Digital storytelling
Using new technology affordances to organize during high uncertainty
Ashley K. Barrett | Baylor University
This paper extends Pentland and Feldman’s (2007) narrative network
method and uses it to more clearly understand how new technology affordances and digital spaces impact storytelling and enactment
during and immediately after a crisis. To do this, I (a) examine the meaningful roles human motivation and feelings play in online
storytelling and enactment, and (b) analyze how context impacts storytelling and enactment, and therefore the construction of
narrative networks. Specifically, I analyze a series of Facebook messages exchanged during a recent, very publicized campus crisis
to reveal the nonlinear digital stories that are co-constructed online to keep others informed. I demonstrate how crisis-affected
populations capitalize on the affordances offered by social media to enact stories, correct stories, and ultimately to aid in
sensemaking and sense-giving after a crisis event. Implications of new technology affordances for creating and updating narratives
throughout times of high uncertainty are provided.
Keywords: digital storytelling, narrative, narrative network, social media, crisis communication, new technology affordances
Article outline
- Introduction
- Using new ICT affordances to enact stories
- Social media and perceived affordances in digital storytelling
- Narrative networks further defined
- Extending the narrative network method to consider motivation and context
- Case study: The 2018 Santa Fe High School shooting in Texas
- Research setting
- Methods and sample
- Results
- Distributional authorship
- Digital recombination
- Reviewability
- Participant narrative networks
- Discussion
- Implications of social media affordances for crisis story generation
- Advantages and difficulties with using the narrative network to study online storytelling
- Enactment of front and back narratives during high uncertainty
- Limitations and conclusion
-
References
Published online: 02 July 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.18017.bar
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.18017.bar
References
Alexander, B.
Barrett, A. K., & Posey, C.
forthcoming). Organizational crisis communication in the age of social media: Weaving a practitioner perspective into an extended case study. In K. K. Stephens Ed. New Media and Crisis Communication: New Agendas in Communication New York, NY Routledge
Bartel, C. A., & Garud, R.
Browning, L. D.
De Fina, A., & Georgakopoulou, A.
De Fina, A., & Gore, B. T.
De Fina, A., & Perrino, S.
East, S.
(2016, August). Teens: This is how social media affects your brain. CNN.com. Retrieved from: https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/12/health/social-media-brain/index.html
Faraj, S., Jarvenpaa, S. L., & Majchrzak, A.
Feldman, M. S., & Pentland, B. T.
Fisher, W. R.
Foley, M. M.
(2000) The (un)making of a reader. Language Arts, 771, 506–511. Retrieved from: http://www.ncte.org/journals/la/issues/v77-6
Georgakopoulou, A.
Giddens, A.
Hampton, K. N., Lee, C., & Her, E. J.
Hanna, J., Andone, D., Allen, K., & Almasy, S.
(May 2018) Alleged shooter at Texas high school spared people he liked, court document says. CNN.com. Retrieved from: https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/18/us/texas-school-shooting/index.html
Harris, J.
(March 2007) The web’s secret stories [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_harris_tells_the_web_s_secret_stories
Hutchby, I.
Lafrance, A.
(2016) The six main arcs in storytelling, as identified by an A.I. TheAtlantic.com. Retrieved from: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/07/the-six-main-arcs-in-storytelling-identified-by-a-computer/490733/
Leonardi, P. M., & Bailey, D. E.
Leonardi, P. M., & Vast, E.
Palen, L., Vieweg, S., Sutton, J., Liu, S. B., & Hughes, A.
Pentland, B. T., & Feldman, M. S.
Pentland, B. T., Recker, J., & Wyner, G.
Perrino, S.
Pipino, L., Lee, Y. W., & Wang, R. Y.
Reynolds, N., & Seeger, M. W.
Riain, S.
Ryan, M.
Shklovski, I., Burke, M., Kiesler, S., & Kraut, R.
Shugerman, E.
(May 2018) Texas school shooting: Student tells media “I wasn’t surprised, I was just scared”. Independent.com. Retrieved from: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/texas-school-shooting-girl-student-paige-curry-santa-fe-high-school-not-surprised-a8358586.html
Stuart, H. C., Dabbish, L., Kiesler, S., Kinnaird, P., & Kang, R.
Sutton, J., Palen, L., & Shklovski, I.
(2008) Backchannels on the front lines: Emergent use of social media in the 2007 Southern California wildfires. In F. Friedrich & B. Van de Walle (Eds.), Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Information Systems and Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM) Washington D. C., pp. 624–632.
Veil, S. R., Buehner, T., & Palenchar, M. J.
Weick, K. E.
Cited by
Cited by 4 other publications
Ayar Senturk, Hayat
De Fina, Anna
Hawkins, Ian & Muniba Saleem
Thompson, Charee M., Kayla B. Rhidenour, Kate G. Blackburn, Ashley K. Barrett & Sara Babu
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 10 april 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.