Notes

• analysis comes prior to planning
• recall “MICS”: meaning, identity, content, structure
• analysis for narrative strategy must consider each
• questions about meaning:
  • why is this narrative being told?
  • what is the objective?
  • who or what does this rendering of events serve?
  • what actions does it legitimate?
• narratives hold events together to give each event meaning in relation to others
• events that don’t contribute to the meaning are left out
• people typically only register events, information, etc that reinforce their current narrative
• authors can’t help unsubstantiated swipe at Russia, even though they’re demonstrably better at this
• there are no defensive narratives; offense vs offense
• when analyzing adversarial narratives, ask “what meaning does an adversarial narrative wish to convey?”
• what is the meaning I want an audience to take away from my communication?
• 5-Ws apply to narratives
• narratives are more effective when they touch more layers of identity
• authors focus on pain, fear, and trauma; these perspectives only work for short term manipulation
• authors fail to address higher order impacts of their suggestions, eg OWS PSYOP destroying the US
• what information to use varies by culture
  • Western audiences prefer facts, metrics, and points
  • but often weaving with individual stories works better
• authors seem unaware that Western business narratives do that
• influence requires attention
• narrative structure is culturally dependent

Questions

1. Target audience analysis forcuses on demographics, wealth, etc; narrative identity analysis additionally focuses on identity
2. MICS = Meaning, Identity, Content, Structure