The Net Generation’s Stories: A Typology

In this chapter, the empirical data are presented as a typology of narratives in which experiences and activities in virtual space and the real world are interwoven, along with ideas and wishes for the future, what has happened in the past, and what is happening in the present. They run like a subterranean web through the narrators’ lives, initiating patterns of thinking and doing which revolve around a specific focus. The following types of narrations were identified: stories about interconnectedness, self-staging, supplying and selling, managing boundaries, and transformation, as well as setting out and breaking away.

A Theoretical Postscript: Time, Space, the Self and the You, and Digital Media as Narrative Constructions

This chapter explores how the concepts of time, space, the Self, the You, and the structural characteristics of the media concerned figure in the narratives. Time, for example, is fleshed out as biographical and sociocultural time whereas space takes on form in the narrative practices of managing boundaries and organizing virtual space. The analysis continues by confirming that the narrative subject is anything but isolated. The You sets foot on the narrative stage as a benchmark or a talking point. In the interplay between narrators and media, transmedia storytelling crystallizes as a new narrative form which interlinks media-based experiences from different phases of life and from different media, giving rise to a cosmos in which the narrators act as the designers of their own stories.

Introduction

The introductory chapter presents the idea behind the book, its main hypotheses, its innovative approach, and a detailed description of the research methods which were used from the perspective of an understanding-interpretative paradigm.

Storytelling as a Cultural Practice and Life Form

Narrative is introduced as a cultural practice and life form which contributes to creating the foundation of our lives as it helps us to interpret the world, through stories, in which we must be able to act. Borrowed from Ricœur (Time and narrative: The configuration of time in fictional narrative (Vol. 2, K. McLaughlin & D. Pellauer, Trans). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press (1985) and The course of recognition (D. Pellauer, Trans). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press (2005).), the concepts of time and space are presented as the contexts and products of narrative. The functions of storytelling are discussed under the heading of “technologies of Self-construction” (inspired by Foucault, Technologies of the self. In L. H. Martin, H. Gutman, & P. H. Hutton (Eds.), Technologies of the self: A seminar with Michel Foucault (pp. 16–49). Amherst, MA: The University of Massachusetts Press (1988).), which provide orientation, self-understanding, and transgression. These need to be developed within the constraints of social norms—so the theory goes—and yet subjects still have some room to move within the process of adopting norms (Butler, Giving an account of oneself. New York, NY: Fordham University Press (2005).).

Narrative Production of Culture

In the abstract to chapter 2, the reference was added for authors mentioned explicitly in the text. To round off the work, the network actors’ narratives are discussed against the background of an increase in cross-border encounters as expedited by transnational digital technologies, for example. The “translational turn” is taken as a starting point for inferring the future challenges to a form of narrative which should be in a position to create narrative spaces. Cultural theorist Homi K. Bhabha designates such narrative locations as the “Third Space” (The location of culture. London: Routledge (1994)).

Narrating as an Answer to Sociocultural Challenges

The narrative typologies presented previously are juxtaposed with the principal characteristics of sociocultural transformation in this chapter. The findings reveal how these affect the network actors’ storytelling, but without dominating the narrative. Social developments come up against headstrong subjects who make use of their ability to select, differentiate, and reflect.

The Narrative Space of the Internet

Undergoing a sociocultural transformation in the course of their development, digital networks are analysed as further parameters in the narratives of network actors and bloggers. The following structural characteristics are particularly relevant for narratives: interconnectedness, interactivity, globality, multimediality, and virtuality. These characteristics are then part and parcel of the mise-en-scène of narrative in digital networks.