What's the story?

Te Ara—the encyclopedia of New Zealand/Aotearoa—launched last week with "New Zealanders," the first of nine themes which are to appear progressively over the project’s remaining seven years.

The tagline "What's the story?" is a catchy acknowledgement of the importance of narrative in articulating our multiple perspectives and cultural identity. To meet their goal of involving the community the project team also invited people to tell their own, or their ancestor’s stories—initially stories of the voyage out to New Zealand.

While I commend the approach, after reading some of the stories I can’t help feeling an opportunity has been missed to tell them in a more engaging way. Kiwi blogger David Farrar is suggesting 10% of Te Ara’s NZ$12 million funding be diverted to fund researchers to update New Zealand-related Wikipedia entries. My suggestion is that 3% of the funding be used to send a team of digital storytellers into New Zealand communities to help our people tell their stories creatively in the digital medium.

Walking the walk

It is rather alarming to realise that as a parent I am under constant surveillance—by my own children! They observe me, scrutinise my every act and absorb the values I communicate—both intentional and unintentional.

Kevin Salwen wisely states that values are the most important thing parents pass on to their children. However, words without actions are empty words, as Dana Williams, talking about the value of tolerance, points out:

As parents it is easy to talk to kids about the values we want them to embrace and live by. It is so much harder to show kids these values.

It's not enough to just talk the talk; we have to walk the walk.

Over at Legacy Matters, Jill confirms this:

For more than a fleeting impression, values must be lived. For a lasting impression, values must be memorialized.

and suggests storytelling as a way to preserve and promote a family's values. Nowhere is this better expressed than in The Storyteller's Guide:

Storytelling connects people. It connects hearts. It helps answer questions like: Who am I? Who are my people? With what values did they live? How should I live? How should I die? What are the legacies that I want to transmit to my children and to the next generation?

If you're looking for examples of stories used to promote values Jill suggests you visit The Foundation For a Better Life where they believe: "The values we live by are worth more when we pass them on." Pass it on!

Jesus is just alright by me

Cliff Atkinson believes we are in the midst of a storytelling renaissance. His evidence is two-fold:

1. Recognition from the motion graphic design industry that effective communication relies on telling stories—Cliff quotes Jesus de Francisco:
   

   We are at a point now where technology has liberated us from focusing on technology, and now we can concentrate on what really matters—the story.

2. News that General Electric has adopted a one-word corporate communication mantra—story.

Cliff's new book takes an Aristotelian storytelling approach to encourage us to move beyond bullet points when structuring our PowerPoint presentations:

…a story is the opposite of a list. Where a list is dry, fragmented and soulless; a story is juicy, coherent, and full of life.

If you can't wait for the book, Cliff hints at what a PowerPoint that blends classical storytelling and multimedia might look like when he describes the first five slides. There is also a Flash version, but beware—it does not work on Macs or in Firefox.

Update: PDFs of the Table of Contents, Introduction and Chapter 1 are available here.