Digital Media, Storytelling and the Repression of Communication

The Revolution is Here: How Digital Media and Awakened Citizens Are Changing the World

The
Storyteller
Uprising

w w w.mcdm.washington.edu

Hanson Hosein hrhmedia@uw.edu Twitter: hrhmedia
Thursday, January 14, 2010 1

Seattle Town Hall 1/13/10. Today: Haiti, Google turning off censorship in China,
assassination of an Iranian nuclear physicist. This all plays into tonight’swtalk, and has
w w.mcdm.washington.edu
various digital media streams buzzing.

Photo credit: Walt Handelsman, Newsday


Here’s some Standard Operating Procedure “start of talk humor.” Reﬂects both the promise
and vulnerability of digital media as a communication savior. Something I’d like to address
tonight.

Bethlehem
10 Years Ago


I’ve long been intrigued by how technology can make communication more transparent. 10
years ago, I was at NBC News, desperate to tell smaller, more under-the-radar stories. I
came across this great computer center in a refugee camp outside of Bethlehem --
palestinian refugee kids speaking to other throughout the Middle East (held back by physical
barriers). Rumored local imam didn’t like boys and girls together, arson burned down the
center. PROMISE + TENSION.

“anyone can practice
journalism”

“and anyone usually
does”
~ Joan Konner, Columbia J-School Dean ’94


This idea of “other voices” was planted early in my head. I think my Dean at Columbia J-
School was referring more to how professionals needed to assert themselves as the
gatekeepers of trustworthy, credible communication. But it was a powerful idea nonetheless.

“more and more
people will join
the ‘craft’ of
journalism, less
money to pay
them.”
~ NBC VP

Photo by FromTheNorth (flickr)


Even as I graduated and headed to this building (now lampooned by “30 Rock”), a prescient
VP warned me I was coming in at an exciting, less lucrative moment. Again, he was thinking
less about the digital threat, than about the explosion of new news sources, particularly on
cable TV.


Still, I was in 20’s, and captivated by the power, glory and opportunity of working for a well-
resourced news organization. Even as they sought to get rid of a guy with the last name
“Hussein” by shipping him off to a glamorous overseas posting...


...in the Jewish state of Israel. It was a wonderful time for a young journalist to perfect his
craft overseas, telling stories from a region where stories had been resonating since the
Garden of Eden in Mesopotamia.


But I didn’t forget what the Dean and the NBC VP had said, and I was intrigued by the digital
technology I was beginning to see “in the ﬁeld.” I wanted to tell more stories like the one in
the Palestinian refugee camp, NBC...not so much. So I quit the network at the height of my
career, and ended up on the Russian front. Or with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in
BC, where I learned to shoot and edit my own stories. But it was still a major media
institution, and I was uneasy.


I would end up starting my own company, and re-joining NBC as a hired gun at the outset of
Operation Iraqi Freedom. Suddenly, they liked the fact that I could use this smaller, cheaper
technology in close quarters -- like being embedded in a military unit. I then traveled
around the region, and went live hundreds of times, while pioneering this “backpack
journalist” technology.


Still, I was on borrowed time back at NBC. I just don’t think it was in my DNA to work within
such a large organization, and I wanted to tell stories myself without being controlled by a
particular editorial policy.

The Power of One


Here, I’m about to interview a surly Hezbullah official who was far more accustomed to two-
camera Mike Wallace interviews, than my portable digital setup.
I was really intrigued by the thought of wresting control away from the traditional media
powerbrokers...

From Correspondent

Photo by Darwin Bell (flickr)


engaged in one-way communication to a passive audience...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/darwinbell/292626608/

To Distributed Correspondent

Photo by katphotos (flickr)


...to something hopefully more decentralized, democratic, and diverse.
photo credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/20195637@N00/2340647999

From Correspondent Interviewing


What if we could move from “Big Media’s” “Big Get” of interviews with heads of state like
Israeli PM Ehud Barak...

To Interviewees Corresponding


....to heads of state like Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad corresponding directly with
their constituents through online platforms?

Why Now?


That’s all happening now. Why? Simply, we have the inexpensive communication tools to
create content, and readily-available platforms to distribute that content beyond our
traditional social circle of immediate family and friends. This means we don’t have to rely
solely on a small circle of experts and powerbrokers to share an idea...

No one knows
everything.

Everyone knows
Dr. Henry Jenkins:
Convergence Culture
something.

All knowledge resides in
humanity.


...and in the history of our species, never had we had access to so much information to take
such a “do-it-yourself” approach to communication. Henry Jenkins formerly of MIT.

The Paradigm of Narrative
I am writing a book! as it Relates to Social
Trust and the Conveyance
of Knowledge in Networked
Systems and Society


All this readily accessible information demands that we have to be more transparent in our
actions -- as it’s so easy to fact-check online. So full disclosure, I’m writing a book, with this
academically-worded premise. Okay, my working title is actually “The Storytelling Uprising:
How to Connect in the Disruption of the Digital Age”

trustmebook.blogspot.com

and a blog!


Obviously, a book is very much “old media.” But it’s just one part of a new information
ecosystem that allows us to share ideas, such as the ones that I’ve collaboratively produced
with my students over the last couple of years. And I want to try those ideas out with you
tonight, with the understanding that with digital media, we’re engaged in an ongoing
conversation. I’ve got a blog. I expect some pushback from you during the Q&A. “The
Storytelling Uprising: How to Connect in the Disruption of the Digital Age” will be a better
book if I engage a community in its formulation.

Everyone is a media organization.


We all have the power to communicate this way now. Just today, with the Haitian earthquake,
Rainn Wilson sent out an appeal to his million plus followers to donate; so did Wyclef Jean.
The Red Cross raised $1 million by soliciting donations via text messages. When President
Obama spoke on Afghanistan a few weeks back, the Taliban used the Internet to issue a
rebuttal. The media middleman is disappearing.

More choice
More voices

Less time
Photo by albertopveiga (flickr)
Less attention

This is fabulous, a diversiﬁcation of our communication universe. More information than
ever before, but less time and attention than ever before too.

Less trust

More noise
Photo by albertopveiga (flickr)


We used to trust mass media organizations. That trust began to erode in the early 90’s as
monopolies began to form. And now with so many more voices in digital media -- because
it’s so CHEAP AND EASY to communicate -- we’re even more confused. We don’t know who
many of these people are. How can we trust someone if they say on Twitter that they just
saw a plane land on the Hudson River?

Today’s Communication
Conundrum

How do we persuade
someone to pay attention
to what we have to say?


We’re no longer facing the challenge of HOW to communicate to the public. That’s the easy
part. It’s more how to PERSUADE them to pay attention to what we’ve just said publicly.

Today’s Communication
Conundrum
Once they notice us, how do
we keep them interested
enough to engage in some
sort of transaction?


and even if they pay attention, how do we convince them to trust them to change their mind,
take some kind of action or share the idea with others. Because we’re just so trustworthy?
Why will I donate to some charity just because someone shared a URL with me on Facebook?

reach out with a
value proposition

Photo by mcgraths (flickr)


We have to strike a bargain. Some sort of quid pro quo.
photo credit: http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/mcgraths/3277839203/sizes/l/

relevant
useful
relatable
engaging in an ongoing relationship of mutual beneﬁt



We have to show how the communication that we’re offering is some how relevant to my life.
Is it useful? Can I relate to it? Is it relevant?
photo credit: http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/mcgraths/3277839203/sizes/l/

People pay attention to stories that help make sense of their lives.

story



STORYTELLING helps to resolve this value proposition.
that’s the heart of the transaction between storyteller and community.

Independent America


I decided to experiment with this idea by producing my own documentary about what I
thought was a growing insurgency in America against big box stores like Wal-Mart. I
couldn’t get any institutional support or a broadcaster, so we decided we just head out with
these new tools and try and tell the story ourselves.


We created a blog, and shared the story with a growing community even as we were traveling
and ﬁlming it. This community became so engaged, that they ended up spreading the word
about the ﬁlm, and even asked us to sell them DVD’s before we had completed the trip. So
even though we didn’t have institutional support, they learned to trust us through our story
and how we shared it. A storytelling bargain. Here’s the 2-minute trailer.


So a grassroots community sustained us, and only later would mass media take note,
purchasing the ﬁlm in various countries, and broadcasting it to wider audiences. The ﬁlm
continues to screen online at Hulu.com

Aristotle’s
Poetics

The Bible for screenwriters from
4th century B.C.

Photo by albany_tim (flickr)


None of this is particularly new. Aristotle studied the power of story himself in Poetics.
photo credit: http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/albany_tim/2605180337/

Aristotle’s Story Structure

“Climax”

Middle

Beginning End


Aristotle: “Complication” tying of knot” (tension) then “untying” (empathy). This makes
stories memorable and “sticky.” In our case, a story of a couple traveling across America --
would they make it? Could they stick to those two rules? They do, and they also have a
revelation.

Dillingham & Ohler Story
Structure


This power of story further reﬁned Joseph Campbell by the idea of “transformation” and the
idea that stories are deeply embedded in who we are as humans.; child (discipline,
dependence); adult (self-responsible, power); old age/death (dismissal, disengagement).

So, we’ve been telling stories
forever.

What’s New?


If there’s too much noise our world of communication, if there’s a lack of trust because so
much seems like hearsay, what if we looked at how stories can create a relationship between
the storyteller and the listener through emotion, empathy, and a 2-way connection? 20th
century industrialized communication through mass audiences and mass media. Social
media breaks that down.

New Technology

Inexpensive
Accessible
Available


And it’s facilitated by cheap transmission tools. Especially ﬂash video and cellphone
cameras.

Stories resonate
when they have
authenticity &
emotion.

Photo by Victor Bezrukov


Why, for example, does something like the Haiti earthquake galvanize us so much? So many
victims, the magnitude, a huge challenge to overcome. And digital media gets us closer,
even allows us to take action.
photo credit http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/s-t-r-a-n-g-e/382031318/sizes/o/

message

consumer

audience

So this top-down approach to communication is quickly disappearing.

user
This newfound power
coincides with a loss of
control by institutions relationship
over information and
message, thanks to
democratizing
technology.

community


Digital media is changing the actual balance of power. We’re no longer a captive audience
anymore. We demand more, we can take action and collaborate without the need of a major
company or government intervening in the transaction.

Tonight:
Iran

Photo by Hamed Saber


Case in point, where communication has been controlled for so long, the Middle East, and
Iran. Quintessential top-down, command communications economy.
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/hamed/2120544345/sizes/l/

Iran
Online

Internet is
censored

FB & Twitter
unblocked
in 2009


There’s a great deal of online activity in Iran especially. They unblocked Twitter and
Facebook early last year. The opposition leader has a highly successful Twitter account.

Iran
Online

Strong & diverse
blogging culture


25 million users online, blogging is huge: 40-700,000 blogs?, 1/2 have mobile phones.
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/publications/2008/Mapping_Irans_Online_Public/interactive_blogosphere_map

“I love my
mobile phone
like a baby!”
~Um Bassm


Mobile technology has had great impact in the Middle East. Egypt, Jordan SMS, Twitter.
The Economist: "asked to name the single biggest benefit of America’s invasion, many Iraqis fail to mention
freedom or democracy but instead praise the advent of mobile phones..."

Most people’s “ﬁrst and only
access to the internet will be
through a mobile device – not
a PC.”
~Nokia CEO

there are about 4.6 billion mobile subscriptions among the planet's 6.8 billion people today. "For the majority of the world's
people, their first and only access to the Internet will be through a mobile device - not a PC. And this access is spreading very,
very fast." "In China, every month more than 7 million people gain access to the Internet for the first time, and mostly on
mobile devices," he said.
So suddenly, we have this very powerful, pervasive communication tool -- though we which we can convey content and
powerful ideas TO THE WORLD with a click of a key.

ﬁlter then publish.


compare that to our mass media approach to communication; when the technology was so
expensive, that there were few actors. And anytime you wanted to communicate, you had to
make sure the content was highly polished and digestible by a large audience so as to justify
the cost and give you a decent Return on Investment. So as NYU’s Clay Shirky says, you
would first filter your content, then publish it.

publish then ﬁlter.

with “excess capacity” to take advantage of these tools.


Now, we don’t even have to think about it. Everything is so cheap and so pervasive that we
should put it out there and rely on people to decide what they want to take in. And our
motivation isn’t primarily monetary, we do much of this production and communication in our
spare time (i.e. it’s not something that most of us get paid for). That’s what thinkers like Yale’s
Yochai Benkler mean when they say “excess capacity.”

Iran Elections
The Twitter Revolution: Started June 13, 2009



That’s what happened in Iran last summer. The controlled, filter then publish mass media
system came up against an increasingly engaged, frustrated phone-toting “publish then filter”
community”



Meanwhile, the government shuts down mass media. Foreign journalists are expelled. All
these photos are taken by non-professionals in Iran. This is Henry Jenkins’ dream realized.

#iranelection


Suddenly, for many outside of Iran, this becomes a 24-hour news channel -- the “hash” tag
of Twitter. It becomes so crucial as an information conduit that the State Department asks
Twitter to postpone a system update so the platform will stay up. Green avatars abound.

#cnnfail


And this 24-hour news gets accused by Twitter users of failing to cover the protests. More
mistrust of mass media.

A Girl Named Neda


But it was this emotional video, shot on a cellphone camera and uploaded to YouTube that
galvanized the opposition movement, and really caught non-Iranians’ attention. By now, the
government was blocking Twitter and Facebook, but dissidents were using proxy servers, etc.

How much of this technology
can be controlled?


This digital technology is incredible. Powerful. Empowering. But it also has challenges. In
many of these countries, the internet and mobile platforms are controlled by the government
-- and tracked. There are ways to get around it, using foreign servers etc. But governments
still have the nuclear option. They can shut it down, they can ﬁnd dissidents.

Google Reconsiders China

Associated Press


Which is why it’s such a big deal that Google announced that it will no longer censor search
results in China, after saying that their systems were inﬁltrated by “high level” attacks.
Someone was trying to get information about Chinese dissidents who were using GMAIL.
There’s only so much an authoritarian government can slow or shut down crucial systems like
internet and mobile phones.

And Who to Trust?


Who was actually on Twitter. Why would you believe you were hearing directly from Iran if it was in English?
Government inﬁltration. Mossad? Just a group of big city urbanites (strong bonding capital, but not huge
bridging capital?)

@greenthumbnails Support Change from your Cubicle!

Slacktivism

“Neda Agha-Soltan” Photo from http://iran.greenthumbnails.com


Where did all the green avatars go?
the transitory nature of digital emotion/motivation (because it’s so easy to take action online).

Government Response to Neda


Last week: Iran decided to try to discredit the iconic Neda ﬁlm by using the same platform.

Independent virtual news
organization

Founded by Kelly Golnoush
Niknejad in 11/2008

Entered an editorial partnership
with Frontline,the PBS public
affairs series, in 09/2009


So with trust at issue, attempts to address this. Teheran Bureau: independent, virtual news
bureau, in collaboration with PBS. A wire service for news from Iran.

Emerged as a comprehensive one-stop shop for real-
time updates from Iranian Internet

Proclaimed “The Revolution Will Be Twittered” & called
Twitter “the critical tool for organizing the resistance in
Iran”


bloggers: Global Voice (Berkman), Andrew Sullivan, Nico Pitney at the Huffington Post --
curators ﬁltering through the reports for us.

Lessons from Iran

We now have the
ability to communicate
authentic,
credible,
useful information
directly.

Photo by Altmark


we can all perform a journalistic function, we are all storytellers. Lesson from Iran for us? powerful
institutions losing control over communication. People seek dialog and credibility. New players can
establish that trust through storytelling (an ongoing relationship of communication providing a value
proposition. Emotion can fastrack that credibility -- Neda). Technology itself may not create
revolution, but revolution won’t occur without it (Dr. Phil Howard).
photo credit: http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/altemark/337248947/sizes/m/

New Communication Ecosystem
based on a photo by redplasticmonkey/


Journalism is not dead. Mass media is not going to disappear. A new information
ecoysystem. Lakewood police killings: ﬁrst hearda bout it on Twitter, went to Seattle Times,
King5, UW Alert, Google Wave during manhunt. Haiti as well, Twitter is huge, Brian Williams
is there. Communications system severely constrained in a natural disaster.

A Trust Economy


Today’s technology, demographics, and culture demand this. Increasingly a “trust economy.” Charlene Li’s
Social Technographics


Ever growing as we get more engaged with these tools. It’s not a ﬂash in the pan.

In 2009, more data will be generated
by individuals than in the entire
history of mankind through 2008.
Information overload is more serious
than ever.

~Amazon Chief Scientist


The social data revolution; thanks to search engines, blogs, our friends. General sources are
on the decline. In this essay I touch on why - faced with infinite choices, powerful search tools and equally helpful friends - Americans are adapting their
habits and becoming less loyal to general sources than ever before, and why engaged companies can still find relevance in social spaces and influence their
stakeholders in this Age of Media Agnosticism. http://www.steverubel.com/the-age-of-media-agnosticism

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/now-new-next/2009/05/the-social-data-revolution.html

UW
Communication

Leaves room for new players, new communicators; if they can ﬁnd ways to create trust. Example the
UW. instead of junk mail, cold calls for donations, create a value proposition through story; share, build
emotional bond.

Community Scholarship
Technology & the new storytellers

Photo by Jumana Al Hashal


Even in academia, a class “top down” communication institution, we’re taking a more
collaborative approach to engage the community in what we do.

Dialogue


People are looking for dialog with institutions. A relationship. Dictatorships = traditional
communication. Command and control systems.

TR U ST


We demand more from trust. Edelman Trust barometer: people need to hear something 3-5 times
before they believe it.

Teaching media literacy
via education system is
more vital than ever.


Caveat: not everyone wants to make such an active effort to ﬁnd information. So on the other side of
the equation, need to teach “media literacy” via education system so we’re more critical in how we
view information sources.

Power to the Storyteller


Control over communication by large organizations -- companies, governments -- is
diminishing, and being distributed throughout society. Tell stories!

Q&A


Hanson Hosein hrhmedia@uw.edu Twitter: hrhmedia


Digital Media, Storytelling and the Repression of Communication

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