USING A NARRATIVE FORMAT TO BETTER CONVEY THE PALEONTOLOGICAL RECORD

A narrative format is particularly effective in disseminating information in a highly engaging way and, as such has been used for thousands of years. There is a reason why we use fables to teach important moral lessons to children, including universally recognized stories such as the tortoise and the hare. More recently, there have been various studies on the effectiveness of the narrative format on information retention, persuasiveness, and eliciting of empathy. However, this form of communication is not widely used in communicating the paleontological record, except for dinosaurs and the highly inaccurate ice age movies, leaving the entire Paleozoic and most of the Cenozoic untouched. This has left a gap in public communications that can best be filled through an auditory format. Based on studies of advertisement effectiveness, an auditory format allows the listener to better visualize themselves in the situation presented, resulting in higher ad and product perception. Here this is applied to conveying the paleontological record through the form of a podcast presenting the listener as the main character. The podcast follows the listener to the dig site describing the current environment before transporting them to the time of deposition. They are then led through what they would see, hear, smell, and feel, describing the global climate as well as the environment and the flora and fauna found at the locality. Positive and negative experiences also occur to the main character to elicit empathy varying from widely experienced situations, such as the awe of nature and the feeling of accidentally stepping into deep mud, to larger problems, such as volcanic eruptions. This allows the listener to take in the information better as it is being contextualized in an easy-to-understand format that transports the listener. This has the potential to reach a broad audience and improve public understanding of the fossil record.