Microstorytelling // Brevity is the soul of wit
I've had it in mind for a while now to write a post about one of the recurring themes throughout my project: storytelling.
Storytelling is something that is being talked about a lot in the design world lately; to the extent that it is in danger of becoming a generic buzzword. But the concept of storytelling is not generic, it can have many different meanings and purposes depending on the context.
In the realm of learning, storytelling contextualises theory, helping us to understand principles and subsequently put them into practice. This element of contextualisation is particularly pertinent in the context of the My.COOP project as there is an element of standardisation in the written training material, which is intended for eventual use in Africa, Asia and Latin America, across all the different kinds of agricultural cooperatives. The use of mobile phones during the training offers the possibility for tailored interaction with each and every My.COOP participant, and in the context of storytelling, could mean the delivery of stories that help frame the material within the individual's own context.
Storytelling is also a very important concept in the African context. In Africa stories are an important part of the culture, and have a strong influence in the instillment of values and beliefs.
Aside from contextualisation and value instillment, perhaps the most important factor of all is that as human beings we are drawn to stories, we enjoy them, and for this reason they capture our attention and imagination.
But how can storytelling have value via the medium of mobile phones? In particular, using the most low end technologies of voice calling and SMS?
These questions led me to the concept of microstorytelling.
Rather than a concept born from the character contraints of Twitter or SMS, this is based on the simple notion that you can say a lot with a few words. The forebear is assumed to be Ernest Hemingway who once wrote a miniature masterpiece: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."
This inspired the six-word movement (see Twitter #sixwords). Back in 2006, Smith Magazine built a bestselling six-word memoir series out of reader's submissions. That same year, Wired Magazine published six-word science fiction stories.
Inspiration can also be found in micropoetry, made famous by the traditional Japanese haiku, which in recent years has insipired the Twitter poetry or "twaiku" movement (see #twaiku, #haiku, #micropoetry, #micropoem, #poetweet).
Finally, going back to the African context, there is a strong tradition of proverbs and sayings that encapsulate profound principles in a few words. Metaphors and similes feature heavily in these proverbs, which can be a powerful medium of communicating the underlying values of cooperatives and even of education itself: "Knowledge is like a garden; if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested."
I hope to use these inspirations in the concept generation phase and I'm sure the theme of storytelling will be cropping up again on the blog soon!
Links
http://www.sixwordstories.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Word_Memoirs
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/sixwords.html
http://haitotheku.com/
http://twyric.com/
http://www.afriprov.org/
