The Power of Narrative in the Virtual Public Square - Session 2

In today’s society, technology and social media create virtual public spaces where stories and narratives are created, shared, written, rewritten, and archived. Following the death of Freddie Gray, the Maryland Historical Society, University of Baltimore, and University of Maryland, Baltimore County jointly created a digital archive of stories and photographs as a way of building and telling a more complete story. Twitter is another virtual public square where the events in Baltimore were discussed. The focus of this public program will be on exploring how people who participated in virtual public spaces during the events following the killing of Freddie Gray think about their involvement in the shaping of the narrative. In this public program, data storytelling experts will come together with Baltimore residents to discuss engagement in virtual public spaces. Participants will discuss how social media changes the narrative(s) and the interrelationships between social media and legacy media, the more traditional means of communication and expression that predate the internet. We are inviting members of Technically Baltimore, the organization of the local technology community, to join scholars and activists in the facilitation of the sessions. We will prepare a discussion facilitation guide that reflects learnings from cultural studies and digital humanities.

The Baltimore Stories project has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and is a collaboration between the University of Maryland, Maryland Humanities Council, the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Enoch Pratt Free Library and the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance.

To register: http://goo.gl/forms/rfSsHdEDOwQuestions: arhusynergy@umd.edu