Welcome
When you work with stories, you can ask people to tell stories about their experiences related to some subject of importance to you (and usually to them), and you can also ask them to answer some questions about those stories. When you do these things, you can find out things and make things happen that wouldn't be possible otherwise. You can:
- find things out,
- catch emerging trends,
- make decisions,
- get new ideas,
- resolve conflicts,
- connect people,
- help people learn, and
- enlighten people.
This online book is an informational resource for people who want to get started working with stories on a small scale in their communities and organizations.
Read the third edition of the book in progress!
|
Due to the fact that the third edition rewrite of the book is taking forever and a day, I have decided to release the "early bird" review copy as it takes its final shape. The current version of the third-edition revision is WWS3EarlyBirdReview4.pdf. It was released on 16 January 2012. It is 482 pages (8.5 x 11). Left to write are the sections on catalysis, sensemaking, intervention, and return, and some of the case studies. Please do not be confused: the third edition in progress does not match what is on the web site. It is a hugely expanded, much more ambitious reference work that will replace the second edition of the book when it is complete. For the time being, both versions can be found here. I will keep releasing new copies of the third edition work as the remaining chapters are completed. I can give no fixed schedule for this: it will be done when it is done. I will post on my blog as new chapters become available. Constructive feedback is encouraged, appreciated, lauded, embraced, hoped for, dreamed about. |
PDF version (of the second edition) for off-line reading
Here is a PDF version of the whole book for review. To shrink the text for easier printing, the PDF version doesn't have picture captions, and it doesn't have the Summary of method recommendations page (doesn't fit well).
About the author
My name is Cynthia Kurtz. I've been working as an independent researcher and consultant at/with/for a series of places (IBM Research, IBM's Global Services consultancy practice, IBM's Institute of Knowledge Management, IBM's Cynefin Centre, and Cognitive Edge) in the area variously called "organizational narrative", "business narrative", and "narrative knowledge management" (among other names), since 1999. Before that I was an evolutionary biologist and wrote environmental educational software.