Still Figuring It Out.

Inductive Reasoning, Costly Signalling, Social Learning, and the Growth of Knowledge
John Hartley, AM Curtin University (Australia) and Cardiff University (Wales) john.a.hartley@curtin.edu.au

Still Figuring It Out

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6osiBvQ-RRg

Storytelling is Inductive Reasoning

Eric D. Beinhocker (2006) The Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics. Harvard Business School Press.

John Hartley & Kelly McWilliam (eds) (2009) Story Circle: Digital Storytelling Around the World. Wiley-Blackwell.

Storytelling is Costly Signalling

We show that honest signaling of underlying quality by providing a benefit to group members can be evolutionarily stable, and may proliferate when rare as long as highquality individuals are neither too common nor too rare, and the cost of signaling is sufficiently greater for low than for high-quality players.
Herbert Gintis et al. (2001) Costly Signaling and Cooperation. J. theor. Biol. 213, 103-119 doi:10.1006/jtbi.2001.2406

Storytelling is Social Learning

Tavi Gevinson Still Figuring It Out. Discovery 257,483 Views Engagement 447 Comments 2,688 Likes 121 Dislikes Audience Top locations United States Australia Canada Top demographics Female, 13-17 years Female, 25-34 years Female, 18-24 years

The Growth of Knowledge

Len Collard: Spirit of Fremantle Discovery 160 Views Engagement 2 Comments 4 Likes 0 Dislikes Audience Top locations Australia Qatar Malaysia Top demographics Weho2: FUNNY Psy: Gangnam Style Discovery 98,307 Views Engagement 167 Comments 153 Likes 40 Dislikes Audience Top locations Australia New Zealand United Kingdom Top demographics Male, 13-17 years Male, 18-24 years Male, 45-54 years Dscovery 618,992,701 Views Engagement 2,635,047 Comments 4,730,655 Likes 256,129 Dislikes Audience -

Top demographics Female, 13-17 years Male, 13-17 years Male, 18-24 years

Questions
YouTube has population-wide reach
Psy = 619m views (in three months)

Within it, new storytelling institutions are emerging

TED is one. Humour is another.

How can community-based media, arts, and advocacy organisations compete in this social learning environment? What can they learn from emergent online storytelling institutions? How to achieve visibility in the costly signalling game?

Answers?
The point is not to give girls the answers, and not even give them permission to find the answers themselves, but hopefully inspire them to understand that they can give themselves that permission; they can ask their own questions, find their own answers, all of that... Tavi Gevinson (15), Still Figuring It Out.

Thanks