This document discusses the potential role of storytelling in museums. It notes that visitor expectations have changed with the rise of social media and immersive experiences, and that storytelling can help museums address this by communicating in a familiar way, carrying culture and meaning, and building empathy. Storytelling in museums faces challenges like museums' relationship with fiction and lack of tools for transmedia stories, but it could help engage visitors in new ways.

1. Just Tall Tales, or the Future Of Museums?
Flickr Credit ~archer10
STORYTELLING
Robert Stein
@rjstein

2. Flickr Credit ~cgpgrey
INCOME
INEQUALITY

3. 1% OF THE
POPULATION OWNS
46% OF THE WEALTH
Source: Oxfam, “Working for the Few”

4. 62 RICHEST OWN
AS MUCH AS THE
POOREST 50%
Source: Oxfam, “Working for the Few”

5. U.S. CHILD
POVERTY RATE IS AT
A 20-YEAR HIGH
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/28/child-poverty-us_n_6054958.html

6. This massive concentration of economic resources in the
hands of fewer people presents a significant threat to inclusive
political and economic systems. Instead of moving forward
together, people are increasingly separated by economic and
political power, inevitably heightening social tensions and
increasing the risk of societal breakdown
Oxfam, “Working for the few” Jan 20, 2014.

8. Jean Antoine Theodore Giroust
French. 1753-1817
The Harp Lesson
1791

9. Philippe Joseph de Bourbon,
Duc d’Orléans (1747-1793)

10. Philippe Joseph de Bourbon,
Duc d’Orléans (1747-1793)

11. Eugene Louise Adelaide de Bourbon Orléans
(1777-1847)

12. Féicité Ducrest de Saint-Aubin (1746-1830)
Madame de Genlis

13. Comtesse de Genlis
1791 Francois Guerin

15. Jean Antoine Theodore Giroust
French. 1753-1817
The Harp Lesson
1791

17. Eugene Louise Adelaide de Bourbon Orléans

18. Louis Philippe I, King of the French – 1830-1848

19. No society can be flourishing and happy
of which the far greater part of its
members are poor and miserable
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

20. THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN
CONTENT AND
STORY

21. SO WHY SHOULD STORIES
MATTER TO THE CULTURAL
SECTOR?

27. Kurt Vonnegut Explains Drama (image credit Derek Sivers)
https://sivers.org/drama

28. Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 1949.

29. Why Storytelling?
Stories are a familiar
way to communicate to
many different people.

30. Why Storytelling?
Stories are vessels that
carry culture.

31. Why Storytelling?
Stories carry meaning,
emotion, and aesthetics
along with information.

32. Why Storytelling?
Stories can help address
difficult or ambiguous
topics.

33. Why Storytelling?
Stories can help build
empathy.

34. Oxytocin
Character driven stories do consistently cause
oxytocin synthesis.
Paul Zak, Claremont Graduate University

35. Oxytocin
Oxytocin is produced when we are trusted
or shown a kindness, and it motivates
cooperation with others. It does this by
enhancing the sense of empathy, our ability
to experience others’ emotions.

36. Emotional simulation is the foundation for
empathy and is particularly powerful for social
creatures like humans because it allows us to
rapidly forecast if people around us are angry
or kind, dangerous or safe, friend or foe.
Such a neural mechanism keeps us safe but
also allows us to rapidly form relationships with
a wider set of members of our species than
any other animal does. The ability to quickly
form relationships allows humans to engage in
the kinds of large-scale cooperation that builds
massive bridges and sends humans into
space.

37. LET’S LOOK BACK
WHY NOW?

39. The Social Media Explosion in
2004-2006 Changed Visitor
Expectations about Social
Connections and Commentary

41. INSTANT
The reality of
shopping

42. EXPERIENCE
The Resulting Rise of In-Store

43. IMMERSIVE
The coming advent of
experience in popular culture

53. Credit Flickr ~scotttboone
STORYTELLING
In the Museum

54. Credit Flickr ~scotttboone
STORYTELLING
In the Museum

55. Credit Flickr ~scotttboone
STORYTELLING
In the Museum

56. Credit Flickr ~scotttboone
STORYTELLING
In the Museum

57. STORYTELLING
In the Museum

58. STORYTELLING
In the Museum

59. STORYTELLING
In the Museum

66. Emile Bernard, 1889 Paul Gauguin, 1888
Madeleine Bernard

67. GENERATIVE
STORYTELLING

68. Intelligent Narrative Computing
Marc Riedl, et al. Georgia Institute of Technology

69. Credit Flickr ~scotttboone
CHALLENGES FOR
STORYTELLING
In the Museum
1. Museums’ complicated relationship
with fiction
2. Not enough storytellers
3. Buildings that are poorly designed for
immersive experiences
4. Lack of tools to create and manage
transmedia non-linear stories
5. Unnecessary barriers between
museums and the performing arts

70. Credit Flickr ~scotttboone
STORYTELLING
In the Museum
THANKS!