Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Articles
DOI: 10.14254/1795-6889.2024.20-3.1
Submitted: 2024-06-25
Published: 2024-12-19

Designing a good story for better policies: Entrepreneurship at the crossroads of AI-powered visual storytelling and sensemaking

Berlin International University of Applied Sciences
##plugins.generic.jatsParser.article.authorBio##
×

Erick Behar-Villegas

Erick is professor of economics and policy at Berlin International University of Applied Sciences and teaches behavioral economics at Tec de Monterrey in Mexico. He is a novelist and uses storytelling to teach and provide solutions for firms and governments. He is an agro-tech entrepreneur.

The Emerginarium
##plugins.generic.jatsParser.article.authorBio##
×

Zhen Goh

Zhen is consultant and CEO of The Emerginarium. As a sociologist with a focus on cultural studies, technology and community informatics, she has worked as a senior consultant for Cognitve Edge and several NGOs.

University of California San Diego
##plugins.generic.jatsParser.article.authorBio##
×

Greg Horowitt

Greg is director of innovation at the University of California, San Diego. As a serial entrepreneur and investor, he is a pioneer in the field of innovation ecosystems and author of The Rainforest. 

AI-imagery entrepreneurship public policy story design visual storytelling storytelling

Abstract

Sensemaking and AI image generators can contribute as visual storytelling tools to a better comprehension of the life-worlds of entrepreneurs in policymaking. There is doubt about whether policymakers productively understand entrepreneurial realities for the sake of implementing decisions that help startups. Using entrepreneurial journeys of 18 startups in six countries, weak-signal triads and image prompts were derived from shared stories in order to visualize entrepreneurial realities. The advantage of visual storytelling materializes in the cognitive ease that narrative schemas yield. Results indicate that AI generated visuals, e.g. storyboards, depict compelling realities regarding story elements such as character and setting clearly, yet they hardly illustrate the dynamics thereof (e.g. conflict resolution), while triads help understand entrepreneurial priorities. The project showcases the potential of tech-driven visualization, suggesting that visual arts can help the public understand untold stories that drive, among others, entrepreneurial solutions, provided that the dynamics be presented clearly.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

  1. Akleman, E., Franchi, S., Kaleci, D., Mandell, L., Yamauchi, T., & Akleman, D. (2015). A Theoretical Framework to Represent Narrative Structures for Visual Storytelling. Proceedings of Bridges 2015: Mathematics, Music, Art, Achitecture, Culture, 129–136.
  2. Anglin, A. H., Reid, S. W., & Short, J. C. (2023). More Than One Way to Tell a Story: A Configurational Approach to Storytelling in Crowdfunding. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 47(2), 461–494. https://doi.org/10.1177/10422587221082679
  3. Arshed, N., Carter, S., & Mason, C. (2014). The ineffectiveness of entrepreneurship policy: Is policy formulation to blame? Small Business Economics, 43(3), 639–659. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-014-9554-8
  4. Bartlett, F. C. (1995). Remembering: A study in experimental and social psychology. Cambridge University Press.
  5. Bellantoni, P. (2013). If it’s purple, someone’s gonna die: The power of color in visual storytelling. Focal Press.
  6. Blythe, M. (2017). Research Fiction: Storytelling, Plot and Design. Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 5400–5411. https://doi.org/10.1145/3025453.3026023
  7. Bosma, N., & Levie, J. (2020). Why policymakers need to understand the motivations of entrepreneurs. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor News. https://www.gemconsortium.org/news/why-policymakers-need-to-understand-the-motivations-of-entrepreneurs
  8. Botsis, T., Fairman, J. E., Moran, M. B., & Anagnostou, V. (2020). Visual storytelling enhances knowledge dissemination in biomedical science. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 107, 103458. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbi.2020.103458
  9. Bundgaard, P. F. (2007). The cognitive import of the narrative schema. Semiotica, 2007(165). https://doi.org/10.1515/SEM.2007.042
  10. Cornelissen, J. P., & Clarke, J. S. (2010). Imagining and Rationalizing Opportunities: Inductive Reasoning and the Creation and Justification of New Ventures. Academy of Management Review, 35(4), 539–557. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.35.4.zok539
  11. Davidson, B. (2017). Storytelling and evidence-based policy: Lessons from the grey literature. Palgrave Communications, 3(1), 17093. https://doi.org/10.1057/palcomms.2017.93
  12. Drew, S. E., Duncan, R. E., & Sawyer, S. M. (2010). Visual Storytelling: A Beneficial But Challenging Method for Health Research With Young People. Qualitative Health Research, 20(12), 1677–1688. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732310377455
  13. Fisher, W. R. (1985). The Narrative Paradigm: In the Beginning. Journal of Communication, 35(4), 74–89. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1985.tb02974.x
  14. Gates-Stuart, E. (2019). Underlining technologies in research practice utilising digital entrepreneurship in creating visual narratives/storytelling. Fusion Journal, 16.
  15. Haden, J. (2014, April 14). 9 things people just don’t get about entrepreneurs. Inc. https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/the-entrepreneurs-creed-inner-beliefs-of-true-entrepreneurs.html
  16. Hamilton, L. K. (2016). The Storytelling of Public Spaces: Rhetoric, Community, and Social Change [Doctoral Dissertation, University of Texas El Paso]. https://scholarworks.utep.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1857&context=open_etd
  17. Heath, C., & Heath, D. (2008). Made to stick: Why some ideas survive and others die (Repr.). Random House.
  18. Hong, J., Zhao, X., & Snell, R. (2022). Making sense out of almost nothing: Entrepreneurial sensemaking and innovation in a Chinese biotechnology startup. Asia Pacific Business Review, 1–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/13602381.2022.2143234
  19. Hu, J., Cheng, Y., Gan, Z., Liu, J., Gao, J., & Neubig, G. (2020). What Makes A Good Story? Designing Composite Rewards for Visual Storytelling. Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 34(05), 7969–7976. https://doi.org/10.1609/aaai.v34i05.6305
  20. Instituto Superior para el Desarrollo del Internet - ISDI. (2015, April 23). ¿Comprenden (de verdad) los políticos el emprendimiento? El Confidencial. https://www.elconfidencial.com/tecnologia/2013-04-16/comprenden-de-verdad-los-politicos-el-emprendimiento_767366/
  21. Kimmitt, J., Kibler, E., Schildt, H., & Oinas, P. (2023). Place in Entrepreneurial Storytelling: A Study of Cultural Entrepreneurship in a Deprived Context. Journal of Management Studies, joms.12912. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12912
  22. Kimmitt, J., & Muñoz, P. (2018). Sensemaking the ‘social’ in social entrepreneurship. International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurship, 36(8), 859–886. https://doi.org/10.1177/0266242618789230
  23. Kleine Wieskamp, P. (2019). Visual Storytelling im Business: Mit Bildern auf den Punkt kommen. Hanser.
  24. Liu, F., Ma, J., & Li, R. (2019). Which Role Model Is More Effective in Entrepreneurship Education? An Investigation of Storytelling on Individual’s Entrepreneurial Intention. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 837. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00837
  25. Lowndes, V. (2016). Storytelling and narrative in policymaking. In G. Stoker & M. Evans (Eds.), Evidence Based Policymaking in the Social Sciences: Methods that Matter (p. 103). Policy Press.
  26. Mandler, G. (1982). The Structure of Value: Accounting for Taste. In M. S. Clark & S. T. Fiske (Eds.), Affect and Cognition: The 17th Annual Carnegie Symposium (pp. 3–36). Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc.
  27. Manning, S., & Bejarano, T. A. (2017). Convincing the crowd: Entrepreneurial storytelling in crowdfunding campaigns. Strategic Organization, 15(2), 194–219. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476127016648500
  28. Martens, M. L., Jennings, J. E., & Jennings, P. D. (2007). Do the Stories They tell get them the Money They Need? The Role of Entrepreneurial Narratives in Resource Acquisition. Academy of Management Journal, 50(5), 1107–1132. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2007.27169488
  29. Mayr, E., & Windhager, F. (2018). Once upon a Spacetime: Visual Storytelling in Cognitive and Geotemporal Information Spaces. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 7(3), 96. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi7030096
  30. Nield, D. (2024, February 24). What is OpenAI’s Sora? The text-to-video tool explained and when you might be able to use it. TechRadar. https://www.techradar.com/computing/artificial-intelligence/openai-sora
  31. Niemi, L., Stenholm, P., Hakala, H., & Kantola, J. (2022). Immanent sensemaking by entrepreneurs and the interpretation of consumer context. International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurship, 40(8), 966–990. https://doi.org/10.1177/02662426211061531
  32. Oatley, K., & Johnson-Laird, P. N. (2014). Cognitive approaches to emotions. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 18(3), 134–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2013.12.004
  33. Rivo-López, E., Lampón, J. F., Villanueva-Villar, M., & Míguez-Álvarez, C. (2022). The impact of visual narrative formats on women’s entrepreneurship training. The International Journal of Management Education, 20(2), 100636. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2022.100636
  34. Ruiz Córdoba, S., & Maya, J. (2022). Aesthetic heuristics for design: Perceptual and absolute standards of beauty determinants. Kepes, 19(26), 55–98. https://doi.org/10.17151/kepes.2022.19.26.3
  35. Shane, S. (2009). Why encouraging more people to become entrepreneurs is bad public policy. Small Business Economics, 33(2), 141–149. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-009-9215-5
  36. Simon, H. A. (1971). Designing Organizations for an information-rich world. In M. Greenberger (Ed.), Computers, Communications, and the Public Interest (pp. 38–72). The John Hopkins Press.
  37. Simon, H. A. (1990). Bounded Rationality. In J. Eatwell, M. Milgate, & P. Newman (Eds.), Utility and Probability (pp. 15–18). Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20568-4_5
  38. Srivastava, S., Oberoi, S., & Gupta, V. K. (2023). The story and the storyteller: Strategic storytelling that gets human attention for entrepreneurs. Business Horizons, 66(3), 347–358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2023.02.003
  39. Stein, N. L., & Kissel, V. I. (2010). Story schemata and causal structure. In Routledge Encyclopaedia of Narrative Theory. In Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory (pp. 567–568). Taylor & Francis.
  40. Taeuscher, K., Bouncken, R., & Pesch, R. (2021). Gaining Legitimacy by Being Different: Optimal Distinctiveness in Crowdfunding Platforms. Academy of Management Journal, 64(1), 149–179. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2018.0620
  41. Van Dahm, S. (2017). The Rhetoric of Mural Design: Performing Citizenship through Narrative in Philadelphia’s Imagining Frankford Mural Project. MELUS, 42(1), 139–161. https://doi.org/10.1093/melus/mlw068
  42. Van Der Merwe, S. E., Biggs, R., Preiser, R., Cunningham, C., Snowden, D. J., O’Brien, K., Jenal, M., Vosloo, M., Blignaut, S., & Goh, Z. (2019). Making Sense of Complexity: Using SenseMaker as a Research Tool. Systems, 7(2), 25. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems7020025
  43. Venkataraman, S., & Sarasvathy, S. D. (2001). Strategy and Entrepreneurship: Outlines of an Untold Story. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.275186
  44. Zhang, T., Yin, C., Geng, Y., Zhou, Y., Sun, S., & Tang, F. (2020). Development and Validation of Psychological Contract Scale for Hospital Pharmacists. Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, Volume 13, 1433–1442. https://doi.org/10.2147/JMDH.S270030

How to Cite

Behar Villegas, E., Goh, Z., & Horowitt, G. S. (2024). Designing a good story for better policies: Entrepreneurship at the crossroads of AI-powered visual storytelling and sensemaking. Human Technology, 20(3), 420–445. https://doi.org/10.14254/1795-6889.2024.20-3.1