FIVE-MINUTE PRESENTATION

Lee Quarrie

AME 598

Spring 2011

The Story of a Russell Pearce,

Arizona State Senate President

Narrative Structure

• How will I, as the storyteller, approach this story?

• What medium will be effective in communicating the story?

• What lens is the storyteller looking through?

• What is the structure of my medium?

What’s My Story Angle?

• Documentarian – No claims of neutrality– Present multiple sides and layers to story– Reveal is slanted towards the ill-informed

constituent– Lead viewer to questions, likely slanted towards

negative opinion of Pearce

Medium

• Website – Interactive maps that explore data from

• elections • voter registration • voter demographics

– Documentary style video clips of Russell Pearce

Lens

Who am I and what is my lens?

Angry voter who is learning to no longer consider simply voting my part in the representative democratic process

How to See Through a Lens

• Understand personal biases related to the story being told

• If you underscore something, know why the storyteller is emphasizing that particular point

• Vice versa, de-emphasize? Know why.

• Be able to answer that question. Someone WILL ask you - your answer will lend credence to your story if you can tell them why.

Structure of Medium

• the user becomes the protagonist in the narrative interaction between the platform and the materials.

• Strategy: build a platform that lends itself to the protagonist’s knowledge goals.

• Scope: incorporate features that build on this strategy.• Structure: flow of site must reveal the story in a clear

manner, each interaction adding value• Skeleton: utilize components that will seem natural, logical

to the protagonist• Surface: looks are everything…appealing, intuitive, easy

to follow.

The Story of Russell Pearce

• What is the story? – A controversial politician is re-elected and

leads the current headlines with racially biased legislation and possible abuse of power

• Story arc– election to recall attempt

• What are the elements of this story? – A controversial figure, polarizing rhetoric,

uninformed citizens, racial biases

• Who is the protagonist? – Website user

• Who is the antagonist? – Russell Pearce (key figure and his own worst

enemy from the perspective of the user)

• What is the climax of the story? – Recent legislative votes blocked due to letter

from Chamber of Commerce denouncing the anti immigration legislation

• Are we in a denouement? – No, unlike fiction, real life stories do not end,

the narration, the focus, the players may all change, but the story never ends.

• What are the tools of the revolution? – Facebook, peaceful protests, elections, websites,

patriotism (rhetoric)

• What part did social media/media play? – Facebook notifies the network of protestors of events,

protests, problems.

– Blogs shared details that news reports left out of experiences of protestors, arrests, etc.

– Russell Pearce’s homepage – rhetoric

– Reporters/media revealed limited detail