The art and science of Story or ‘Are you sitting uncomfortably?’

Part one of a two part article continuing the theme of a earlier article ( Business Information Review, 16(1) March 1999, 30–37) which outlined some of the uses of storytelling for communication and knowledge disclosure. Reports results of a study, based on over five years of research, experimentation and practice, of storytelling (‘Story’) as a form of ‘anecdote enhancement’: a useful technique in its own right but one which, if taken in isolation, fails to exploit the full richness and potential of Story. Covers basic language, some uses of storytelling principles in organizations and the techniques required to elicit anecdotes from communities. Describes also the extraction of archetype from anecdotes and hints at the extraction and use of organizing principles, the nature and function of which will be covered in Part 2.