Stories about Storytelling: A Personal Journey in Technology

We all use our smartphones to send text messages, check e-mail, surf the Web, get driving directions, and make the occasional phone call. But we tend to forget that our mobile gadgets are also powerful machines for storytelling—in fact, never before have so many people had the tools to capture and share their experiences through video, sound, still images, and text.

In this talk Wade Roush, a longtime science and technology writer who heads the San Francisco office of tech news site Xconomy, will argue that we all make sense of our lives through stories. He’ll survey the devices and apps that can make us all into more effective storytellers, teachers, and learners, and will share anecdotes from his own years as a journalist that drive home the power of a good story to excite, persuade, or enlighten.

Presenter(s)

Wade Roush is chief correspondent and San Francisco editor at Xconomy, a national network of sites covering high-tech entrepreneurship. His weekly column, VOX (The Voice of Xperience), explains the impact of technology on consumers and guides readers to the best tools for their lifestyles.

Wade grew up in Michigan and attended college and graduate school in Boston, earning a B.A. in the history of science from Harvard College and a Ph.D. in the history and social study of science and technology from MIT. He has worked as a reporter, writer, and editor for several organizations, including Science magazine, NASA Ames Research Center, e-book startup NuvoMedia, Technology Review magazine, and Xconomy. His articles have appeared in Science, Technology Review, IEEE Spectrum, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Technology and Culture, and Alaska Airlines Magazine, and he has been a guest of NPR, CNN, CNBC, NECN, WGBH and the PBS NewsHour.