Story-telling

"The hardest part of telling the story in your research is finding the story in the first place"(1). This is so true: find what to say and to whom.
I think lately my writing is just an expressed dialog with myself - it is a way of learning - once I realise something and put it into words - this thing becomes a part of me. In a way it is also a method of defining myself and determining my presentation to the world. Constructing the identity.
People are social creatures and we care about how others see us. We create this image and play the role. Sometimes it is a very holistic image, where all details match and all internal disagreements are well-hidden from outsider. But there is no such case as "no internal disagreement". The identity is always under construction. And another way is to disclose these disagreements, to anknowledge that there are things that we don't know, not sure about, don't have an opinion. I'm always struggling between what to disclose and what to cover up. I think it is a matter of deepness - if there is time and it matters - the inconsistencies should be disclosed (research, deep discussion, exchange of opinions). Otherwise, for brevity, it is good enough to show the world a simplified version, which is easy to deal with, with predictable reactions.
Here immediately appear additional questions about cultural differences:
- how much is appropriate to disclose in different culture within working environment (team). I can't formulate it good enough now - but I mean the level of details that a person in a team finds necessary to discuss. I would guess this is where cultures differ a lot (note to myself - check with Hofstede)
- another side - a level of integrity that should be shown to make communication comfortable (if I'm not sure about anything - I will be damn sure that nobody will find it easy to work with me! ;-))


Coming back to the story-telling - one of the main purposes of this blog is to find out what will be the story that I will tell. I need to filter things that are relevant only to me from those that would be interested to a reader.


And one more link:
http://www.isivivane.com/storytelling/creating.a.story

1) http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/writeup.php