Storytelling with Impact

Technology refers to any story that has some form of technology in the narrative.

It Took Thousands of Personal Stories to Create the Mariner 9 Story

May 30, 2025/in Government, History, Science, Technology/by Mark Lovett

Fifty-four years ago today, on May 30, 1971, a symphony of human ambition lifted off from Cape Kennedy. Mariner 9 wasn’t just a spacecraft — it was the culmination of thousands of individual stories, each person contributing their unique thread to a tapestry that would forever change how we see our place within the cosmos.

Launch of Atlas-Centaur Rocket Carrying Mariner 9 Mars Probe

The Genesis of a Dream

The Mariner program began in 1962, nine years before the launch of Mariner 9. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory conceived this series of robotic explorers as stepping stones to the planets. Each mission built upon the last — Mariner 2 had whispered past Venus, Mariner 4 had glimpsed Mars in passing. But Mariner 9 would be different. It would stay, orbit, & see.

The development of Mariner 9 took approximately four years of intensive work, from initial design concepts in 1967 to its 1971 launch. Yet this timeline barely captures the human drama unfolding behind the scenes — engineers working through weekends, mathematicians recalculating trajectories late into the night, technicians hand-assembling delicate instruments with the precision of watchmakers.

A Cast of Thousands

Picture this: over 5,000 people directly involved in the Mariner 9 mission, with countless more supporting roles spanning across multiple states. From the assembly floors of Denver to the tracking stations scattered across the globe, this was humanity at its collaborative best. Each person — whether they wielded a soldering iron or a slide rule — contributed their personal skills and passion.

Mariner 9 Mars Probe

The mission required an extraordinary convergence of skills, including:

Aerospace engineers designing the spacecraft’s structure
Propulsion specialists calculating fuel requirements
Computer programmers writing navigation software
Antenna technicians ensuring Earth-Mars communication
Planetary scientists planning observation sequences
Materials experts selecting heat-resistant components
Optical engineers crafting camera systems
Electrical technicians wiring complex circuits
Systems integrators coordinating all subsystems
Project managers orchestrating timelines
Quality assurance inspectors checking every detail
Mathematicians computing orbital mechanics
Thermal engineers managing temperature extremes
Power systems designers creating solar panel arrays
Attitude control specialists maintaining spacecraft orientation
Data analysts interpreting incoming signals
Mission planners designing observation strategies
Telecommunications engineers establishing deep space communication
Launch vehicle coordinators preparing the Atlas-Centaur rocket
Ground operations controllers managing the mission from Earth.

Five Gifts to Humanity

Mariner 9’s achievements resonate through the decades. First, it became the first successful Mars orbiter, proving we could establish a permanent robotic presence around another planet. Second, it mapped most of the Martian surface with unprecedented detail, revealing a world of stunning geological complexity. Third, it discovered evidence of ancient water flows — those mysterious channels that whispered of a warmer, wetter Mars. Fourth, it provided our first detailed study of the Martian moons, Phobos and Deimos, expanding our understanding of small celestial bodies. Fifth, it demonstrated that long-duration interplanetary missions were possible, paving the way for every Mars mission that followed.

The Ripple Effect

Imagine if Mariner 9 had failed. Would we have the rovers — Sojourner (1997), Spirit (2004–2010), Opportunity (2004–2018), Curiosity (2012–present), and Perseverance (2021–present) — exploring Martian soil? Would we still dream of human colonies on the Red Planet? Would countless young minds have been inspired to pursue careers in science and engineering? The mission’s success created a cascade of possibility that continues to shape our technological vision of space exploration.

Back to you…

I’ve worked with a long list of folks whose story involved technical achievements, from scientists to engineers and entrepreneurs. While digging below the surface we invariably discover a cast of supporting characters that made their project a success. If your story involves a team effort, weaving bits of their stories is one way to add depth and richness to your story.

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What Hath God Wrought: The Telegraph’s Birth and the Transformation of Human Connection

May 24, 2025/in Entrepreneurs, History, Science, Society, Technology/by Mark Lovett

Picture this: It’s May 24th, 1844, and in a small room in the Supreme Court chamber of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., a man sits nervously before a peculiar contraption of wires and metal. Samuel Finley Breese Morse, artist turned inventor, is about to send a message that will forever change how human beings connect across vast distances. With careful deliberation, he taps out a biblical phrase in his newly invented code: “What hath God wrought.”

Forty miles away in Baltimore, Maryland, his assistant Alfred Vail receives those dots and dashes, translates them back into words, and immediately sends the same message back to Washington. In that moment — lasting mere minutes — the world became fundamentally smaller, and the pace of human civilization began to quicken in ways that Samuel Morse himself could never have imagined.

Samuel Finley Breese Morse from National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Frederick Hill Meserve Collection

The Man Behind the Message

Samuel Morse was not born to be a communications revolutionary. Raised in a strict Calvinist household in Charlestown, Massachusetts, he initially pursued his passion as a painter, creating portraits of prominent Americans and grand historical scenes. His artistic training at Yale College and later in London shaped his meticulous eye for detail — a skill that would prove invaluable in his later scientific endeavors.

But tragedy has a way of redirecting our paths. In 1825, while Morse was painting a portrait in Washington, he received a letter telling him his wife was gravely ill. By the time he rushed home to New Haven, she had already died and been buried. The slow pace of communication in that era meant that the most important moments of our lives could slip away while we remained blissfully unaware. This personal anguish planted a seed in Morse’s mind: surely there had to be a faster way for people to share urgent news across great distances.

The inspiration struck him during a ship voyage back from Europe in 1832. Conversations about electromagnetism with fellow passengers sparked his imagination.

What if electricity could carry messages instantaneously across wires?
What if human thoughts could travel at the speed of lightning itself?

The Day That Changed Everything

That May morning in 1844 represented the culmination of over a decade of experimentation, frustration, and persistence. Morse had endured years of financial hardship, skeptical investors, and technical setbacks. Politicians questioned whether the government should fund such a seemingly frivolous invention. Even on the day of the demonstration, many observers remained doubtful.

Morse chose his inaugural message carefully. “What hath God wrought” came from Numbers 23:23 in the King James Bible, suggested by Annie Ellsworth, daughter of the Patent Commissioner. The phrase carries profound meaning — it speaks to divine wonder at human achievement, a recognition that we sometimes create things beyond our own understanding of their consequences.

The technical specifications were remarkably simple by today’s standards. Morse’s telegraph used an electromagnet to move a stylus that marked dots and dashes on a moving strip of paper. The famous Morse Code — combinations of short and long electrical pulses representing letters of the alphabet — allowed complex human language to be reduced to binary electrical signals. The Washington-Baltimore line stretched across wooden poles, carrying a single copper wire with the earth itself serving as the return circuit.

When that first official message crackled across the 40 miles of wire, it traveled at roughly 186,000 miles per second — the speed of light through the copper conductor. Compare this to the fastest previous method of long-distance communication: a horse and rider, covering perhaps 30 miles in a day over rough terrain.

The Fabric of Society Rewoven

The telegraph didn’t just speed up communication — it fundamentally altered the rhythm of human existence. Within a decade, telegraph lines were spreading across America like a spider’s web, connecting distant cities and remote towns to a shared nervous system of information.

Consider how this changed the simple act of conducting business. Before the telegraph, a merchant in New York who wanted to know grain prices in Chicago had to wait weeks for a letter. Decisions were made with old information, and fortunes were built on who could move physical information fastest. The telegraph democratized market information, creating the foundation for modern commodity exchanges and stock markets. Suddenly, prices could be coordinated across vast distances, creating truly national markets for the first time in human history.

The transformation went far deeper than commerce. Families separated by migration could maintain relationships in ways previously impossible. A mother in Boston could know within hours if her son in California was safe after an earthquake. Young people could court across state lines through romantic telegrams. The very notion of “long-distance relationships” was born.

Watercolor painting of railroad tracks and telegraph poles running through the desert

Perhaps most profoundly, the telegraph began to standardize time itself. Before instant communication, every town kept its own time based on the sun’s position. But railroad schedules coordinated by telegraph required synchronized clocks across entire regions. The concept of time zones — which we now take for granted — emerged directly from the telegraph’s need to coordinate activities across vast distances.

The Ripples Through Time

Standing here in 2025, we can trace direct lines from Morse’s first message to the device in your pocket. The telegraph established the first principles of electronic communication: encoding human language into electrical signals, transmitting those signals across distances, and decoding them back into meaning. Every text message, every email, every video call follows the fundamental pattern Samuel Morse established that May morning.

The telegraph also birthed the first global communication networks. By the 1860s, underwater cables connected America to Europe. News of Lincoln’s assassination reached London in days, not weeks. The world’s first “information superhighway” was built from copper wire and wooden poles, but it established the template for our modern internet.

More subtly, the telegraph began humanity’s complicated relationship with instant communication. The same technology that could save lives by quickly summoning doctors could also spread panic through false rumors. The same wires that connected distant lovers also enabled new forms of fraud and deception. We see these tensions playing out today in our debates about social media, digital privacy, and information verification.

Imagining the Alternative

What if Samuel Morse had remained focused solely on painting? What if Annie Ellsworth had suggested a different biblical verse, or no verse at all? What if congressional funding had been denied by just one vote?

Without the telegraph, the American Civil War might have unfolded differently. Lincoln’s ability to coordinate Union forces across vast distances proved crucial to victory. The transcontinental railroad, built with telegraph coordination, might have taken decades longer to complete. The settling of the American West would have proceeded more slowly and chaotically.

Globally, the British Empire‘s ability to govern distant colonies depended heavily on telegraph cables. Without instant communication to London, colonial independence movements might have succeeded earlier, or imperial control might have required even more brutal local enforcement.

Perhaps most intriguingly, our entire relationship with time and distance might have evolved differently. Would we have developed different social structures, different concepts of privacy, different expectations about response times and availability?

The Timeless Lesson

Samuel Morse’s legacy reminds us that individual human curiosity, persistence, and ingenuity can reshape the world in ways we never anticipate. He set out to solve a personal problem — the slow pace of communication that had cost him his final moments with his dying wife. Instead, he created the foundation for the connected world we inhabit today.

The next time your phone buzzes with a message from someone thousands of miles away, remember that May morning in 1844. Remember Samuel Morse tapping out “What hath God wrought” and marveling at the power of human innovation to compress time and space. In our age of instant global communication, we are all still living in the world that telegraph built, dot by dash by dot.

Back to you…

Think about how communication technology has affected your life. Your romances, your career path, your view of the world. Imagine a life that didn’t have instant access to loved ones. Maybe there’s a thread of your personal story that involves a digital connection. Connections made, connections broken, or miscommunication.

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Shahram Izadi: The Next Computer? Your Glasses @ TED 2025

April 18, 2025/in AI, Artificial Intelligence, Technology, TED Talk/by Mark Lovett

Now that the 2025 version of the TED Conference has concluded, I’ll be posting a series of articles that will highlight some of the best talks. And their new tagline, “Ideas Change Everything”, inspired me to come up with a similar phrase, which is, “Personal Stories Change Everything”, so watch these talks through a lens of improving your own storytelling prowess.

In this talk from Shahram Izadi, titled, The Next Computer? Your Glasses, we get a glimpse into a future technology that brings the power of AI into our daily lives by way of eye-ware. Adopting the metaphor of seeing the world anew, this demo exceeded my expectations, and it had me wondering how our view of the world might change in the coming years.

Shahram Izadi is a British-Iranian computer scientist known for his contributions in extended reality, augmented reality, computer vision, human-computer interaction and artificial intelligence. ~ Wikipedia

Are you ready for this technology upgrade? And what if everyone were wearing these glasses? If the purpose is simply to provide information, it wouldn’t seem to be problem, but what if these glasses came with face recognition capability? Maybe there will be security protocols in place to prevent that, but anyone with the technological prowess could (I imagine) bypass such limitations.

It’s interesting to ponder how all our experiences, and thus our personal stories, could be transformed by the wave of AI technology that is soon coming our way. Our smartphones are becoming AI aware already. So they can perform tasks for us, which is cool, but every interaction will be tracked by the applications we’re using. Are you okay with that? I’m on the fence at the moment.

If you enjoyed this article…

Transcript

Shahram Izadi: For our entire lives, we’ve been living for a computing revolution. Many of you here in this room have contributed to it, with leaps forward in compute, connectivity, mobile technologies, and now AI. For my part, I’ve dedicated my entire career to augmented reality, fusing the real world with computing experiences.

I started this journey about 25 years ago for my PhD. It might sound groundbreaking, but check out these early prototypes. The technology was really primitive back then, but the potential felt limitless when we were experimenting in that university lab.

What I didn’t know at that time was that many of the fundamental innovations for my work would come from AI researchers in a different lab. While I was helping computers see the world, these AI researchers were helping computers reason about the world.

Since then, large language models and multimodal reasoning have enabled richer language and image understanding. These models are now fast enough for live conversations where the AI can act on your behalf and, most importantly, with your permission.

And augmented reality and virtual reality has moved computing from the rectangular screen to the 360 immersive display to now even the world itself becoming the display. We now refer to this broad collection of experiences as extended reality or XR.

Until now, these innovations have occurred separately and in silos. Well here comes act two of the computing revolution. AI and XR are converging, unlocking radical new ways to interact with technology on your terms.

Computers will become more lightweight and personal. They will share your vantage point, understand your real-world context and have a natural interface that’s both simple and conversational.

Countless people and companies are innovating in this space, including many on the TED stage this week. We’re excited to contribute to this momentum with Android XR. It’s an operating system we’re building with Samsung that brings XR hardware together with Gemini, our AI assistant, to augment human intelligence.

It can support a broad range of devices, from headsets to glasses to form factors we haven’t even dreamed of yet. OK, let me show you where we’re heading by inviting my colleague Nishtha to the stage. Welcome, Nishtha.

(Applause)

Nishtha Bhatia: Hi.

SI: These ordinary-looking glasses are packed full of technology. A miniaturized camera and microphones give the AI the ability to see and hear the world. Speakers let you listen to the AI and play music or even take calls. And these glasses also have a tiny, high-resolution in-lens display that’s full color that I’m holding in my hand. It’s very, very small.

These glasses work with your phone streaming back and forth, allowing the glasses to be very lightweight and access all your phone apps. And if you’re wondering, I’m actually wearing the glasses too. They’re actually helping me see all of you in the audience because they have prescription lenses inside them. But they’re also displaying my speaker notes for me as well.

(Laughter)

For this demo, you’ll see what Nishtha is seeing on the screen behind her. And this is the very first time we’re showing these glasses in public. So this is going to be a live demo of conceptual hardware, early software. What could go wrong? Nishtha, best of luck. No pressure.

NB: Amazing. Alright, let’s just make sure that these glasses are shown on the screen behind us. OK.

[Glasses screen off]

Awesome.

(Applause)

NB: Now I’m going to launch Gemini.

Gemini: Hello there.

NB: Hi, Gemini. Can you start us off with something fun and creative, and write a haiku for what I’m seeing right now?

G: Sure. Faces all aglow. Eager minds await the words. Sparks of thought ignite.

SI: Some anxious but happy faces as well, yeah. As you can see, the AI sees what Nishtha sees, hears what she hears and is responding in real time. But that’s just table stakes. I think everyone in this audience has seen demos like this before. Let’s actually step it up a notch with something we call Memory. For a rolling contextual window, the AI remembers what you see without having to be told what to keep track of.

NB: So you guys may have noticed I snuck a peek back at the shelf a moment ago.
I wasn’t paying attention, but let’s see if Gemini was. Hey, did you happen to catch the title of the white book that was on the shelf behind me?

G: The white book is “Atomic Habits” by James Clear.

NB: That is absolutely right. So let’s try something harder. I keep losing my hotel key card. Do you know where I last left the card?

G: The hotel key card is to the right of the music record.

NB: Great.

SI: For someone as forgetful as me, that’s a killer app. OK, this AI is inherently multimodal. So it’s using visual data and natural language to digest complex queries in real time while remembering your past context. Nishtha, let’s see some more.

NB: Yeah, let’s bring this book back. So I don’t really have time to read it right now. But I wonder if Gemini might be able to help me summarize what’s going on. Like, I don’t know. What does this diagram mean? It looks complex.

G: This diagram is labeled “The Habit Line” and illustrates the process of habit formation. It shows how automaticity increases with repetitions until a habit is formed.

NB: OK.

SI: Now imagine being able to communicate and understand any language. The AI can shift its output to speak different languages with dialects and accents that feel human and natural.

NB: Yeah, let’s go to this sign over here. Can you translate this to English for me?

G: The sign states: “Private property, no trespassing.”

SI: OK, let’s prove this is a live demo. Does anyone in the audience have a suggestion for a different language to translate to?

Audience: Farsi.

SI: Farsi. We tried Farsi, it failed last time, but let’s try it again.

NB: Do you want to try Farsi?

SI: Because I do speak Farsi. It’s my mother tongue, so thank you.

NB: Gemini, let’s just give this a shot. Can you translate this sign to Farsi for us?

G: (Speaking Farsi)

SI: Great, awesome. It speaks Farsi.

NB: That’s amazing. So, as Shahram mentioned, you all may have seen translation demos like this before, but what’s new now is that in addition to just saying things in a different language, I can also speak to Gemini in another language. I know Hindi, so let’s give this a shot.

(Speaks Hindi)

G: (Speaks Hindi)

NB: So Gemini said you all look focused and excited, and it has a better accent than I do.

(Laughter)

SI: Alright, now let’s see how the AI can connect the physical world with your digital content and take action.

NB: Yeah, let’s get some music going in here. OK, Gemini, why don’t you play us a track from this record?

GB: Sure, here’s “Bad Dreams” by Teddy Swims.

(Music)

SI: Perfect. In a few seconds, the AI recognized the album, looked up the tracklist and took action using the phone apps. OK, Nishtha, it does look like the demo gods are with us. Maybe with you more than me. Let’s do one last demo I know you’re keen to give.

NB: Yes, this is my first time in Vancouver, and I love going on walks. So why don’t you navigate me to a park nearby with views of the ocean?

G: OK, I am starting navigation to Lighthouse Park, which has magnificent views of the Pacific Ocean. Is there anything else I can assist you with?

NB: Honestly, with these directions and a 3D map, I should be all set, and hopefully I won’t look like a tourist. Thank you all.

(Applause)

SI: Thank you, Nishtha, that was awesome. OK, we’ve seen glasses. Now let’s turn our attention to the other side of the spectrum: headsets. You’ve seen these types of devices before, but when we first brought AI to a headset, it completely caught me by surprise.

For this demo, we’re going to use the Project Moohan headset that Samsung is launching later this year. Compared to glasses, headsets give you an infinite display for getting work done or immersing yourself in a movie, or maybe a TED Talk at some point. Let me bring up my colleague Max to show us even more. Hey, Max.

Max Spear: Hello.

(Applause)

SI: And the same thing is going to go here. You’ll see exactly what Max is seeing behind on the screen. Go for it, Max.

MS: Let’s do it. You’ll notice we start grounded in the real world. And I’m going to control the entire system with my eyes, hands and voice. But where things get really interesting is when we invite Gemini in as this conversational companion that can come with us anywhere.

G: Hello.

MS: Hey, Gemini, can you bring up my trip planner for me, please?

G: Of course. Opening up your trip planner.

MS: Cool, but I left these windows really disorganized. Can you help with that?

G: Of course I can help with that.

SI: No clicks, no keyboards. It’s just a conversation. And the AI is taking action. OK, some more audience participation. Someone shout out a name of a place you want to visit.

Audience: Melbourne.
Audience: Cape Town.

SI: Let’s go to Cape Town.

Max: OK, sounds fun. Can you please take me to Cape Town?

G: Certainly. Let me help with organizing the windows.

SI (Laughs)

MS: Awesome. And can you also take me to Cape Town?

(Laughter)

G: I can certainly do that. Let me take you to Cape Town.

MS: And we’re very organized as we go there, perfect.

SI: As you can see, the AI is taking Max’s requests, figuring out how best to answer it, opening up the Maps app. And from there, he can actually explore anywhere in the world in this 3D view.

MS: OK, this is pretty incredible. Viewing the world from this angle, I can even zoom in to city levels. But what’s really interesting is having an AI here who can see what I see. Can you tell me more about the significance of this place?

G: I can indeed provide information about Table Mountain. Table Mountain holds a profound significance, deeply rooted in both its natural splendor and its rich cultural history. It has long been a spiritual and cultural symbol for the Indigenous Khoekhoe and San people.

MS: OK, very good, Gemini. I’ll come back to this later. It also does look like a table, that’s handy.

SI: OK, Max, let’s bring this closer to home. How about exploring winter sports, seeing that we’re in Vancouver.

MS: OK, let’s get some inspiration for Shahram. Can you please show me 360 videos of this?

[Powder snowboarding]

G: Sure, here are some 360-degree powder snowboarding videos.

MS: OK, I’m kind of new to snowboarding, so hopefully this video will help me learn. Although this looks already way more intense than I think I’m ready for. What was the name of that trick?

G: That’s a backside 540 with a grab.

SI: The AI knows exactly what Max is looking at, even in rich video content, and can answer any question in real-time. Max, are you sure this is Whistler?

MS: You know, Shahram, I actually have no idea. I’ve never been here before, but let’s find out. What run do you think this is?

G: It’s probably one of the ungroomed runs in summit bowl or the top section of West Ridge on Mount Bachelor, as they are close to the summit and face north towards Three Sisters and Broken Top, the prominent mountains visible in the background.

MS: OK, Mount Bachelor, Oregon, got it.

SI: OK, let’s have a little bit of fun now. Let’s have AI narrate this video. Somebody in the audience, shout out a fun narration style like, nature documentary or something like that.

Audience: Morgan Freeman.

SI: We can’t do actors, but we’ll get to that at some point. Any other suggestions?

Audience: Movie trailer.
Audience: Horror movie.

SI: Horror movie. That’s going to be — it might be gory, but let’s go for it.

MS: Slightly dark, but let’s do it. Can you please describe what you’re seeing as if you’re an overly enthusiastic character in a horror movie?

G: Oh, darling, this is simply marvelous. A desolate mountain scape. How delightfully ominous. Prepare for a chilling dance with the unknown. Where every gust of wind whispers tales of icy terror and lurking shadows.

MS: OK, Gemini, that’s great. Return to more positive things another day.

SI: OK, Max, I know there’s one last demo, and you’ve been apparently practicing your farming skills?

MS: Yes, Shahram, I’ve been excited to get back to my rural roots and also embrace one of my favorite things, which is playing games. But it becomes a whole new, next-level experience when you have an AI by your side, both to help keep you company as you play, but also to help you learn how to play these kinds of games in the first place. So, for example, what do you think I should do next here?

G: It looks like this is early in the game in “Stardew Valley.” You need to earn money, so try planting some seeds. First, use your hoe to till the soil, and then plant your seeds. It looks like you have some parsnips. Since it isn’t raining, you’ll also need to water them with your watering can.

MS: Seems like a lot, and maybe robots will do this for us one day, but for now, I’m going to have to return back to my farm later. For one last thing, can you please give a playful two-sentence summary of all the ground we covered today?

G: We soared from organizing a digital realm to traversing snowy mountains, and even found time to farm some virtual parsnips. Quite the adventure today.

MS: Quite the adventure, indeed. Thanks, Gemini.

(Applause)

SI: Fantastic, thank you Max. We’re entering an exciting new phase of the computing revolution. Headsets and glasses are just the beginning. All this points to a single vision of the future, a world where helpful AI will converge with lightweight XR. XR devices will become increasingly more wearable, giving us instant access to information.

While AI is going to become more contextually aware, more conversational, more personalized, working with us on our terms and in our language. We’re no longer augmenting our reality, but rather augmenting our intelligence.

Thank you so much.

My Concluding Thoughts

In my experience, most of the personal stories I’ve encounter live in the analog world. Yes, the internet plays a role from time to time — social media & dating apps, etc. — but it’s more of a sideline.

AI, however, is a different sort of digital beast. One that is increasingly infiltrating every corner of our daily endeavors. And I’m wondering how that will change our perception. If this TED Talk is an indicator of future trends, the shift could be big.

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Carole Cadwalladr: This Is What a Digital Coup Looks Like @ TED 2025

April 14, 2025/in AI, Artificial Intelligence, Society, Technology, TED Talk/by Mark Lovett

Having spent my career in the computer industry, I’ve long been fascinated by digital technology. For most of those years, my experience was positive. Every invention, every new plateau of features and performance only increased my wonderment and appreciation. The internet’s potential was so mind-boggling.

And that positive viewpoint continued into the early days of social media, but began to sour as those platforms devolved into the hot mess they are today. (that topic is worthy of a very long article, but I’ll spare you for now)

When artificial intelligence came to my attention around 5 years ago it seemed interesting, but to be honest, I didn’t see how it would benefit me. After all, my passion is helping people tell impactful personal stories — stories based on an experience or an idea — so I didn’t see AI as a meaningful tool. But 2 years ago their potential became more apparent. The way in which they could assimilate information made search engines look like Ford Model Ts.

But my enthusiasm became a bit tarnished as I explored the technology further. Not only were all those LLMs (Large Language Models) being trained on massive amounts of intellectual property that was never paid for, they were also sucking up increasing amounts of personal data. And as many other software programs and apps wove AI into their code, that trend continued to accelerate.

Is the greatest technological invention becoming the greatest threat to humanity?

That’s what I started to wonder, as it seemed to me from recent reports that any sense of morality in the AI space was being pushed aside in an effort to “win” the race for dominance. The icing on the cake came when the Silicon Valley oligarchy bowed down to the oligarchy residing in Washington D.C.

So I was keenly interested in hearing Carole Cadwalladr‘s take on this situation when she spoke at the 2025 TED Conference. Carole was an important figure in exposing the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal, so she was no stranger to the potential for tech to subvert democracy and cause great harm to society.

The Russian and American presidents are now speaking the same words. They are telling the same lies. We are watching the collapse of the international order in real time, and this is just the start. Coups are like concrete. When they stop moving, they set. It is already later than we think.

Her talk was a chilling reminder of other times in history when the power-elite ignored the rights and needs of the many to satisfy their own maniacal need for wealth and power. When there is no check-and-balance — which is the case in the United States, as the current administration will make no effort to protect citizen’s rights — things always go from bad to worse.

Follow the data. It’s always the data. It’s the crack cocaine of Silicon Valley. You know, the first thing that Elon Musk did was to send his cyber troops into the US Treasury to get access to the data. That is not a coincidence, it’s a hack.

Time will tell how this story will play out, but my big concern is that the personal stories of millions (if not billions) will be adversely affected by some of the ways in which AI is being utilized. With honor and integrity in short supply, this is one topic worth paying close attention to. The next 2-3 years will be most critical.

I’ve worked with a lot of speakers who have important stories to tell on a range of subjects, from the science of climate change to their efforts intended to bring peace to the world or how to improve the education system. As you listen to her story, think about how your expertise could enlighten an audience and inspire them to think differently about an important topic.

If you enjoyed this article…

Transcript

I’ve been feeling a lot of panic and fear about this talk, and not just from the normal reasons of public speaking, although that’s there too. But it’s also because I want to say something meaningful, and I’ve been overwhelmed by the enormity of what is happening right now.

And there’s a particular set of circumstances which have also been feeding into my confusion and denial. And that is because the last time that I stood on this stage, it led to a three-year legal battle, culminated in London’s High Court, in which it felt like I was on trial for my life, because I was. My career, my reputation, my finances, even my home was on the line.

All because I came here to warn you that I didn’t think democracy was going to survive the technology that you’re building, however incredible it is. In fact, I was the person who almost didn’t survive. And pretty much everything that I was warning about is now coming true.

I can’t sugarcoat it. It’s a bit of a headfuck.

I have a lot of emotions about coming here, and TED also, I suspect, is feeling them too. But what actually I finally realized yesterday is that the denial and the confusion that I’ve been feeling is maybe what you’re feeling too.

I felt powerless for a really long time. So if that’s what you’re feeling, I get it. But we have to act now. My alarm system is ringing again.

There are things that we can do. In my case, I survived, and you will too. But it’s by learning how to fight back. This is my guide, and it has to start with naming it.

It’s a coup. I know you probably don’t want to hear that, and especially here, but we can’t fight it if we can’t see it, and we can’t see it if we don’t name it.
(Applause)

The Russian and American presidents are now speaking the same words. They are telling the same lies. We are watching the collapse of the international order in real time, and this is just the start. Coups are like concrete. When they stop moving, they set. It is already later than we think.

This image – some of you in this room might know these people. I call it “Tech Bros in Hostage Situations.” It’s a message to you. This is Putin’s playbook. He allows a business elite to make untold riches in exchange for absolute loyalty. Some people are calling this oligarchy, but it’s actually bigger than that. These are global platforms.

It’s broligarchy.

(Laughter and Applause)

There is an alignment of interests that runs from through Silicon Valley to what is now a coming autocracy. It’s a type of power that the world has never seen before.

Follow the data. It’s always the data. It’s the crack cocaine of Silicon Valley. You know, the first thing that Elon Musk did was to send his cyber troops into the US Treasury to get access to the data. That is not a coincidence, it’s a hack. That data is now feeding AIs that are choosing who to sack and who to replace – sorry, eliminate fraud and waste.

(Laughter)

When we broke the Cambridge Analytica story about the harvesting 87 million people’s Facebook data, people freaked out, rightly. This is chicken feed compared to that, but it is the blueprint. It’s always the data.

Protect your private life. Which is why it’s so important you start thinking about your private life. The broligarchy doesn’t want you to have one. This is the old headquarters of the East German secret police. They kept detailed files on almost one in three of their citizens. That is nothing compared to what Google has on every single one of us, and hundreds of other companies. The entire business model of Silicon Valley is surveillance. It harvests our data in order to sell us stuff. We are already living inside the architecture of totalitarianism.

(Applause)

It may not have been deliberate, but we now have to start acting as if we live in East Germany, and Instagram is the Stasi.

Politics is downstream from culture. So I actually learned this from somebody who I think of as one of the great philosophers of our age: Steve Bannon.

(Laughter)

He actually stole it from somebody else. But it’s not politicians who have the power. He knows that. It’s why he’s a podcast bro these days. But culture now is just what’s next on your phone. And that’s AI. Culture is AI now. And forget the killer robots. If you want to know what the first great AI apocalypse is, we’re already living it. It’s total information collapse.

And if you take one thing only away from this talk, it’s:

Politics is technology now. And that’s why everybody in this room, you can’t look away. It’s why your CEOs have been taken captive and are paraded on TV like hostages. But you, you have a choice.

Individuals are stronger than institutions. So Trump, he calls the press the enemies of the people, and he probably doesn’t even know that he’s quoting Stalin. So, what happened to me is a playbook, and it’s now coming for all sorts of other people.

It was actually a friend of this guy who came after me, Nigel Farage, it’s a Brexit funder. I’m not going to go super into the details. But 19, sorry, 19 press freedom organizations called the lawsuit against me a SLAPP. That means it’s a strategic litigation against public participation. A really long-winded way of saying it’s using law as a weapon to shut people up, not just journalists, but other public people too, and it works.

I just want to tell you about one aspect of the litigation which I found terrifying, and that was the data harvesting. There’s this quote, you may know it, Cardinal Richelieu: “If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him.” In my case, the first forensic searches of my phone and laptop yielded 40,000 pieces of data.

This is my messages, my emails, my voice memos, my personal life. And the whole thing about this, the attack which came for me was really personal, because the thing about this litigation isn’t is only one part of the playbook. It was also this sort of massive online campaign of abuse which is just day after day after day after day after day because my most unforgivable crime was reporting while female. It was a digital witch burning.

And I believe that this man came after me personally, not because the Guardian and not Ted, it was because I looked like the weakest link. But he was wrong.

(Applause)

30,000 people rose up to support me. They contributed almost a million pounds to a legal defense fund because they saw a bully trying to crush me, and they would not let it stand. And it always makes me emotional when I think about that. I just heard somebody was saying the camera person, I don’t know where they are, contributed.

This whole talk is actually my gratitude towards everybody who did that. But it’s also why I know about what we have to do next. You know, Trump is suing news organizations and every day they’re settling. These are big corporates with corporate interests. Not everybody can stand up to power, but there are people who are doing it, and we can support them. We have to have each other’s backs right now because we are the cavalry now.

There are facts & we can know them. You know, this is really important to me, but I spoke to a UK libel lawyer before this talk. I want to say that there is an awful lot of facts set down in a High Court judgment. And we’re actually taking the case now to the European Court of Human Rights. We’re testing the UK on its laws around freedom of expression.

So look after facts, you’ll miss them when they’ve gone. This is Wayback Machine, give them money. They’re trying to preserve the internet as it’s being deleted day by day.

(Applause)

History is our best chance of getting out of this. You know, you probably know this phrase, “Do not obey in advance.” That’s Tim Snyder, who’s a historian of authoritarianism. We now are in techno-authoritarianism. We have to learn how to digitally disobey. That can be as simple as the drop-down box: Don’t accept the cookies, don’t give your real name, download Signal, the encrypted messaging app. Don’t bomb Yemen. Don’t add the editor of The Atlantic to your group chats.

(Laughter)

Don’t experiment on children. Ah, don’t experiment on children. You know, social mores change. We don’t send children down coal mines anymore. And in years to come, allowing your child to be data harvested from birth will be considered child abuse. You didn’t know, but now you do. Privacy is power.

And we have more of it than we think. I had this little epiphany yesterday in which I realized actually the moments when I felt most powerless were the moments that I felt I was actually most powerful. It was because my journalism had impact.

We have more power than we think. They want us to feel powerless, that’s the plan. There is so much though that we can learn from people who’ve been through this before. Alexei Navalny, the leader of the Russian opposition, he always talked about a beautiful Russia of the future. He painted a vision. There is a beautiful internet of the future, free from corporate capture and data tracking. We can build it. It is going to take a movement, but we can learn from movements that there have been before us.

This is my colleagues and I on strike in December because my news organization, The Guardian, decided to sell our corner of it, The Observer, the Sunday title. And it was a battle we really didn’t need at this time, and we didn’t actually win. But, you know, you can’t win every battle, but you definitely won’t win if you don’t fight.

So I’m gonna, I want to leave you with this. This is ChatGPT writing a TED Talk in the style of Carole Cadwalladr. And it is creepily plausible. But what it doesn’t know, because AI is actually as dumb as a rock, is that I am going to turn to Sam Altman, who is coming here, a Ted speaker, and say that this does not belong to you. ChatGPT has been trained on my IP, my labor, my personal data.

(Applause)

And I did not consent. You know, The Guardian has effectively got rid of more than 100 journalists. We actually leave the building next week. And shortly afterwards, it signed a syndication deal with OpenAI. Or as I think of it, it married its rapist. But I do not consent. And while we still have copyright laws in my country – government, UK government is trying to tear them up at the moment in order to suck up to Silicon Valley and Trump – but while we have them, use them. Because what is happening to my industry is happening to yours too. And it’s more than theft, it’s a violation. Data rights are human rights.

(Applause)

In 2019, I came here and I called out the gods of Silicon Valley. I was wrong. Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, you are not gods. You are men, and you are careless.

(Standing Ovation)

You think that by allying yourself with an autocrat, you will be protected. That’s not how history works. It’s not even how oligarchy works. This is Mikhail Khodorkovsky. He was an oligarch until he was sent to Siberia to prison for 10 years after Putin tired of him. You are sucking up to a tyrant who is trying to destroy the laws who made your businesses possible. You are collaborators. You are complicit in a regime of fear and cruelty.

But the rest of us, we all here, we have a choice. I chose to come back to Ted because I’m reclaiming my story, my words.

(Applause)

We are not powerless. The 30,000 people who supported me proved that. We are not powerless because we know who we are, and we know what we stand for. And my question to Silicon Valley is: Do you?

Thank you.

(Standing Ovation)

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Understanding Narrative Transportation Using Manus AI

April 7, 2025/in AI, Artificial Intelligence, Narrative, Storytelling, Technology/by Mark Lovett

In my last post I talked about Embracing Narrative Transportation as a way to enhance the impact of your personal stories. And while I enjoy writing articles about storytelling, I’ve also been exploring AI (Artificial Intelligence) as a way to broaden my research capabilities.

I have to say, it’s amazing to watch these Chatbots in action. They are fast, and comprehensive in their reach, but they don’t replace humans as they still don’t have human experiences that we have, but they are able to locate and analyze information faster than any human.

So I decided to see what some of the latest chatbots had to say about the topic of Narrative Transportation with regards to crafting impactful personal stories. In part one, I asked Manus AI what it thought. Below is the prompt that I used, its initial response, and the output it generated. Warning, it’s a long article, but should you have an interest in AI, it’s an interesting read

Prompt:

I’m trying to understand the topic of Narrative Transportation in depth, as it relates to storytelling in general, but more specifically, how we can use Narrative Transportation to create impactful personal narratives.

Response:

I’ll help you understand Narrative Transportation in depth, both in general storytelling and specifically for creating impactful personal narratives. I’ll research this topic thoroughly and provide you with comprehensive information. Let me get started right away./em>

Output:

Here’s what Manus AI had to say:

Understanding Narrative Transportation: Creating Impactful Personal Narratives

Introduction

Narrative transportation is a powerful psychological phenomenon that occurs when individuals become completely immersed in a story. This comprehensive guide explores the concept of narrative transportation, its application in storytelling, and specifically how it can be leveraged to create impactful personal narratives. By understanding the mechanisms of narrative transportation and implementing specific techniques, you can craft personal narratives that deeply engage audiences, foster connections, and potentially transform beliefs and attitudes.

Part I: Understanding Narrative Transportation

The Concept of Narrative Transportation

Narrative transportation refers to the psychological experience of being completely immersed in a story. When a person is transported into a narrative, they become absorbed cognitively, emotionally, and in the imagery of the story, regardless of the medium (print, film, podcasts, video games, etc.).
The concept was first formally defined by Richard Gerrig in his 1993 book “Experiencing Narrative Worlds,” where he used travel as a metaphor for reading. He described it as a state in which the reader—referred to as the traveler—becomes detached from their original reality due to deep engagement with the story.
Melanie Green and Timothy Brock later expanded on this idea, describing narrative transportation as “a distinct mental process, an integrative melding of attention, imagery, and feelings.” They conceptualized it as the experience of being carried away by a narrative.

Key Features of Narrative Transportation

Focused attention – Receivers become so focused on the story they do not think about distractions in their environment
Emotional Engagement – There is a strong emotional response to the story with empathy for the characters
Mental Imagery – Receivers have a mental image of the story in their heads or try to predict what might happen in the future of the story
Cognitive Detachment from Reality – Receivers feel like they are really in the story and not in their real-world environment
Belief and Attitude Shift – Narrative transportation can influence receivers’ beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors, aligning them with the story’s content
Reduced Counterarguing – When transported, the receiver is less likely to challenge the story’s content
Long-term Efficacy – The receiver is impacted even after the story ends, affecting long-term behavior and attitude change

Psychological Mechanisms of Narrative Transportation

Reduced Counterarguing

Transporting stories create a more open, accepting mindset for individuals. When readers are transported in an entertaining narrative, they may not want to interrupt their enjoyment to argue with the story. This reduced counterarguing can occur even when the persuasive intent is obvious.

Connections with Characters

Audience members may:

See themselves in story characters
Come to see characters as friends
Admire the characters

Through these connections, audiences may change their attitudes and beliefs to align with those of narrative characters. Identification with and liking of story characters has been shown to increase the adoption of beliefs advocated by the character.

Mental Imagery

The transportation-imagery model highlights the role of visual imagery in transportation-based belief change. The experience of being transported into a story links vivid images with beliefs implied by the story. This connection between images and beliefs may be one basis for the power of narrative persuasion.

Emotional Engagement

Stories are particularly powerful when they evoke strong emotions. The pattern of emotional experience that occurs as readers progress through a story (emotional flow) can help maintain interest, particularly for longer narratives.

Reminding Readers of Personal Experiences

Stories can prompt self-examination and change by reminding readers of experiences in their own lives that relate to those in the narrative. Individuals who are more immersed in a story show greater generalization of the beliefs implied by the story, but additionally, whether the story brings to mind events from the readers’ real lives seems to be important in determining narrative impact.

Factors Affecting Narrative Transportation

Audience Factors:

World view (e.g., pro-environmental)
Prior knowledge and experience
Attitudes and beliefs
Empathy
Political ideology
Religiosity
Transportability (individual tendency to become immersed)
Need for affect (enjoyment of emotional experiences)
Need for cognition (enjoyment of thinking)

Story Factors:

Fiction vs nonfiction
First-person vs third-person
Well-developed characters
Intent of character
Personally relevant stories
Stories that stay engaging
Coherence and structure
Emotional intensity
Suspense and dramatic tension
Psychological realism
Cultural appropriateness

Part II: Narrative Transportation in Personal Narratives

Unique Aspects of Personal Narratives

Personal narratives differ from fictional narratives in several key ways when it comes to narrative transportation:

Authenticity and Vulnerability

Authenticity as a Bridge: In personal narratives, authenticity serves as a bridge between the storyteller’s world and the audience’s. When authors share their genuine experiences, emotions, and vulnerabilities, they create a unique connection that can be more immediate than in fictional narratives.
Vulnerability Creates Intimacy: Personal narratives that expose vulnerability create a level of intimacy that fictional narratives may struggle to achieve. Research by Hagmann et al. (2024) found that “self-revealing personal narratives create vulnerability by exposing the speaker to others’ negative judgment.” This vulnerability signals authenticity and honesty to listeners, increasing trust and connection.
Real-life Consequences: Unlike fictional narratives, personal narratives carry real-life consequences for the storyteller, which can heighten the audience’s emotional investment. The willingness to incur potential interpersonal costs through self-disclosure signals that the speaker values honesty.

Identification and Social Identity

Shared Experience Identification: In personal narratives, identification often occurs through shared experiences rather than character traits. Research on patient identification in cancer narratives found that shared experiences can create powerful connections regardless of demographic differences.
Social Identity Influence: Personal narratives can activate social identities that influence transportation. According to social identity theory, perceived risk to a patient’s identity increases identification with salient social groups who possess a similar identity.
Transportability Across Divides: Personal narratives have shown the ability to build trust across ideological divides. Research has found that people judge ideological opponents as more trustworthy when opposing opinions are expressed through a self-revealing personal narrative than through either data or stories about third parties.

Mechanisms of Narrative Transportation in Personal Narratives

Personalization and Intimacy

Personalization Effect: Research suggests that personal narratives create a sense of “personalness” that drives effectiveness. Personalness is defined as “the level of intimacy delivered when narrating an experience, or the capability of eliciting a sense of intimacy with the ‘other.'”
<Mental Representation: This sense of intimacy motivates engagement with the content and enables the mental representation of the narrative (narrative transportation), consequently increasing the likelihood of accepting the recommendation or message.

Self-Related Control Beliefs

Empowerment Through Transportation: Research has found that “narratives in both written text and video form with protagonists displaying high versus low self-efficacy can, at least temporarily, affect recipients’ own self-related control beliefs when they experience strong transportation into the stories.”
Mediation Through Transportation and Identification: The effect of narrative manipulation on self-related control beliefs was mediated by experienced transportation and identification, suggesting that personal narratives that facilitate transportation can influence how readers view their own capabilities.

Reduced Counterarguing in Personal Contexts

Disarming Effect: Personal narratives may reduce counterarguing more effectively than fictional narratives because questioning someone’s lived experience can seem inappropriate or insensitive.
Trust Building: Research has found that “trust does not suffer when explanations grounded in self-revealing personal narratives are augmented with data, suggesting that our results are not driven by quantitative aversion.”

Impact of Personal Narratives

Building Trust and Changing Beliefs

Trust Across Differences: Personal narratives have shown the ability to build trust across ideological divides. People are more willing to collaborate with ideological opponents who support their views by embedding data in a self-revealing personal narrative, rather than relying on data-only explanations.
Changing Health Behaviors: Research has found that “identification with the main character in the vignettes was a significant predictor of intentions to participate in cancer research, but only when the mediating role of narrative transportation was considered.”
Self-Concept Changes: Personal narratives can influence how readers view themselves. Research has demonstrated that stories featuring strong protagonists who display high self-efficacy can increase recipients’ own self-related control beliefs when they are highly transported into the stories.

Profound Connections with Audiences

Solace and Belonging: Stories that expose the raw, unfiltered emotions of their creators have the power to resonate with readers in a way that is impossible to replicate. In our own struggles and triumphs, we recognize a reflection of ourselves, and it’s in those moments that we find solace, encouragement, and a sense of belonging.
Shared Human Experience: Personal narratives remind us that we are not alone in our experiences. They create a sense of shared humanity that can be particularly powerful for individuals facing challenges or difficult situations.

Part III: Techniques for Creating Impactful Personal Narratives

Structural Techniques

1. Clear Narrative Structure

A well-structured personal narrative guides readers through your emotional journey with ease. The basic structure includes:

Beginning: Establish your core idea and hook your readers
Middle: Develop your central idea using descriptive language to define your story, setting, characters, and plot
End: Summarize lessons learned, relate your core theme back to readers’ lives, and include a call to action

The ABCDE storytelling framework (from Anne Lamott’s book “Bird by Bird”) provides an excellent structure:

Action: Drop the reader right into the action. No need to “set the scene.”
Background: Once you have the reader’s attention, tell them why it matters.
Development: Build the story up. Where is the story going? What’s at risk?
Climax: This is the tipping point. The “aha!” The “oh no!” The “SURPRISE!”
Ending: Explain what it was all for. What was the lesson?

2. Start with a Strong Hook

Begin your personal narrative with something that immediately captures attention. This could be:

A surprising statement
A vivid scene
A provocative question
A moment of tension

The hook should relate to the core message of your narrative and give readers a reason to keep reading.

3. Focus on Transformation

Personal narratives are most impactful when they demonstrate transformation. Structure your narrative around:

Who you were before
The challenge or catalyst for change
The process of transformation
Who you became as a result
What this means for the reader

Emotional Connection Techniques

1. Vulnerability and Authenticity

The most powerful element in a personal narrative is the emotional connection you establish with readers. To create this:

Be honest and open about how experiences have impacted you
Include all relevant details, even embarrassing or painful ones
Share your feelings as well as your pain
Never be afraid to show vulnerability—this gives readers permission to accept their own
Write from a foundation of authenticity rather than trying to persuade or sell ideas

2. Descriptive Language and Sensory Details

Use descriptive language to paint a vivid picture in your reader’s mind:

Help readers visually experience colors and shapes
Create sensations of temperature, texture, and physical feelings
Incorporate scents, tastes, and sounds
Use all five senses to connect with readers’ emotions
Don’t limit your narrative to a sequence of causes and effects

3. Emotional Flow

The pattern of emotional experience throughout your narrative helps maintain interest:

Create and then resolve suspense about outcomes
Include changes in emotional tone across the course of the story
Balance difficult emotions with moments of insight or relief
Build emotional intensity toward key realizations
End with emotional resolution that feels satisfying

Connection with Readers

1. Make the Reader the Main Character

Your story isn’t really about you—the reader is the main character. To achieve this:

Have clarity around why your personal story is interesting to the READER
Connect your perspective with universal truths
Ask yourself: What’s the problem you want the reader to solve?
Consider: What’s the realization you want the reader to have?
Focus on: What’s the obstacle you want to help the reader overcome?

2. Identify the Takeaway

The takeaway explains why your story is important and creates a deeper emotional tie with the reader:

Connect your experience to something bigger
Identify the universal truth at play
Clarify what your experience says about you, life, or the world
Determine if your story is about frustration, injustice, loyalty, hope, etc.
Make the connection between your story and the message explicit

3. Relevance to Reader’s Life

Make your personal narrative relevant to readers’ lives:

Give readers a “heads up” so they can avoid pain you experienced
Provide relief if they’re currently going through a similar experience
Show how your lessons apply to their situations
Create points of similarity between your experience and theirs
Focus on shared human experiences that transcend specific circumstances

Finding Story-Worthy Material

1. Daily Reflection Practice

Use the “Homework for Life” framework (from Matthew Dicks’ book “Storyworthy”):

Take five minutes daily to reflect on your day
Ask: If you had to tell a story from today, what would it be?
Write one sentence about it
Look for difficult times, moments of growth, and proud or awkward experiences
Create two columns: date and story

2. Identify Emotional Significance

Pay attention to events that leave a strong impression:

What moments do you replay in your mind?
What makes you uncomfortable?
What reveals your vulnerability?
What forces you to confess a character flaw?
What challenges your core beliefs about yourself?

3. Choose Meaningful Experiences

Select experiences that have been transformational:

Events that caused you to rethink or reconsider your point of view
Circumstances that resulted in personal or professional growth
Painful situations that forced you to change your beliefs
Unique life experiences that taught you important lessons
Moments where you overcame adversity

Refinement Techniques

1. Editing and Revision

After completing your first draft:

Edit for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors
Add any extra details you may have forgotten
Remove irrelevant information that doesn’t serve the core message
Ensure transitions between sections are smooth
Check that your narrative has a clear beginning, middle, and end

2. Seek Feedback

Get perspective from others:

Ask friends or family members to read your narrative
Be clear about what kind of feedback you’re looking for
Listen to their responses without taking criticism personally
Consider whether readers connect with your story as intended
Revise based on feedback to improve clarity and impact

3. Maintain an Enjoyable Process

While writing a personal narrative can be emotionally challenging:

Have fun with the process
Relax and tell your story naturally
Remember that the more relaxed you are, the more authentic your narrative will feel
View the process as potentially therapeutic and liberating
Recognize that sharing your story can benefit both you and your readers

Part IV: Practical Applications of Personal Narratives

Therapeutic and Personal Growth

Personal narratives can be used for:

Processing difficult experiences
Gaining clarity about life events
Discovering patterns in your behavior or thinking
Building self-awareness
Creating meaning from challenging circumstances

Professional and Leadership Contexts

Personal narratives are valuable in:

Building trust with teams or clients
Demonstrating values in action
Illustrating problem-solving approaches
Creating connection in professional relationships
Establishing credibility through lived experience

Educational and Inspirational Purposes

Share personal narratives to:

Teach important life lessons
Inspire others facing similar challenges
Provide practical guidance based on experience
Create empathy for different perspectives
Motivate positive change in others

Part V: A Framework for Applying Narrative Transportation in Personal Narratives

Step 1: Understand Your Purpose

Before crafting your personal narrative, clarify:

What you want to achieve with your story
Who your audience is
What change you hope to inspire
What beliefs or attitudes you want to influence
What emotional response you want to evoke

Step 2: Select the Right Experience

Choose an experience that:

Has transformed you in some way
Contains universal themes or lessons
Evokes strong emotions
Demonstrates vulnerability and authenticity
Has clear stakes and consequences

Step 3: Structure for Maximum Impact

Organize your narrative to:

Begin with a compelling hook
Establish context and background
Build tension through challenges and obstacles
Reach a climactic moment of realization or change
Resolve with reflection and meaning-making

Step 4: Enhance Transportation Elements

Deliberately incorporate elements that facilitate transportation:

Rich sensory details to create mental imagery
Emotional authenticity to create connection
Vulnerability to build trust
Universal themes to create relevance
Transformation to inspire hope

Step 5: Connect to the Reader

Make your narrative relevant by:

Explicitly stating the takeaway or lesson
Connecting your experience to broader human experiences
Addressing how your story might help the reader
Creating points of similarity between your journey and theirs
Inviting the reader to reflect on their own experiences

Step 6: Refine and Test

Improve your narrative by:

Getting feedback from trusted readers
Assessing whether it creates the intended emotional response
Checking if the core message is clear
Ensuring the narrative flows smoothly
Confirming that it feels authentic and honest

Conclusion

Narrative transportation offers a powerful framework for understanding how stories captivate us and influence our beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. By applying the principles of narrative transportation to personal narratives, you can create stories that not only engage readers but potentially transform them.

Personal narratives have unique strengths in creating transportation through authenticity, vulnerability, and shared human experience. When crafted with intention and skill, they can build trust, foster connection, and inspire change in ways that other forms of communication cannot.

The techniques outlined in this guide provide practical approaches to enhancing narrative transportation in your personal stories. By focusing on structure, emotional connection, reader relevance, and meaningful content, you can create personal narratives that transport readers into your experiences and leave lasting impressions.

Whether you’re writing for personal growth, professional development, or to inspire others, understanding narrative transportation will help you craft more impactful personal narratives that resonate deeply with your audience.

References

Gerrig, R. J. (1993). Experiencing narrative worlds: On the psychological activities of reading.
Green, M. C., & Brock, T. C. (2000). The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives.
Hagmann, D., Ho, E. H., & Loewenstein, G. (2024). Personal narratives build trust.
Isberner, M. B., Richter, T., Schreiner, C., Eisenbach, Y., Sommer, C., & Appel, M. (2020). Empowering stories: Transportation into narratives with strong protagonists increases self-related control beliefs.
Lamott, A. (1994). Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life.
Neil, J. M., Gough, A., Kee, F., George, T. J., Pufahl, J., & Krieger, J. L. (2020). The influence of patient identification and narrative transportation on intentions to participate in cancer research.
Strange, J. J., & Leung, C. C. (1999). How anecdotal accounts in news and in fiction can influence judgments of a social problem’s urgency, causes, and cures.
Valenzuela, A., & Galli, L. (2024). The personalization effect: How personal narratives drive electronic word-of-mouth effectiveness.
Van Laer, T., De Ruyter, K., Visconti, L. M., & Wetzels, M. (2014). The extended transportation-imagery model: A meta-analysis of the antecedents and consequences of consumers’ narrative transportation.

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