Storytelling: An old tradition gets a new life on-line

November 27, 1995
Web posted at: 6:10 p.m. EST

From Reporter Audrey Galex

JONESBOROUGH, Tennessee (CNN) -- It is said that a good story never ends. People keep telling it; others keep listening. "I think the real trend is people need this recreation for the imagination and that's what storytelling provides," said storyteller David Holt.

Thousands of people gathered on a recent weekend in Jonesborough, Tennessee, home of the National Storytelling Association and the soon-to-be built National Storytelling Center, to tell stories and listen to storytelling.

They also discussed the future of storytelling. "I think we're going to see, 25 years from now, storytelling becoming part of our lives-- the way we teach, the way we communicate, the way we build cultural bridges, the way we enhance family values and strengthen community values," said Jimme Neal Smith, the assocation's director. "It'll be a way we can knit ourselves together." (175K AIFF sound or 175K WAV sound)

As part of that trend, storytelling is going on-line. Information from the association's magazine and biographies of individual storytellers already is available on the World Wide Web. There also are plans for "StoryNet," an on- line, all-inclusive storytelling network.

"I think (the computer) has made storytelling more popular because peoople don't have as many opportunities for human contact. When they spend so much time in front of a computer screen, they need to get that human interaction that happens even when a person is telling a story to 2000 people," said storyteller Jeannine Pasini-Beekman. She added that storytellers will use computer technology to their benefit. (173K AIFF sound or 173K WAV sound)

So does storytelling live happily ever after? "With mechanization and computerization, television, radio and new technologies, we want something real," said Smith. "And oral communication between two people is as real as it gets."

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Storytelling: An old tradition gets a new life on-line

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