Yikes! What Do We Think of a Storytelling Robot?

Posted on by

As reported on Confessions of a Technophile, researchers from Japan’s prestigious Waseda University and the Shanghai Jiaotong University in China have jointly developed a robot capable of reading out stories from printed books.


Called Ninomiyakun, the aluminum-made robot is 1-meter tall and weighs 25kg. It comes with a built-in camera and a computer that can recognize 2,300 Japanese characters (Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji) commonly known to a Japanese elementary school student. A character recognition software is used to translated text into spoken words, which are produced by a voice synthesizer.

Kamada Seiitirou, the professor who co-developed the robot, told the Yomiuri Shimbun that in future, Ninomiyakun will be enhanced to tell stories with emotions.

I can’t help thinking of Sean Buvala and his definition of story, which includes the requirement for “an audience in front of the teller which can be one person or thousands.” OK, the audience needs to consist of people, but does the storyteller have to be a person (!!??).

Q&A with a Story Guru: Karen Dietz: Ethics, Quality, Knowledge Sharing on Storytelling Horizon

Posted on by

See a photo of Karen, her bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, and Part 2.

Q&A with Karen Dietz, Question 5:

Q: What future trends or directions do you foresee for
story/storytelling/narrative? What’s next for the discipline?

A: I think there are multiple events on the horizon for the discipline: a greater focus on ethics and quality; an improved skill base; and more knowledge sharing among story professionals. I also see organizational story work moving into becoming a core competence for organizations. Today it is seen too often as a mere tool, which is severely limiting and does not recognize storytelling as fundamental to an organization’s success. I would like to think that organizations are starting to realize that mastering stories and storytelling is a core competence to their business growth and operations. Personally, my passion is training leaders to become compelling storytellers as an essential leadership and influence skill. Coaching — workshops — I love it!

Q&A with a Story Guru: Karen Dietz: Too Many Treat Stories, Storytelling as Trivial

Posted on by

See a photo of Karen, her bio, and Part 1 of this Q&A.

Q&A with Karen Dietz, Question 3 and 4:

Q: How important is it to you and your work to function within the framework of a particular definition of “story?” (i.e., What is a story?) What definition do you espouse?

A: My definition of a story, adapted from my artist friend Peggy VanPelt along with author David Hutchens, is “an act of communication illustrating interconnections between characters, ideas, events, and even abstract concepts that provide people with packets of sensory material allowing them to quickly and easily internalize the material, comprehend it, and create meaning from it.” Notice there’s no mention of story structure (beginning, middle, end) or story arc (current state, transition, problem, resolution, conclusion). That’s because stories come in all shapes and sizes. Stories, particularly in their oral telling, shift and change to fit the context, audience, intent and a whole host of other factors. So stories and storytelling is malleable. I believe oral storytelling is the most impactful. But it really depends on the context/situation as to which story structure to use, which story elements, how to work the story arc, and which media to employ. By media I mean whether it’s written, on a CD or in video format. While oral storytelling is the gold standard, for me, other media are sometimes necessary, although there are always pluses and minuses to each type of media. The questions to ask someone wanting to effectively use stories/storytelling in an organization, is “What am I trying to do? What outcome am I trying to obtain? What kind of story/stories do we need to tell and in what media in order to reach our objectives?”

Q: Are there any current uses of storytelling that repel you or that you feel are inappropriate?

A: Storytelling has immense power to both heal and harm. It bothers me to no end that as a profession, we aren’t actively discussing examples of great organizational story work, and those that are deficient or abysmal. What passes for organizational stories/storytelling in a lot of cases is just pure junk. It’s terrible. Too many people treat stories and storytelling many times as if it is trivial, instead of immensely powerful. People with no or very little training think they can effectively work with stories and storytelling in an organization, which creates only mediocre results, I’m afraid. And we rarely talk about the dark side of story — those times when stories are deliberately used to harm and destroy others.

Story Presentation Contest at Interim

Posted on by

A few weeks ago, I noted that SlideShare was holding a tell-a-story slideshow contest.

Entries are now closed and in the judges’ hands, but the folks at SlideShare noted they had some favorite entrants and gave links to three of them.

I hope the judges have a better sense of story than the SlideShare folks do.

The only one of the three that I felt was really a story is the one embedded below, The Short Story of Drunkenomics. I don’t happen to support its message, but it tells its story without narration and with minimal type on the slides.

I don’t really get the message of the second one, The Small & Big of It. It barely tells a story, in my opinion. It has a soundtrack, but it’s music rather than narration.

The third one, Creative Thinking: Your Edge, while a lovely slideshow, comes nowhere close to being a story.

 


 

 

Q&A with a Story Guru: Karen Dietz: Looking Beyond the Hero’s Journey

Posted on by

 

I first encountered Karen Dietz while working on my dissertation and have eagerly followed her work ever since. It is a true thrill and privilege to present her Q&A here. This Q&A will appear over the next five days.

Bio (from her Polaris Associates Web site): Karen Dietz, PhD., owner of Polaris Associates Consulting, Inc., works with leaders and executive teams who want to assemble and cultivate their most compelling stories, and tell them in ways that produces results. Her background in the diverse fields of folklore, creativity, strategy, organizational development, high performance teams, and interpersonal communication have allowed her to develop targeted approaches to executive storytelling and organizational narratives. As a coach, facilitator and storyteller, her clients have included Walt Disney Imagineering, Chase Manhattan Bank, City of Santa Monica, and Avery Dennison.

Karen draws on her experience in top-flight organizations to provide practical experience, guidance, and tools that can be put to work immediately.

Karen received her doctorate in Folklore from the University of Pennsylvania and is the former Executive Director of the National Storytelling Network. She is a member of the National Communication Association, Organizational Development Network, the National Storytelling Network, an online organizational narrative community of practice Worldwide Story Work, the past president and former program chair of the Storytelling In Organizations Special Interest Group. Karen is also a certified coach in Vocal Awareness techniques, and is one of the few in the field of stories and organizations bringing together story and vocal skills for greater effectiveness. In addition, her personality type reports for work environments are popular and sold worldwide

In her own words: “With a PhD in Folklore, I’ve always been engaged with stories. When I moved from academics into business training and consulting, I was always listening for, working with, analyzing, and retelling stories as a part of my team building, org change, and leadership engagements.

“In working with senior executives and organizational change, I repeatedly saw how if a leader could tell a compelling story about what change needed to happen, and why, the chance of the initiative succeeding was great. If they could not tell a compelling story about it, I could guarantee the initiative would fail. Why waste all that money doing a year’s worth of research, recommendations, plans and action steps when it could all go so easily down the drain in just a
few moments?

“In 2000 I decided to shift my business to working with senior executives, organizations, and their stories so they could stop wasting buckets of money. And be more effective!

“Over the decades, as a professional storyteller, I’ve been trained by some of the best performance storytellers in the nation.

“My goals for leaders are to increase their effectiveness, be compelling, capture the hearts and minds of people, and save money.

“My goals for organizations is to crystallize their identity through compelling stories, be more effective in both internal and external communication, produce bottom-line measurable results, and increase their profits.”

Q&A with Karen Dietz, Questions 1 and 2:

Q: You offer a workshop described this way: “For the past 20 years, a complete cycle of stories has been slowly dying while a new cycle of stories is rapidly growing. Understand where our culture is heading and how these changes in story impact your product/service, marketing and sales strategies.” I’m sure you could write volumes about this story cycle, but if you can summarize briefly, please tell readers the cause of this cycling of stories and a few key characteristics of the new cycle of stories.

A: I’ve changed my thoughts on this statement, somewhat. I am now focusing on the mono-myth of the hero and how inadequate it is today to meet our needs as a human race. Of course, the hero story will always be present. But today almost all of what we do has been reduced to the hero’s story or journey. Not everything we do is heroic, and there are plenty of other journeys than the hero’s. In fact, when I work with leaders, I talk about how the hero story that they’ve grown up with in an organization needs to be replaced by the magician’s story and journey. The hero’s journey is a story of an individual. The magician’s journey is the story of a community. It’s based in building community, telling and sharing stories of community in order to reach a goal. At some point, every manager has to put away the hero’s story of an individual making it happen. Instead, they need to become a leader who, as a magician, facilitates organizational change. I could write volumes on this topic, and it’s only in the last few years that I’ve started to share some of my thinking about this.

On the story cycle: Why are we so steeped in the hero’s journey? I wish I knew. Organizational story professional Richard Stone talked many years ago about the “de-storification” of our culture. You can see it all the time in the formulaic movies Hollywood produces. And you can see it when the news media scrambles to identify a lone hero when in fact the story is about several heroes or a community of heroes. Where are the trickster tales? Where are the stories of community? Where are the king or queen stories? Where are the crone stories? I could go on. So as a storyteller, I am always asking myself, “What are the stories that are not being told that people might need to hear?” and “What different kinds of stories do I need to listen for?” I find those to be much more provocative questions that helps shape my work as coach, consultant, trainer, and storyteller.

Q: How did you initially become involved with story/storytelling/narrative? What attracted you to this field? What do you love about it?

A: I initially became involved in storytelling through graduate school where I was receiving my doctorate in Folklore & Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania. I was exposed to storytelling as an academic subject, but it really made an impact on me when I got to know storyteller Ron Evans from Canada. As the keeper of the sacred stories for his tribe (Chippewa/Cree), he taught me the power of oral storytelling, and I learned the most about stories and storytelling from him. His lessons about the care and feeding of stories I still carry with me today, and I do my best to pass along what he taught me.

Hundreds of Thousands of Healthcare Stories Attest to Broken System

Posted on by

What struck me the most about President Obama’s recent televised town-hall meeting on healthcare was that when he asked the gathering of some 160 people of all political persuasions if any of them felt the healthcare system is fine the way it is, not a single one raised a hand.

Over the past few weeks, the administration has collected hundreds of thousands of stories about just how messed up the healthcare system is.

I have read many of these stories and find them a mix of poignant, heartbreaking, and enraging. There are also stories of people who have lived in countries where healthcare is accessible and affordable.

Disagreement about how to solve the healthcare problem is rampant, but when you read these stories, you know that America must fix healthcare.

I am convinced that we will get it done this time.

The fact that the administration is using stories to make the case gives me even more hope.

The healthcare story site is still collecting stories. Tell yours today.

Job-seekers: Here Are Ways to Find Your Stories

Posted on by

Don’t know how I managed to miss this post from Shawn Callahan of Anecdote from January of this year since storytelling in the job search is my “thing.”

Shawn suggests several excellent ways to find stories you can use in your job search, especially in interviews:

  • Draw a timeline of your career with significant events and your feelings about them.
  • Recount remembered events out loud to yourself, or someone else. (I would advise framing the events as accomplishments.) If you write down the events, avoid recounting them the way you’ve written it because they will sound unnatural, Shawn says.
  • Look at random images to see if they jog your memory about other professional experiences.
  • Listen to the stories of others. “Make notes about any anecdote that springs to mind about your own experiences at work focusing on the ones that set you apart,” Shawn advises.
  • Always carry a story notebook to jot them down because memories may creep up on you by surprise, and, Shawn says, “I will guarantee you will forget it instantly if you don’t either write it down of have the opportunity to tell the story a couple of times.”

Now, for ways to polish your ability to tell these stories in interviews, Shawn advises:

  • Practicing stories, which will most likely at first sound “rambling and, quite frankly, boring.” If you tell the stories to others, you’ll learn what to edit out based on their responses — “facial expressions, comments.”
  • Be specific and avoid generalizations. … The story has to about a specific individual (you!) “trying to achieve something, ideally with some obstacle that [you] eventually overcame.”
  • Help people visualize what’s happening. “The best stories are ones that the listener can picture vividly in their mind’s eye,” Shawn says.

Shawn says to aim for about a dozen stories you can tell in interviews. Although I have found that a stockpile of as few as five stories can be adapted in response to most interview questions, I advise shooting for a goal of about 20.

Coming Soon: Storied Careers, a Free E-book Compilation of Story Practitioner Q&As

Posted on by

I’m excited to announce a new project, a downloadable PDF e-book, Storied Careers: 40+ Story Practitioners Talk About Applied Storytelling, which will compile all the Q&As with story gurus that have appeared in A Storied Career since the series began last September.

Rather than simply repeat all the Q&As as they appeared here, I will arrange them by topic; for example, all the responses to my question about defining story will appear together. Bios, photos, and contact information for all Q&A participants will appear in the back of the book.

This free e-book will feature Molly Catron, Jessica Lipnack, Terrence Gargiulo, Jon Hansen, Svend-Erik Engh (pending permission), Loren Niemi, Gabrielle Dolan, John Caddell, Shawn Callahan, Stephanie West Allen, Madelyn Blair, David Vanadia, Tom Clifford, Sharon Lippincott, Ardath Albee, Sharon Benjamin,Carol Mon, Ron Donaldson, Cynthia Kurtz, Annette Simmons, Karen Gilliam, Michael Margolis, Corey Blake, Susan Luke, Mike Wittenstein, Cathie Dodd, Sarah White, Chris Benevich, Karen Johnson, Jon Buscall, Thaler Pekar, Lori Silverman, Casey Hibbard, Katie Snapp, Rob Sullivan, Andree Iffrig, Whitney Quesenbery, Sean Buvala, Stephane Dangel, Karen Dietz, and probably a few others who have promised Q&As that I don’t have in hand yet.

Estimated release: By end of summer, but I hope sooner.

Story Collections Address Diverse Needs

Posted on by

Here are some interesting sites I’ve come across recently that offer story collections. Some solicit stories from the public.

  • Fear.less collects stories about people who have overcome heir fears. From the site: “fear.less is a movement borne from our right to live without fear. It’s where human potential meets the courage to act. Every story you read is an example of conquering fear, whether an immediate physical danger, the looming threat of failure, the pressure to compete in a changing world, the incessant quest for identity, or the overwhelming uncertainty of death.”
  • The Maine Women’s Fund offers inspiring stories of women making change happen. From the site: “Each month, the Maine Women’s Fund recognizes and celebrates women and girls who are making positive change happen in their lives, their communities and in Maine. Through Making Change Happen: Women Creating a Better Maine profiles, we share the stories of bold women who are building businesses, nurturing families, teaching young people, leading industries and strengthening communities.” The stories download as attractively designed PDF files and serve as an excellent model for any organization seeking to spotlight people’s stories.
  • Place + Memory is “recreating places that no longer exist. Places that were important to us. we are creating a series of stories for radio and an online map where you’ll be able to add your own memories through text, photos, sound, whatever.” Categories of places for which stories are sought include Where We Shop & Dine, That’s Entertainment, In The Neighborhood, Where Things Grow, The Natural World, Institutional Life, Byways, Gathering Places, Landmarks, Where We Work, and No Place Like Home. If I were submitting a story, it might be about the Peter Pan Bakery in my hometown, Moorestown, NJ. This best-bakery-ever, which closed last year, made out-of-this-world cream donuts. I learned just yesterday that my sister’s best friend has two of these donuts in her freezer. I would kill for one of those! Of course, given that the series is for radio, it would be hard to capture the most distinctive sensory aspect of Peter Pan — the amazing smell!
  • Here’s a great idea for nonprofits: The Michigan Nonprofit Association has a Nonprofit Storybank, a collection of articles “that prove the impact of our sector on the lives of individuals. By submitting your story through the following form, you can easily outreach to a broad audience who is interested in the diverse human interest stories of our members, and help to advance your organization’s mission.”
  • Tea Cart Stories require audiences to experience them at a certain place and time, in this case, the Lower East Side in New York City. Reports the blog The Food Section: Tea Cart Stories is “an interactive public art exhibition exploring tea as a locus of tradition, memory, and culture. Artist Michele Brody will set up a tea cart … and invite guests inside to share family stories and experiences dealing with tea. Brody will record and transcribe the stories on paper tea bags steeped in tea leaves which will then be displayed on a structure made of copper pipes installed on an early 20th century pushcart.” Story-gathering takes lace at certain times during the month. Here’s a different incarnation from 2007. (Thanks to Thaler Pekar for telling me about this one.)
  • I’ve written here before both about science stories and The Moth. A convergence of the two in which The Moth sponsored an evening of science stories told in Moth style with Moth rules mostly exists as a moment in time, although at least one story exists on video (see below). The site The Scientist had this to say: “Science is a story — a story about ideas, but also a story about the remarkable people who devote their lives to unraveling the wonders of nature. Scientists themselves, however, rarely have a vessel to impart their personal wisdoms since the main outlet for scientific research — peer-reviewed literature — is typically devoid of narrative. … at the World Science Festival in New York City[,] two Nobel Laureates, two neurobiologists, and two writers poured their hearts out to a packed room of showgoers at an event called Matter: Stories of Atoms and Eves, which was sponsored by The Moth, a nonprofit group that hosts storytelling slams. In keeping with The Moth’s traditions, each story of the event had to be true, short, and told without notes.” The stories sound fascinating. The most significant aspect of this event, to me anyway, was the “rapt audience,” as The Scientist described it. Compare this way of reporting about science to the dry papers presented at conferences.

Two final sites deal with fiction. Although I don’t focus on fiction much in A Storied Career, I spotlight these sites because of their interesting approaches.

  • Her Side is a “multimedia fiction project conceived by author Mur Lafferty and photographer J.R. Blackwell. Mur Lafferty’s narrative leads the reader through a story of violence, love and self discovery as J.R. Blackwell’s photography illuminates the unspoken elements of the story. Together, they combine two different storytelling methods to tell one story.”
  • Sniplits MP3 audio short stories run from under a minute to about an hour. “They are professionally narrated and produced as MP3 files, so you can download them just like you download music,” the site says.

Stories in the Eye of the Beholder

Posted on by

Sometimes when I see art or photography described as great storytelling, I wonder if I’m supposed to see a really obvious story that everyone else sees.

More fruitful, I think, is to imagine one’s own story to go with each image.

There’s plenty of fodder in two sets of photos on the theme “Trouble in Paradise” by Christoph Martin Schmid. One set is labeled “Day,” the other, “Night.”

In fact, one of my favorite storytelling activities is to use an image or set of images as a story prompt. Without considering artistic intent, I like to conjure my own story for each image.