Yearly Archives: 2015

#7) The IPCC Needs the ABT Framework (#ABTFramework)

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NEWS UPDATE:  Journalists are now telling us that scientists are saying something about “the end is near,” but they can’t quite make out exactly what the scientists are saying because they are so hopelessly confusing and boring.  

A report last week in Nature says communication by the IPCC has gotten worse over the past decade, not better.  The IPCC needs the ABTFramework.  We are now propagating the ABT approach at USDA (I’ll be running another two Story Circles next month).  One science group has already used the ABT to fix their statement to the upcoming Paris climate meetings.  People have been complaining about the poor communication efforts of the IPCC for years (John Sterman had a note about it in Science in 2008). They need the ABT Framework.    Actually, so does the Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test, developed in 1975 (it’s 2015, we now know things about the importance of narrative structure).  Come on, everybody, we can do better than this.

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INCREDIBLY PERMANENT COMMUNICATION CHAOS (IPCC).  Apparently the journalists are getting better at communication as the IPCC gets worse.  What a great way to watch the world end — journalists telling us really clearly that they can’t understand what the scientists are saying.

 

SOME THINGS SEEM TO NEVER CHANGE

It was 2008 when my good friend John Sterman had his MIT math and science grad students read the executive summary of the last IPCC report and try to translate it into understandable language.  In so doing, about half of them got wrong the basic contents of what the summary was saying.  He published a great short essay about it in Science, saying if MIT grad students can’t understand what you’re saying, how do you expect the public to.  You would have thought the IPCC might have improved things in response to being called out.  Not even close.

 

AS BORING AND CONFUSING AS THEY WANNA BE

This isn’t me doing the criticizing — it’s in Nature last week in an article titled, “UN Climate Reports are Increasingly Unreadable.”  And you want to know what’s really sad in that article — they quote senior climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer saying, ““If newspapers and other intermediaries are doing a progressively better job of communicating IPCC findings to the larger public, and if governments are happy, is there really a problem?”

Really?  This is serious business.   And no, it doesn’t work to let the science folks communicate poorly just because you think the journalists are some sort of miracle workers.  Ever hear the expression “Garbage in, garbage out”?  If the process starts with garbage communication, you’re going to run a substantial risk of ending up with something being wrong down the line.  It’s kind of like the old Telephone Game.  Honestly.

 

THE ABT AT WORK

So just last week a scientist told me about a committee of 20 people from a scientific organization he’s part of, putting together their climate statement for the upcoming Paris climate meetings.  They had a classic case of “herding cats” with everyone wanting their separate message to be part of the statement.  But he stepped in with the ABT, and bingo — they came up with a clear, easy to read 6 paragraph statement with solid ABT structure.  It has two simple paragraphs of set up, one paragraph that lays out a single narrative direction, then the remaining paragraphs of consequence and action needed.

Yes, it is that seemingly simple, though doing it skillfully takes time and training.  The IPCC doesn’t need to be hopeless (unlike what Oppenheimer is suggesting).  It just needs the ABT Framework.

 

 

#6) The Union of Concerned Scientist’s Review of “Houston”

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Aaron Huertas of Union of Concerned Scientists has written an accurate/spot-on/pretty much perfect review of “Houston, We Have A Narrative.” UCS was the first NGO to “get it” for my first book. I can now say the same thing for this book, which is why I’ve been a fan and running workshops with them for six years now. Thank you, Aaron, for listening well.

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BOOK REVIEW.  It’s so nice to feel like someone has heard what you were saying.  That’s called “communication.”

 

SOME SCIENCE ORGANIZATIONS DO LISTEN REALLY WELL

When my first book, “Don’t Be Such A Scientist,” came out in 2009 the very first major organization to contact me and ask me to come speak with them was the Union of Concerned Scientists.  It’s six years later and they’ve pretty much done it again with the review of my new book by Aaron Huertas, one of their long time science communication folks (who has just left to work in the private sector — he will be sorely missed).

It takes a lot of time and effort to write and publish a book.  It can be really frustrating when it finally comes out and you hear some people completely misread and misinterpret the contents.  It happened occasionally for my first book — one major review accused me of advocating “bending the science to tell better stories,” a group of scientists at a major research institution tried to have me un-invited because they thought it was an anti-science book (helps if you actually open the book).  And without saying who, there has already been one blog review for the new book by someone who also seems to have done little more than flip through a few pages and get offended at my critical comments about the humanities.

But Aaron Huertas has written a review that shows not only that he read and absorbed the message of the book, he also adds heft and validity to his review by applying part of the contents to the issue of vaccination.

 

TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE

I guess there’s an element of “takes one to know one” — meaning that Aaron understands the book so well because he’s dealt with the same challenges I address.  He hits on so many of the most important points of the book — like “Working the storytelling muscle.”  Thank you for highlighting this point.

It’s one of the biggest frustrations I contend with right now — people saying, “right, got it, ABT, three words, I’m all set.”  We got this with our Story Circles prototypes last spring — one participant asked why there needed to be ten meetings — basically saying, “I got the ABT on the first day and was done.”  What can you do.

That’s like lifting a barbell twice at the gym and saying, “right, got it, barbells, you lift them up, I’m all set,” then going home and never returning, yet thinking you’re buff.

 

VISITING THE NARRATIVE GYM

It’s about “narrative fitness training” — that’s what Story Circles is about.  I had one scientist at a major institution tell me this summer, “our comms people have done a great job running us through their one day storytelling workshop over the past couple years — we’ve got it down.”

No, you don’t.  Sorry.  It doesn’t happen in one day.  It doesn’t happen in three years of film school.  It doesn’t even happen in an entire lifetime, even if you win an Oscar.  Last spring I asked Eric Roth, author of the screenplays for “Forrest Gump” “Munich” and countless other heavy weight movies, if at age 70 he feels like he’s “got it” on the storytelling thing — he chuckled and said, “are you kidding?”

I’m still figuring this stuff out and I’ve now written three books about it.  Please don’t tell me you’ve learned all there is to know about narrative.  If you have, you ought to be making millions of dollars in Hollywood.  Let me know when that happens.

(FINAL NOTE:  be sure to read Aaron’s account of the ABT Paul Offit tells about his wife administering a vaccination — it’s a powerful demonstration of the faulty thinking of anti-vaccinationists)

 

#5) The ABT Walk of Life

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It’s pretty true.

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Ever listen to a kid tell you what he did today?  Ever listen to a professor drone on and on?

 

ABT, THE NARRATIVE OPTIMUM

My good friend, screenwriter and author Mike Backes pointed this out to me and suggested this figure.

The AAA, which is the non-narrative default state, is common in kids who tell you about what they did today — “And then we went to the store, and then we saw a man, and then he said hello, and then we bought some ice cream, and then …”

At the other end of the spectrum is the learned academic whose thinking is so complex he ends up communicating on five separate narrative planes at once — “the classics are quite challenging despite their popularity, however some people would just as soon study poetry, yet I have a good friend who is fond of making his own haikus, but he’s not the only one who spends his spare time engaged in such activities, nevertheless …”

The real goal is right in the middle of the narrative spectrum.  People hit it at the prime of their lives.  That is when the brain is experienced enough, yet still sharp enough to construct clear, broadly understandable popular singular narratives.  That is when we have the best grasp of the ABT.

Such is the fate of humanity.

#4) #ABTframework: The new home base for ABT learning

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My new book has a section titled “The ABT Way of Thinking,” but a simpler term for this is just “The ABT Framework.” When you get to know the ABT structure, you begin to see it all around you. It’s in the narrative structure of stories in the news, it’s present in written communication, literature, history, business — basically everywhere. This is part of the message of the book, which we’ll now start to compile at #ABTFramework.

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SCIENCE INNOVATES AS FAST AS SENIOR CITIZENS CHANGE FASHIONS.  You want evidence of how slow things change in science?  This is the first figure from my new book.  It shows how long it took the four top medical journals to adopt the narrative template of IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results And Discussion).  Today they all use it, but it took FIFTY YEARS … a half century … for them to fully adopt it.  Change in science happens sloooooooowwwwww.

 

THE ABT HISTORY

Next month will make four years since I heard Trey Parker describe his “Rule of Replacing” in which he told about the simple editing principle they use.  He was talking about the idea of replacing “and’s” with “but’s” and “therefore’s.”

Within a couple weeks I molded it into a single sentence template — one sentence built around the words, “and, but, therefore” which we now call “The ABT.”  In 2013 I gave a TEDMED talk on it, then had a letter in Science Magazine about it.

In my new book, “Houston, We Have A Narrative,” I run through a number of examples of putting the ABT to work in the real world such as helping panelists on a sea level rise panel, working with the AAAS-Lemelson Invention Ambassadors, and assisting an ocean scientist on her presentation.  Since writing those accounts, there are heaps more examples coming in every day.

 

THE ABT HALL OF FAME

There are about a dozen “early adopters” of the ABT who have been a big help to me.  These are people who took one look at it and said, “I get it,” then set to work using it and propagating it.  Are they communications heroes?  Not really, given how simple and common sense the ABT is.  They are just people who don’t care about “where did this come from” — they figure if it works, they’ll use it.

People like Park Howell who teaches storytelling to MBAs in the business school at Arizona State University.  He not only “got it” a couple years ago, he’s the guy who pointed me to the Gettysburg Address and labeled the ABT “the DNA of story.”

And Shirley Malcom, head of Education at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as this year’s winner of the prestigious UCLA Medal.  Shirley got the ABT at first glance.  She’s brought me in to work with a number of groups of speakers at AAAS and watched as the ABT has helped them find the narrative of what they have to say.

And Peter Griffith of NASA.  He, too, grasped the power of the ABT the first time he heard about it.  In February he had me speak on a panel at the North American Carbon Meeting which he co-organized.  I presented the ABT, the next day a number of scientists used it in their talks — some even bolding the words “And, But, Therefore.”

And Jayde Lovell who has been my co-producer of Story Circles.  This spring she applied for and was chosen as one of the twelve finalists out of nearly 2,000 submissions for the National Academy of Engineering’s “Next MacGyver” contest.  Her entire pitch was structured using the ABT, as was her live presentation in Hollywood which resulted in her winning one of the five slots which paid a cash prize and has her now working with folks in Hollywood on the TV pilot of her pitch.

And Mike Strauss who is head of the Office of Scientific Quality Review at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  He is in charge of overseeing quality control of research proposals.  He immediately saw the value of the ABT to the construction of good proposals.  After having me speak at their annual convention, he sponsored one of our Story Circle prototypes, then a workshop with 75 plant pathologists, and now two more Story Circles launching next month with plans for lots more within USDA.

There’s countless more.  In fact, just this week a scientist who is part of a 20 member group putting together a statement for the Paris climate meeting showed me how the ABT was the magic tool that enabled them to come up with a summary statement that is clear, cohesive and delivers a solid punch.  He said with that one tool they went from “herding cats” to unity.

Every day these stories now roll in, as well as people telling me about the latest “And, And, And,” presentation they got stuck in.  Lots more ahead for the ABT.  It’s just a matter of time.  There is no alternative narrative model.  It’s just the way that narrative has worked since 4,000 years ago when someone carved the story of Gilgamesh on cuneiform tablets in Mesopotamia.  It’s not a surprise it is the narrative magic bullet the science world, and pretty much everyone else, needs.

You can follow everything related to the ABT at the new hashtag, #ABTFramework.  

 

#3) Acquiring Narrative Intuition Painlessly: The ABT Dice

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They’re fun, but also, they’re definitely not a gimmick.  A little bit of time with them and you will get a clear feel for the dynamics of the whole spectrum, from AAA to ABT to DHY.  They are a new addition to Story Circles.

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL.  The ABT Dice are like a simple improv game that introduces you to the Narrative Spectrum.

A NEW ADDITION TO STORY CIRCLES

We’ll be launching two new Story Circles with USDA next month with lots more in the works (for a description of Story Circles go here).  For these groups we will include the new ABT Dice.  They are a simple tool for learning the basic dynamics of the three narrative templates.

Above is an amusing video that presents the dice and how they work.  Notice all the smiles in the shots from our workshop in August with 75 USDA Plant Pathologists.  Those shots are not faked.  It’s a workshop that’s actually fun.

 

#2) My “Business of Story” Podcast

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Business/Story/Communications expert Park Howell did a podcast with me for his program, “The Business of Story.”  Park has been, not just an early adopter of the ABT (using it in his classes at the Arizona State Business School), but also a fellow researcher of the ABT.

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BUSINESS NEEDS STORY.  That’s pretty much the argument of Park Howell of the Arizona State University business school.  He’s telling MBA’s the same thing I’m telling science folks, and not surprisingly he has been an early adopter of the ABT.

 

THE “UH-HUH, UH-OH AND AH-HA” OF THE ABT

Two years ago when my book, “Connection,” with Dorie Barton and Brian Palermo came out, one of the first people to read it and contact us was Park Howell, a faculty member in the business school at Arizona State University.  He flipped over the ABT.

Over the past two years he has made MAJOR contributions to my development of the ABT — including spotting it in the Gettysburg Address and labeling it “The DNA of Story,” which I cited him for in the book and is the title of the animated video.

So it was only logical that he would have me on his podcast, “The Business of Story,” to talk about the ABT in all its facets.  I come off as a little bit of a late night infomercial spokesman (“It slices!  It dices!”), which is only fitting because I feel that way about the ABT.

Here’s the episode, titled, “The Science of Storytelling.”

 

 

#1) “Science Needs Story” Begins!

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New book, new video, new blog (hopefully new things to say).

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SCIENCE NEEDS STORY.  Or at least that’s what this new book argues.

 

THE GRAND SYNTHESIS

Welcome to my new blog, “Science Needs Story.”  After running The Benshi for 5 years and 400 posts it felt like time to move on.   Plus, at the end of a 25 year journey, I have a clear and simple message for the world:  Science Needs Story, the subject of my new book, “Houston, We Have A Narrative:  Why Science Needs Story.”

 

This blog is going to be the same as the Benshi, yet different.  It’s the same old me, writing the same old posts, with the same basic interest in mass communication, and the same absence of comments (similar to recent developments on major blogs like The Daily Beast that have gotten rid of comments).  But it’s going to be different in that it will be more focused on a single topic — narrative.

 I’ve got plenty to say, so subscribe and stay tuned, it’s going to be a fun fall with the new book.

 

-Randy