ABSTRACT
How do the examples in this chapter help us understand the practice of storytelling in the mobile media age? This chapter imagines a project called “Walking-Talking” that utilizes digital/ mobile telephony to produce a sound narrative focused on a particular urban location. While there are previous examples of locative narrative using mobile telephony, Walking-Talking seeks an alternative approach by actively engaging participants in the production as well as the consumption of historical and personal narratives. In that regard, this chapter explores the concepts of soundscape, flâneur, and mobile telephony. The chapter defines and links each of these concepts to the theoretical exploration of hands-on design for narrative engagement with place and community. The mobile telephone becomes a portal between the flâneur/ participant and the narratives of the sound environment through which he or she travels. The desired outcome is to provide those wanting to theorize, design, and undertake such a project with a better understanding of narrative in a digital/ mobile age and its utilization.
