Michael Humphrey

I am a Ph.D. student and digital media instructor at Colorado State University, where I research User Generated Content and the crafting of life stories. I am also a contributor at Forbes.com, where I write about digital storytelling, especially through video. For 10 years I wrote features for The Kansas City Star. My work has also appeared in Salon, National Catholic Reporter, True/Slant, The New Yorker, New York and Native American Times. While living in Kansas City, I started a program teaching older adults how to write short memoirs using basic journalism skills. Primarily offered in the metropolitan library systems, more than 2,000 students completed the course, sharing their stories with family, friends and the community. The way people remember fascinated me and, while at NYU, I explored the neuroscience of memory and the verisimilitude of memoir. I am working to converge my interests in journalism, education and life story writing in my Ph.D. research and beyond.