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Article published In:
Narrative Inquiry
Vol. 29:1 (2019) ► pp.213–243

Digital storytelling

Using new technology affordances to organize during high uncertainty

| 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: 2 July 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.18017.bar
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