[Commlist] New Book - Story Tech: Power, Storytelling and Social Change Advocacy

New Book – Story Tech: Power, Storytelling and Social Change Advocacy

Filippo Trevisan, Michael Vaughan & Ariadne Vromen, /Story Tech: Power, 
Storytelling and Social Change Advocacy/, University of Michigan Press 
(2025)

Get -50% off on the University of Michigan Press website through the end 
of May with code “SPRING25.” Even better, the e-book version is Open 
Access and freely available! You can find out more at: 
https://press.umich.edu/Books/S/Story-Tech2 
<https://press.umich.edu/Books/S/Story-Tech2>

The authors would also be happy to talk to your students, department, or 
school about the book and their on-going research on digital 
storytelling, advocacy, and policymaking. Contact Filippo 
Trevisan: (trevisan /at/ american.edu)

Book synopsis:

/Personal stories have the power to stir the heart, compel us to act, 
and spark social change. While advocacy organizations have long used 
storytelling in campaigns, the role technology plays has increased. 
Today, invitations to “share your story” are widespread on advocacy 
organizations and political campaign websites, calls to action, and 
social media pages. But what happens after one clicks “share”? And how 
does this affect which voices we hear—and which we don’t—in public 
discourse?

Story Tech explores the increasingly influential impact of 
technologies—such as databases, algorithms, and digital story banks—that 
are usually invisible to the public. It shows that hidden “story tech” 
enables political organizations to treat stories as data that can be 
queried for storylines and used to intervene in news and information 
cycles in real time. In particular, the authors review successful 
story-centered campaigns that helped change dominant narratives on 
disability rights, marriage equality, and essential workers’ rights in 
the United States and Australia. They compare the use of storytelling 
advocacy across different types of organizations including volunteer 
grassroots groups, large national advocacy coalitions, and trade unions, 
and examine how trends differ for storytellers, organizers, and their 
technology partners. As political stories shift to being “on demand,” 
they reshape power relationships in key public debates in ways that 
produce moments of tension as well as positive narrative change. Story 
Tech examines these trends and illustrates how storytelling success 
can—and should—be achieved in conjunction with personal dignity, 
privacy, and empowerment for storytellers and their communities, 
particularly marginalized ones./

//

Table of Contents:

Introduction
Chapter 1 – Storytelling in changing technological and political landscapes
Chapter 2 – Logics of digital storytelling and their diffusion
Chapter 3 – “Story tech” and datafication
Chapter 4 – Whose voice? The role of storytellers and representation
Chapter 5 – Unexpected narratives: Personal disability stories
Chapter 6 – Datafied storytelling’s double-edged sword in marriage 
equality campaigning
Chapter 7 – Frontline “heroes”: unions and essential workers’ stories 
during the pandemic
Chapter 8 – Power, storytelling, and advocacy for social change futures

Praise:

“This pathbreaking book shows how advocacy organizations use stories to 
personalize issues and engage publics in the digital age. Insightful 
analyses of diverse cases illustrate how stories are developed, how they 
empower citizens, and why they matter for lobbying and public advocacy. 
The authors critically examine both the potential and the challenges of 
using big data technologies in personalized political communication.”

- W. Lance Bennett, University of Washington

//

“The role of storytelling in shaping politics and advocacy for social 
change is largely untold—until now. /Story Tech/ breaks new ground with 
a sharp and timely analysis of what happens when digital technologies 
combine with storytelling to disrupt politics and drive social change. 
It’s essential reading for practitioners and scholars alike.”

- Andrea Carson, University of Oxford

//

“This timely and comprehensively researched book will make an 
outstanding contribution to the literature on digital advocacy.”

- James Dennis, University of Portsmouth

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