*I kinda figured we'd see some federal, military-industrial design fiction. And DARPA, of course it would be DARPA.
Special Notice DARPA-SN-11-20: Stories, Neuroscience and Experimental
Technologies (STORyNET): Analysis and Decomposition of Narratives in Security
Contexts
WORKSHOP DATE: February 28, 2011
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: February 23, 2011, 4:00 PM ET
TECHNICAL POC: Lt Col William Casebeer, DARPA/DSO
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.darpa.mil/dso/solicitations/solicit.htm
Stories exert a powerful influence on human thoughts and behavior. They consolidate
memory, shape emotions, cue heuristics and biases in judgment, influence in-group/out-
group distinctions, and may affect the fundamental contents of personal identity. It
comes as no surprise that these influences make stories highly relevant to vexing security
challenges such as radicalization, violent social mobilization, insurgency and terrorism,
and conflict prevention and resolution. Therefore, understanding the role stories play in a
security context is a matter of great import and some urgency.
Ascertaining exactly what function stories enact, and by what mechanisms they do so, is
a necessity if we are to effectively analyze the security phenomena shaped by stories.
Doing this in a scientifically respectable manner requires a working theory of narratives,
an understanding of what role narratives play in security contexts, and examination of
how to best analyze stories—decomposing them and their psychological impact
systematically.
To encourage and stimulate discussion and research on these issues, the Defense Sciences
Office (DSO) of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is hosting a
workshop, Stories, Neuroscience and Experimental Technologies (STORyNET): Analysis
and Decomposition of Narratives in Security Contexts. This workshop is intended as a
precursor to exploring the neurobiological mechanisms which undergird narrative
processing so as to establish fertile ground for connecting our understanding of the
neuropsychology of stories with models, simulations and sensors salient to security
concerns. To this end, the workshop will focus on surveying theories of narrative,
understanding what role they play in security domains, and establishing the state of the
art in story analysis and decomposition frameworks.
This STORyNET workshop has three goals:
1. To survey narrative theories. These empirically informed theories should tell us
something about the nature of stories: what is a story? What are its moving parts?
Is there a list of necessary and sufficient conditions it takes for a stimulus to be
considered a story instead of something else? Does the structure and function of
stories vary considerably across cultural contexts or is there a universal theory of
story?
2. To better understand the role of narrative in security contexts. What role do
stories play in influencing political violence and to what extent? What function
do narratives serve in the process of political radicalization and how do they influence a person or group’s choice of means (such as violence) to achieve
political ends? How do stories influence bystanders’ response to conflict? Is it
possible to measure how attitudes salient to security issues are shaped by stories?
3. To survey the state of the art in narrative analysis and decomposition tools.
How can we take stories and make them quantitatively analyzable in a rigorous,
transparent and repeatable fashion? What analytic approaches or tools best
establish a framework for the scientific study of the psychological and
neurobiological impact of stories on people? Are particular approaches or tools
better than others for understanding how stories propagate in a system so as to
influence behavior?
The workshop will be held at the Boar’s Head Inn, 200 Ednam Drive, Charlotesville, VA,
22903. The workshop will include brief presentations by representatives in the domains
of concentration, but these are intended mainly to facilitate communication, interaction
and collaborative discussion; please indicate if you desire to present your findings as a
plenary presentation. Workshop details including registration, meeting location and
lodging are given on the registration website at
http://www.sa-meetings.com/STORyNET.
Website Login Information –
Username: DARPA
Password (case sensitive): STORyNET
There is no fee for the workshop. Registration is limited (maximum 100 people with a
limit of 2 representatives per organization) by the venue capacity. The registration cutoff
date is 4:00PM ET, Wednesday February 23, 2011, and early registration is strongly Additional workshops focusing on neurobiological mechanisms, and on
modeling/simulation/sensor tools, will take place at a later date. We hope that literary
theorists, communications analysts, media analysts, political scientists, sociologists,
anthropologists, psychologists, quantitative social scientists, representatives from
academia and industry, and other interested parties will join us for this first workshop.
(((Yeah, and if you literary theorists, communications analysts, media analysts, political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, and quantitative social scientists have
any interesting unclassified results, be sure to drop by the ol' blog here.)))
Further administrative questions should be addressed to [email protected].
Please refer to the STORyNET Workshop (DARPA-SN-11-20) in all correspondence.
This announcement is not a request for proposals; any so sent will be returned.
Point of Contact
Lt Col William Casebeer, Program Manager, DARPA/DSO;
Email: [email protected].
