Chapter 9

In this chapter, Ohler revisits the idea of the story map and explores alternatives to the traditional Visual Portrait of a Story model (VPS) he had presented earlier. One of his additional examples of a story map format was by Joseph Campbell. I really identified with the Campbell model and like the idea of ending up where you started, and how that idea is visually represented in the model.

As an insurance adjuster I have had the opportunity to participate in advanced negotiation training during which the instructor broke down the aspects of a negotiation similar to the way we are breaking down a story. To understand the "whole" you need to understand the "parts". One of our required readings was "Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People" by G. Richard Shell.

Shell describes the process of a negotiation in four distinct steps. He recognizes preparation, information exchange, opening and concessions, and closing and gaining commitment. When entering a negotiation with, for example, an attorney, both parties go on a journey through the stages of the negotiation gaining an understanding of each other's position. At the end of this journey both reach a conclusion, come to an agreement and have deepened their working relationship and understanding of each other as negotiators further preparing the participant for the inevitable next negotiation.  Sample of Shell's Book on Google Books. 

As Ohler mentions,

"Campbell believed that heroes ended up where they began, though they were changed by their experience. At the end of their journeys they live in two worlds-the one they left and the new one from which they emerged, both of which are present at the top of the circle."

Jason B. Ohler. Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning, and Creativity (pp. 114-115). Kindle Edition.

This is very similar to the negotiation I have just described in many ways. At the end of the "journey" the negotiator and the attorney have left the world of "anticipating what the settlement amount will be" and entered the world of "resolution and settlement". Both worlds would still exist together in my cubicle but are separate nevertheless. I think this shows how Campbell's idea can apply to any situation in which someone learns something or goes through an interaction with another person. We do not usually realize how many items a day we negotiate and how common it is in our daily lives.

In referencing my previous post with the "hamster picking example" this might be an appropriate place for a negotiation over the price of the hamster for the boy to come to a "realization/transformation" of the true, reasonable market value of your average fur-ball friend.