Questions for discussion

1. According to Alexander, what are some of the key aspects of good storytelling?

2. How do digital media alter the practice of storytelling? In what ways are analog and digital storytelling the same?

3. Alexander names some venues for storytelling that most of us wouldn’t necessarily think of immediately when asked what constitutes a story—marketing campaigns and Nigerian e-mail scams, for example.  In what other contexts do you come across stories in your everyday lives?

4. How might historians use these contexts to bring history to people’s everyday lives?

Activities

1. Play Five Card Flickr two or three times.

2. Explore Alan Levine’s 50+ Ways to Tell a Story, and consider which media or platform might be the best way to expand upon one of the stories you created in Five Card Flickr.  Which of these platforms might work especially well for historians looking to engage the public, and why?