Distributed Narrative

To the general reader, a narrative is composed of a beginning, a middle, and an end (Walker 2004). According to Aristotle, the traditional story includes unity: time, space, and action (Walker, 2004). The term “unity” involves the narrative to be told in a single day and location with a series of events that illustrate the main idea. However, what would happen if an “author,” the controller of the story, broke the rules? Why should narratives be confined when there are infinite ways to tell a story?

Jill Walker, author of “Distributed Narrative: Telling Stories Across Networks,” explored the varieties of story telling. Distributed narratives are written with a sense of unity as a whole, but include broken elements. To illustrate this concept, Walker included a narrative created entirely out of stickers. The stickers entitled “Implementation” were posted throughout the world for people to examine and connect. Although some people may be oblivious to the stickers, it could also have an affect on the particular audience and a desire for more. This story is the ideal example of a broken narrative. The stickers were posted in different locations so therefore contradicts Aristotle’s unity of space. In a literal sense, the stickers are separate pieces that contribute to a whole, so therefore it is a distributed narrative (Walker, 2004).

“Distributed Narrative: Telling Stories Across Networks” truly explores and encourages readers to search and accept distributed narratives. Because we have access to various media platforms, our generation clearly has an advantage to this art form.

A distributed narrative in our current media can be the “Trending Topics” on Twitter. Although this is not a traditional narrative, the “weblog” includes the unity of time and action. More specifically, the Trending Topics are threads of the most popular subjects included in posts worldwide. For example, “Inception” was the top Trending Topic for weeks after it’s premiere date. Twitter enables the account holder to click on the topic, therefore being able to read all of the postings regarding “Inception.” Also, Trending Topics are constant. When one searches a subject, the page automatically refreshes with new posts to keep the topic as updated as possible.In the form of

a narrative, the topic is the “story” with which hundreds, thousands, even millions of people contribute their specific ideas from different locations. It is a way to interact through the narrative not only to read the topic, but to receive a “response” as well. This form of interaction is somewhat similar to “Online Caroline.” “Caroline” would interact with the reader through email and express personal and “real” emotions. Although “Caroline” is fictional, her devoted readers appreciated her emails and showed interest as well. According to Jill Walker, this form of interaction through narratives was simple and addicting because it only took 5-10 minutes of one’s day (Walker, 2004). Likewise, Twitter is easily accessible and convenient, especially the Trending Topics. Tweets are simple to read, given they can only be 140 characters. Tweets regarding Trending Topics are all fragments of one unanimous subject at the same time, therefore enabling interaction with the audience and the narrative.

Citation: Walker, J. (2004). Distributed narrative: telling stories across networks.