NMC Campus Observer

Storytelling in Virtual Environments

CDB Barkley (aka Alan Levine) : May 15, 2008 08:46pm

Look for two events coming up tied to the International Day for Sharing Life Stories, which is Friday, May 16, 2008. During the day, you can be in a Second Life story circle! Any group in SL can get self-organized and participate.

In each story circle, each teller will prompt the next teller the American Indian way, by handing him/her a talking stick.

• Organize a group! Make sure at least one member has the talking stick, which anyone can get by visiting the SL Campusfor the Center for Digital Storytelling at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Teaching%202/209/109/23 and opening the pink box in front of the screen by the dome.
• There should be one talking stick per circle. Circles should have 10 people or less. If more folks show up, they initiate a new story circle
• The topic is a ‘miracle story’, no religious meaning implied: a story centered by what, by its impact on your life and/or surprise, felt like a ‘miracle’ to the teller - quoting Joe Lambert - “from ‘life’s little miracles’ as in the way a Buddhist might say if you pay attention every moment is a miracle, to those truly metaphysical and inexplicable events in our lives that suggest transcendent power or possibility”.

Your group should do this activity at noon, Friday May 16 for about 20 minutes.

On Saturday, May 17, the Center for Digital Storytelling is organizing a panel discussion at their home in Second Life. Join the activities at 10:00 AM PDT at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Teaching%202/209/109/23

The Center for Digital Storytelling (CDS) and the Museum of the Person are celebrating the International Day for Sharing Life Stories on May 16. The following day – May 17 – the CDS is proposing a reflection on storytelling in virtual environments in the form of a panel in Second Life. The approaches to this theme will be very different as a result of the panelists’ distinct academic backgrounds.

Panelists include:

• Jen Friedberg, Multimedia Producer, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
• Dale Jarvis - Storyteller, folklorist, and performer
• Adriene Jenik - Telecommunications media artist & Assoc. Professor, UCSD
• Joan Llobera - PhD candidate, Starlab, Barcelona, Spain
• Joe Sanchez - PhD student, School of Information, UT Austin
• Vicki Smith - Visual Artist, Aotearoa, New Zealand

Moderators are Joe Lambert (Center for Digital Storytelling) and Ana Boa-Ventura (UT Austin).

Story filed under: People, Places, Things, Teaching and Learning, What's Happening

See all stories by CDB Barkley (aka Alan Levine)