytelling/Blogging Sites and Blogs?
I’d like to add more links to my sidebar and could use reader recommendations. I’m especially interested in sites and blogs about blogging and about storytelling. I saw that Technorati lists more than 600 storytelling blogs. Before I start going through all those, I’d like to know which you think … Continue reading
International Day for Sharing Life Stories
An International Day for Sharing Life Stories has been set for May 16, 2008. The day will be an opportunity for people around the world to gather in community halls, classrooms, public parks, theaters, auditoriums, as well websites, email exchanges, and virtual environments to hear each other’s stories.
You can read more here and in the extended entry.
Blogs Should Tell Stories
For someone who blogs about storytelling, I don’t tell enough stories. I’m reminded of that point by this posting.
E-Book Coming Soon
Here’s the book that resulted from my dissertation research. It will be available as a free e-book in the first half of 2008. Two preview chapters are available, one at this link, and the other as a PDF that you can request from me via e-mail: kathy@astoriedcareer.com. Starting in March, … Continue reading
What’s Your Narrative Intelligence?
In his most recent book, The Secret Language of Leadership, Steve Denning offers a chapter on Narrative Intelligence, which he describes this way: Narrative intelligence is the capacity to understand the world in narrative terms, to be familiar with the different components and dimensions of narratives, to know what are … Continue reading