Page 49 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

of people that included Dave Snowden and Shawn Callahan started a project that could be de ned as organizational anthropology called Cyne n Centre for Organisational Complexity11. The people behind the initiative began to gather stories from IBM’s employees who numbered at that time around 300,000. These were then used to understand their culture and hence develop and promote projects.Other companies, particularly American organi- zations such as the World Bank, were inspired by IBM’s initiative and this meant that, on leaving the company, each member of the Cyne n Center could set up their own consultancy based on Organizational Storytelling and become the evangelists of the movement.This trend revived interest in storytelling; the consultants needed to work with professional storytellers for their projects. And so a group of storytellers was nurtured and, in the pro- cess, gained exposure for their activities such as story circles, performances, music nights and poetry.So it was that 25 years ago, there was a wave of recognition that human beings have always told stories because stories are important for their social welfare. As Annette Simmons says of the information era, “We have all the data, now we need to see what it means.”When working on storytelling in a cultural context, the rst job is to compile existing tales, both oral and written. These should then be labeled and led away so they are available to whoever needs them.Storytelling and cultureStories are essentially vehicles for culture. As such, they form a fundamental part of the cultural fabric of the whole community. All places, moments and objects that are importantto a group of people have origin stories and additional stories that give them layers of mean- ing. These stories exist, even if we don’t listento them or pass them on. When working on storytelling in a cultural context, the rst job is to compile existing tales, both oral and written. These should then be labeled and led away so they are available to whoever needs them as well as being on hand to enrich educational, touristic and cultural programs in general.This work is already being carried out by organizations such as the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador12 in Canada through its Strategy for the Conservation and Maintenance of Intangible Heritage for Future Generations.13Compiling existing stories linked to physical elements of the heritage and sharing them to enhance their meaning is the rst step towards working with storytelling in a cultural eld.However, when we approach this work armed with the latest technology and decide, for example, to build a new museum, we should consider what type of community we wishto create before designing the corresponding narrative world. Using this design, we will be able to consider the narrative’s relationshipto the public and create experiences worth narrating. As an entity, we will stop being justa messenger and become a host who provides the table and initiates the conversation that our guests will continue.AC/E DIGITAL CULTURE ANNUAL REPORT 201749Smart culture. Analysis of digital trends