One of the most powerful ways to ignite data storytelling is to help individuals access their own data.

Open to every Icelander, this new initiative follows an Open Notes study with more than 13m participants in the US that showed simply giving access to health data leads to healthier living and reduced healthcare spending, through empowering patients and building stronger relationships with medical professionals.

Source: Digi.me allowing Icelandic citizens to download their own health data in world first | digi.me blog

The has definitively moved from mainstream influencers to local/topical influencers on social networks and those embedded in mainstream media — so a Tom Friedman and a “Milo” can reach similar sized audiences with markedly different narratives that put the world in very positive or negative lights.

In fact, 60% of Facebook users say they view at least one branded video a day, according to Animoto. More notable, 64% of consumers say watching a marketing video on Facebook has influenced a purchase decision in the last month.

Source: Brand Videos On Facebook Helpful In Purchase Decisions 06/06/2017

Congratulation to Aaron Loeb, who is keynoting Narrative Summit 3: Stories That Change on June 20. Fox has acquired Aftershock, Loeb’s game production company, placing Aaron at the head of FoxNext Games, its game development division.

The Aftershock business will maintain its bases in Los Angeles and San Francisco, operating as part of the FoxNext Games division, Aftershock’s Aaron Loeb joins FoxNext as president of studios for FoxNext Games, reporting to FoxNext president Salil Mehta. In all, roughly 80 employees join FoxNext.

Source: FoxNext Acquires Mobile Gaming Firm; ‘Avatar’ Game on the Way | Hollywood Reporter

Honest messaging doesn’t hide what it is. Having clear goals based on values shared with your customers or constituents eliminates the need to hide advertising in other forms of messaging.

Surprisingly, only 52% view recommended results on search engines as advertising, 61% view messages from brands in printed media forms, and 62% view messages from brands in news and articles online as advertising.

Source: Consumers Still Confused About Messages In Online Advertising 06/06/2017

Chilling effects are threatening American civic discourse. It’s time to address this head-on with new narratives about the resilience of the United States built on many inputs, cultures, and peoples.

UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Assembly Maina Kiai’s dissection of the nation’s systematic betrayal of basic human rights centers on America’s erosion of free assembly and a shrinking public square. Kiai concludes that over the past year, a growing swath of communities of color, workers and immigrants, and other marginalized groups have felt deterred from engaging in social movements, staging protests and other forms of citizen action, or campaigning to defend community and workplace rights.

Source: America’s Freedom to Protest Is Under Attack | The Nation

Apple’s Augmented Reality toolkit will be a primary channel for early AR/VR experience. The idea of using a phone or tablet to frame the world, however, feels like a short-term solution. Glasses have to be coming.

Following months of speculation about what exactly the nature of its ambitions for augmented reality are, the company announced it’s building an AR platform directly into iOS. With ARKit, Apple is for the first time offering developers a suite of tools to make dedicated augmented reality apps for iPhones and iPads.

Source: First look at ARKit, Apple’s big jump into augmented reality

The idea of “left behind” is a narrative challenge. It implies injustice and, often, represents actual injustice. However, it also suggests that “middle America” is resistant to change and not the more complex explanation, that the U.S. has failed to invest in creating opportunity for all. The us v. them of two factions within America is, at this point, mostly ideological. A pragmatic debate about bringing everyone along would be more effective than the current left/right debates, which have become caricatures of a serious political discussion.

“When people in the middle of the country feel like they have been left behind, it’s because they have been left behind,” said Case, whose firm is based in Washington, D.C. “If you’re only funding the outskirts of Silicon Valley or Boston or New York, not Detroit, Madison, Des Moines, New Orleans or those other cities, you’re not going to be creating jobs in those other cities that are going to offset some of the job loss because of these disruptive technologies.”

Source: Steve Case says Silicon Valley is ‘tone deaf’ to middle America

Another example where narrative strategy — explicitly understanding the different ways people interpret events, including the idea of “consensus” among people with different frames of reference — can be invaluable. Consensus isn’t a goal, but a process that signals the resilience of an organization as more people embrace the shared mission.

“Paradoxically, engaging more people requires more from managers than the current management paradigm. When the circle of involvement is larger many changes occur. When people see where they fit in the bigger picture they are able to see the interdependencies and are able to respond much, much faster to changing conditions. Our research shows that transparent processes are more than four times faster than corresponding processes where people just see their own part.”

Source: How To Make Progress When No One Agrees – ThinkGrowth.org

Graphic novels to break down cultural historical barriers. This is using a medium, not just a story, to build a bridge.

A two-page illustration in front of the chapter “Of the Dawn of Freedom” provides a stark introduction to DuBois’ examination of Reconstruction, when post-Civil War hopes for actual black freedom lived briefly before being brutally dashed. A black man holding the sign “CONTRABAND” is being marched along, flanked by someone marked as Warden and another scowling man marked as Massa. Above the action, two white hands separate the panel, searing apart silhouettes of black figures looking and reaching into the future.

Source: The Visual Storytelling of Black Life in America | PopMatters

The comment below on director Joss Whedon’s pro-Planned Parenthood video by a writer at The Institute of Religion and Publishing’s First Things site illustrates the challenge of conflicting narratives.

The writer, reacting to a storyline in which Planned Parenthood provides contraception that prevents a pregnancy is unbelievable, even though it is the primary service the organization offers. She forces the counter-narrative, that Planned Parenthood is irretrievably bad, into her critique of the campaign.

In the story Whedon tells, abortion and contraception are a choice for a woman and her doctor. And only those two people. It’s a harder world to believe in than any of the fantastical ones he’s created.

Source: The Limits of Planned Parenthood’s Storytelling | Leah Libresco Sargeant | First Things