Policy Bites – Story tech: Power, storytelling and social change advocacy

Join us for a Policy Bites lunchtime seminar on "Story Tech: Power, Storytelling & Social Change Advocacy" with Professor Ariadne Vromen from the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy.

Light lunch will be provided. Space is limited. Please register to secure your place.

Story Tech: Power, Storytelling & Social Change Advocacy

Personal stories have the power to stir the heart, compel us to act, and spark social change. While advocacy organizations have long used storytelling in campaigns, the role technology plays has increased. Today, invitations to “share your story” are widespread on advocacy organizations and political campaigns’ websites, calls to action, and social media pages. But what happens after one clicks “share”? And how does this affect which voices we hear—and which we don’t—in public discourse?

Building on Story Tech, Professor Vromen's book with Associate Professor Filippo Trevisan and Michael Vaughan, this talk explores the increasingly influential impact of technologies—such as databases, algorithms, and digital story banks—that are usually invisible to the public. Story Tech examines the shift toward political story “on demand” and illustrates how storytelling success can—and should—be achieved in conjunction with personal dignity, privacy, and empowerment for storytellers and their communities, particularly marginalized ones.

About the speaker

Professor Ariadne Vromen is Sir John Bunting Chair of Public Administration in the Crawford School, a position co-funded by ANU and the Australia and New Zealand School of Government. As Deputy Dean (Research) for ANZSOG, and a member of Crawford’s Policy and Governance Department, she focuses on research leadership to foster excellence in impact-driven research while continuing existing research projects and PhD supervision. Her long-term research interests include citizen engagement, digital politics and governance, women and the future of work, policy advocacy, and young people and politics. Professor Vromen is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences Australia and current President of the Australian Political Studies Association.

Format

25 minutes presentation by Professor Vromen followed by audience discussion.

Time and location

1:00 pm, Tuesday 24 September.

Seminar Room 203, RD Watt Building (A04), Science Road, The University of Sydney, NSW 2050.

See more information about getting to the Lab.

Accessibility

We are committed to ensuring our spaces are safe, accessible and enjoyable for all. The RD Watt building is fully accessible for people who use wheelchairs or other mobility aids and service animals are welcome. Enter via the rear door of the RD Watt Building, near the entrance to the Social Sciences Building at the University of Sydney. Our meeting and events space is equipped with PA and assistive listening systems.

If you have any other access requirements, please do let us know when you register.

About Policy Bites

The Sydney Policy Lab’s lunchtime seminars – Policy Bites – are a forum for researchers and practitioners to present their exploratory and applied policy work in its early stages. Each public seminar gathers the Lab community in our collaborative space to hear and discuss new research as we exchange ideas across disciplines.

Policy Bites are organised by Dr Kate Harrison Brennan (Director, Sydney Policy Lab), Dr Assel Mussagulova (Lecturer in Public Policy and Public Administration, School of Social and Political Sciences) and Associate Professor Meru Sheel (Sydney School of Public Health).