10/ Stories are important. - Do you have any experience of this?
- Do you know of good research about this?
- How do you feel about this?
- How can 'Word Nerds' help on a local/National/International scale
- How can we use the internet to help?
- What do we know that could help governments to deal with this issue?
Wow, you've been busy posting this lot!
ReplyDeleteThis is the one I'm really interested in, from many many angles. I guess the most relevant things here are twofold: the need and opportunity for previously invisible sections of our society and the wider world to be made visible through telling their stories. The wonderful example I know of this is www.abctales.com - a project set up to give voice to the stories of the homeless. I see a real scope for similar projects. Of course the graddaddy and inspiration of all such projects is the Shoah archive.
Second, as culture evolves it is vital to use the positive aspects of bnew technoogy to preserve stories before they die. I have recently been overwhelmed and inspired by A Jay adlers www.sadredearth.com - one person's archive of Native American culture. Likewise, I would advocate any and all to get involved with the work of the Endangered Languages Fund. The language in which a story is told is not just a casing, a shell, a different way of presenting the same content. The true meaning of a story cannot be expressed other than through the idiom of the language of its original tellers. Lose those languages, and whole levels odf meaning die with them.
Those of you who have rea Songs from the Other Side of the Wall, my latest novel, will know that it features the fictitious website Endangeredworlds.net, essentially a practical cultural preservation barter site, where people who have time and practical expertise or other resources (for example, access to printing facilities, legal know how) and want to help are married up with people representing endangered cultures who need help (practical guides printed in a ative tongue, for example). It's fictitious, but the fiction was born from a passion.
These are things I'm going to be taking orward, and I'd be delighted to attach the WNA name and link if it's thought appropriate, and to share any knowledge and/or resources along the way.
Stories are important at ALL ages. Too many first time parents don't realize the importance of reading to their children from a young age. Not sure how things are elsewhere, but there are programs around these parts to provide youngsters with age appropriate books each time they visit the pediatrician. These programs are funded through grants and donations.
ReplyDeleteOther ideas. Kids grow out of books just like they grow out of toys. Organize a book drive where kids can donate books they no longer want so that someone less fortunate can have the chance to read it.
Make sure every child you know that is old enough gets a library card. I can't think of anything more valuable for a child to have.
From the beginning of time stories have been important. Before the radio, television and, computer came about news and entertainment was spread by word of mouth and on paper. This is where we get myths, legends, history, and tales from around the world. Without stories we would have a communication break down.
ReplyDelete