I am a storyteller.  If I had told this to my high school, tech-obsessed self, he might think I had gone insane at Stanford.  I still geek out about computers, so that has not changed – I am a computer science major, so in fact that definitely has not changed – but I love telling stories.  Through my teaching and academics at Stanford, I have realized how powerful stories are at conveying information to others, because of four characteristics: characters, journey, obstacles, and moral.  The characters of a story provide us figures to relate to and bond with.  The journey of a story provides structure in where we are going, and how we are getting there.  Obstacles pose problems in this journey that we overcome and learn from.  And the moral of the story allows us to step back and say, "so what?".

           Taken together, these qualities have helped me in my teaching, writing, and technical projects.  First, in my teaching, I personify abstract concepts, like computer programs, as characters that students can relate to; I structure the "journey" of what I am teaching so students never get lost; and I focus on the "so what" of the material so students can relate to it, regardless of their background.  Second, in my writing about technology and social impact, I use characters to personify abstract concepts around philosophy, but I also frame technology's ethical and societal dilemmas as obstacles for readers to confront.  Finally, in my technical projects and papers, I personify technical information to help myself and others better understand it, and focus on the moral, or bigger picture, of the project I am working on to stay oriented.  Moreover, code in particular is itself merely a story we tell computers, with a journey (structure) and obstacles (bugs).

For this ePortfolio, I have chosen artifacts from my teaching, technology and social impact writing, and technical papers and projects that demonstrate what I have learned about storytelling, and how I have become a better computer scientist and science communicator because of what I have learned.