John Seely Brown Interviewed by Seth Kahan
Seth Kahan,
Apr 15, 2004
I've never really bought into the 'storytelling' aspect of new forms of online learning (and things like blogs and social networks) touted in this interview with John Seely Brown and similar articles. Maybe it's just me. I get really impatient with stories - as I sit there, listening to irrelevant stage setting I want to grab them by the collar and say, "Get to the point already." So why does the story seem so attractive? Part of it is the narrative - it takes us in a nice linear path through difficult terrain. Part of it is the personalization - stories are about real people (me, even) and events, and related to this, the ability to represent a concept from multiple points of view or contexts. Part of it is the informality. And part of it is the wider range of expressive elements a story may contain. But none of this is particular to storytelling specifically, and so it seems to me that the concept of storytelling is itself no more than a metaphor for linear (but non hierarchal), context-specific, expressive discourse. Now all this I do buy into. Of course, put like that - who's interested? The trick here is to not get caught up in the metaphor - people like Brown may say storytelling, but they're lulling you into accepting an idea that's a lot more complex, and a lot more important. Via Seb's Open Research, via Jay Cross.
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