Sarah Gibbard Cook
  • Home
  • About
  • Writing
  • Contact

Humanizing the Technical

5/9/2016

4 Comments

 
My current writing challenge is to recount a brand new chapter in the history of polio eradication. In the last two weeks of April, 155 countries around the world switched to a different kind of polio vaccine. An additional vaccine is being introduced in the 126 countries that weren’t yet using it. This is a very big deal. It is technically and logistically complicated. My first draft is long on explanation and short on storytelling. How do you tell a technical story in human terms?

Journalists and documentary filmmakers deal with this all the time. I hope to learn from them. Ideally, they show people profoundly affected by the development. For polio that’s a future negative: children who won’t be paralyzed. Another approach is to feature people behind the development: researchers, decision makers, or (for polio) Rotarians raising money. Finally, quotes or talking heads give impersonal content a human voice.

I’d like to learn from you, too. What holds your attention in a show or article on a technical topic? Do you find related challenges in your own creative work, and how do you address them?
4 Comments
Carol Steen
5/14/2016 06:50:22 pm

A dozen years ago I moved across the country and found that a social issue was just taking hold in my new home. I was asked to give a workshop to a group of law enforcement officers. I chose to make my presentation very personal, telling stories of students. Judging by the comments, this approach was effective, but it was certainly difficult to deliver.

Reply
Sarah link
5/14/2016 07:23:41 pm

Carol, it's good to hear of your success in carrying out this approach. Many people seem to relate to an issue more clearly when they hear it in human terms. On the polio front, since posting this blog entry I've received some wonderful stories from Ukraine and elsewhere, putting the vaccines in a personal context.

Reply
Matthew
5/29/2016 04:16:18 pm

Journalists often fail to convey the technical details, while documentary film makers often succeed. There are also some books (like Longitude) that tell a technical story to a general audience. What all of the above seem to focus on, to keep the reader's attention, is a story of the key players involved -- their emotions, aspirations, and motives, to make their setbacks and successes more meaningful to the reader.

Reply
Sarah link
5/29/2016 05:55:39 pm

Precisely! Placing it in a human context, replete with human feelings, interactions, disappointments, and surprises, helps make the technical story matter. "Mattering" or "being important" are essentially human constructs / judgments / perceptions.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    I'm a historian who writes novels and literary nonfiction. My home base is Madison, Wisconsin. 

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016

    RSS Feed


      ​get updates

    Sign up
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About
  • Writing
  • Contact