Blogs: Helen Jaeger
Is the internet killing storytelling?
Posted on 8th September 2010 at 11:42
Helen Jaeger wonders how the internet is changing our stories, and perhaps changing us.
We all love a good story. Great stories arouse emotion in us, connect us to one another and help us make sense of the world. They open up to us to new places – figuratively and imaginatively. A great story will take its readers or listeners on a journey that may challenge, stimulate, reassure – or do all three at the same time! Stories can speak in nuanced tones – with humour, pathos, tragedy and irony. That’s the joy of them.
So, I wonder, where are the real stories happening online? I’m not sure I’ve found them. Have you? In fact, some of the questions I have are these: does literary internet content help us to connect in the way that stories may have done in the past? What about the time it takes to hear a story, let alone construct one? Is it possible to go on a story-journey digitally, even communally, in the same way that it used to be?
Without being too doomy and gloomy about it, I wonder if, in this world of byte-sized information, we are beginning to experience ourselves as a bit bite-sized, too?!
had double macchiatto this morning ok c u l8tr met up with an old friend http://yfrog.com/abc3xyz watching awful #CelebShow btw finally listened to Arctic Monkeys on last.fm is glad school holidays are over coolest google chrome extension ever: http://bit.ly/95uc02 Am at The Dog and Dustbowl. http://4sq.com/9abhE with @jobloggs and @somerandomother RT Is the internet killing story-telling? “my quote of the day” lol
Instead of real stories, with their integral twists and turns, what I see at the moment are personal fragments and pieces, not a whole story-line with depth and rhythm and resonance to it. We get snapshots of stories – real or imagined – via blogs or comments, on photostreams on Flickr or twitpic, a soundbite story through Facebook or on a website or a texted thought at a particular time. To my ears, it’s a kind of staccato story-telling, requiring me to decipher the messages, a bit like morse code.
Can the digital medium lend itself to anything more concentrated, slower, more abstract or sophisticated?
Finally, I’m aware this line of questioning may make me sound like some techno-Luddite, which I’m not. Far from it! In fact, what started this train of thought was reading ‘Radical Amazement: Contemplative Lessons from Black Holes, Supernovas, and Other Wonders of the Universe’ via a Kindle for Android app on my smartphone (yes, really!).
But I still feel this vague unease…So, have you managed to find some true, thoughtful, creative digital story-telling yet – and if so, would you please mind telling me where? Thanks.
Links
1. Have just started to read: ‘The Shallows: how the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember’ by Nicholas Carr. Promises to look at this subject in a lot more depth.
2. Storytellers, get your fix with the UK Society of Storytellers. They say: ‘Storytelling is more than just performance or entertainment; it can also educate, heal, lead to better practice in business, inspire and change lives.’ And Amen to that!
Supported by Writing East Midlands.
THIS CONTENT ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE LITERATURE NETWORK. http://literaturenetwork.org (Digital Fingerprint:Helen Jaeger is a social marketing consultant based in the UK. She works with charitiable and arts clients. She is an internationally published author, journalist and photographer. Her books are: As Night Falls, Paths Through Grief, As Day Dawns and A Treasury of Wisdom.
663geteyhevfw5673gferw56e3feg (89.234.9.14) )
Is your reading in a rut?
Posted on 29th June 2010 at 11:42
Helen Jager is breaking her reading rut. Why don’t you break yours?
I’ve been ill recently – I won’t bore you with the details – but one of the more curious symptoms of the affliction whilst laid up on my sickbed was a desire not to read the same old books I’d been in the habit of reading.
I don’t know about you, but my bookshelves tend to heave with the same genres of books – for me, books on marketing and journalism, fun creative stuff, a few slim volumes of poetry, collections of photography, a couple of autobiographies. In other words, books based in the real world. I don’t know why this is, since I have a degree in English, and, technically, fiction should share a larger slice of my bookshelf space.
Until I got ill, that is. Then, suddenly, I had an unholy desire to read ‘Wolf Hall’ – yes, that Wolf Hall, all 650 pages of Hilary Mantel’s masterpiece, and a 2009 Man Booker prize winner to boot. For a while, I was happily lost in the Tudor world of Cromwell and his politics, reveling in page-by-page phrasing such as ‘a wash of sunlight lies over the river, pale as the flesh of a lemon.’
Reading Mantel reminded me of the epiphany I’d had reading Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ just a few years ago. I’d tried with Tolkien when I was at school – and failed. Finally, though, I had been ready for him. Again, like Mantel at times, it was like reading poetry in prose – skillful phrasing, adroit word play, and insightful descriptions – just a beautiful use of language. And in a book of fantasy fiction as well!
Does this mean I am a revert to fiction? An avid follower of every prize-giving literary event and list? Well, not quite. But it did remind me that it’s good, sometimes, to break out of any reading rut you may have got into, to try out something new, to stretch the mental and creative muscles in a different direction. Such explorations can refresh the mind and stimulate your own creativity.
So what do your bookshelves say about you? Are there one or two genres of literature that dominate? If you’re a die-hard blockbuster fan, why not try some pared-down poetry? Criminal fiction your thing? How about a gentler biography instead? I’m not saying you have to change your tastes in reading for the long-term, just that sometimes a change can be as good as, well, a rest. It certainly was for me.
Supported by Writing East Midlands.
THIS CONTENT ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE LITERATURE NETWORK. http://literaturenetwork.org (Digital Fingerprint:Helen Jaeger is a social marketing consultant based in the UK. She works with charitiable and arts clients. She is an internationally published author, journalist and photographer. Her books are: As Night Falls, Paths Through Grief, As Day Dawns and A Treasury of Wisdom.
663geteyhevfw5673gferw56e3feg (89.234.9.14) )
The Happy Librarian
Posted on 1st April 2010 at 12:57
Helen Jaeger interviews a happy librarian, Jan Snow about the how libraries and librarians make a difference.
Jan Snow is my local librarian. We first met when she asked me to lead a writing workshop at the library, where she is Reader Development Librarian. I’ve been intrigued by the state of libraries in the recession and the age of the internet and whether they can truly thrive, so I thought Jan might be a good person to ask about the changes that are happening in my local library.
Jan has been a librarian since 1985, starting out at a community library in Basildon, where, she says, the focus was ‘entirely on outreach’ and with lots of work in schools. Three years later, Jan moved to a library in Warwickshire, which she says was ‘completely different.’
“The emphasis was on the library and staying in there. I found that a bit odd after being involved in outreach,” she explains
Having experienced both styles of being a librarian, however, Jan is still as passionate now about the library service as she was then.
“I think we’re essential, now more than ever,” she says. “We’re the gateway to so much. It’s not just about the building or about ‘just books.’ Part of our future is going to involve being more like a county service. We’ll be there to help people with information services and local services. People said e-books would kill books, but people still borrow books. I don’t see the internet as a threat. In a recession we’re an opportunity.”
Fortunately, Jan’s library is well-supported by the local council and its head of customer services, who oversees the libraries. Jan says her boss is a ‘visionary’, a person who sees libraries as an extension of excellent customer services. Jan agrees this is probably a change from the traditional ‘shush, you’re in the library now’ model, but thinks that isn’t a bad thing.
“When I look at where we are now, I feel very positive. We’ve had no library closures. The changes we’ve experienced have been to help us as librarians to be more free to help. I love being out and about with people.”
And, says Jan, the library is welcoming more people in, with new offerings such as a ‘knit and natter’ and craft clubs, with the library offering tea and biscuits at a cheap fee for groups.
“We’re trying to open our libraries to people and help them to say ‘this is our space, too,’” explains Jan.
Jan sees this as a direct extension of being a service to the community and hopes that it’s not just the library telling people what they think they want, but listening to the community’s needs as well.
“As well as being customer-focussed, we’re very much into the consultation – we’re keen to know what people want. We want to invite people to become friends of their local library,” says Jan. ” The old way was that public services were ‘done to you’. We want to move on and listen to what people say. We need to create a service that people can question and influence.”
“I didn’t go into the library service to stand behind a desk and stamp books. I wanted to make a difference,” concludes Jan with a smile.
What do you think? Is your local library changing and do you see the changes as positive? Thoughts, comments, experiences welcome in the comm box.
THIS CONTENT ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE LITERATURE NETWORK. http://literaturenetwork.org (Digital Fingerprint:Helen Jaeger is a social marketing consultant based in the UK. She works with charitiable and arts clients. She is an internationally published author, journalist and photographer. Her books are: As Night Falls, Paths Through Grief, As Day Dawns and A Treasury of Wisdom.
663geteyhevfw5673gferw56e3feg (89.234.9.14) )
View all posts by Helen Jaeger at The Literarture Network
