Digital storytelling in a nutshell wrap-up, Day #10

Digital storytelling moves beyond traditional storytelling and personal narratives and combines the art of storytelling with a new medium, capable of reaching and impacting mass amounts of people instantaneously. Through the use of soundtracks, voice, images, and the digital medium, digital storytelling evokes a response and calls to action its audience. Its intent is to create an active audience--not one merely sitting and taking in the story. Digital stories are brief and avoid extras that divert from the true message. However, they speak from the heart and are filled with personal emotions.

According to the Center for Digital Storytelling, there are seven essential elements that are needed in a digital story:

1. Point of view
2. Dramatic question
3. Emotional content
4. The gift of your voice
5. The power of the soundtrack
6. Economizing
7. Pacing

Taking all seven elements into consideration, it is important to brainstorm thoroughly. You can find some helpful sites to aide in your brainstorming here:

• Wallwisher:  http://wallwisher.com/
• Lino:  http://en.linoit.com/
• Wridea:  http://wridea.com/
• Inspiration and/or Kidspiration software

You will need to brainstorm the following (each is noted with a link to sites where you can find the resources):

• Images: 
• Flickr Storm:  http://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/
• Creative Commons:  http://search.creativecommons.org/
• Compflight:  http://compfight.com/
• Voice/storyteller:
• Audacity software:  http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
• Aviary:  http://advanced.aviary.com/online/audio-editor
• Sound scheme:
• CC Mixter:  http://ccmixter.org/
• Jamendo:  http://www.jamendo.com/en/
• FreePlayMusic:  http://www.freeplaymusic.com/
• Free Sound Project:   http://www.freesound.org/
• Videos:
• YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/
• Ted:  http://www.ted.com/
• Blip TV:  http://blip.tv/
• Text:
• Intratext:  http://www.intratext.com/
• Traveler's Point:  http://www.travellerspoint.com/
• Wisdom Commons:  http://www.wisdomcommons.org/

As you brainstorm, you will need to consider how each element relates to the theme/message. Then, it is time to put the brainstorming into the form of a storyboard. You can find storyboards in a variety of sites, but it is important to look for ones that are specific to digital storytelling. And, as you brainstorm and find resources to fit the elements, be sure you abide all rules of copyright and fair use. These sites contain some helpful advice:

• The University of Maryland University College has a good write-up on fair-use and other copyright information. 
• This write-up on stock photos also contains valuable copyright information. 
• Kathy Schrock has a set of guidelines on copyright and fair use. 
• This presentation by Amy Hopkins provides a good overview of copyright and fair use as well. 

Upon completing the brainstorming process and developing a storyboard, it is time to decide which software best suits your digital story. Below are some tutorials to the five best digital story-friendly software on the Web (in my opinion):

• Movie Maker (not the Vista and Windows 7 versions) tutorial from Atomic Learning: http://www.atomiclearning.com/moviemaker2; tutorial from the University of Texas (Hook 'em!): http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/technology/tutorials/graphics/moviemaker2/
• Animoto tutorial from Animoto itself:  http://help.animoto.com/entries/20461613-the-new-animoto-video-creation-process-a-video-tutorial-guide
• Photostory tutorial from David Jakes:  http://www.jakesonline.org/photostory.htm and a handout from David Jakes:  http://www.jakesonline.org/photostory3.pdf
• iMovie tutorial from the University of Texas School of Information:  http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/technology/tutorials/graphics/imovie/1create.html and tutorials from Apple:  http://www.apple.com/findouthow/movies/
• Premiere tutorial from the Knight Digital Media Center at UC Berkeley:  http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/premiere/

Remember that your digital story should last less than 2-3 minutes (ideally 1-2 minutes in length); therefore, it is important to use images, voice, music, and text to convey the story. Each must be able to stand their own. 

And, finally, you can find some great examples to share with your fellow educators and students at the sites below:

• Creative Narrations:  http://www.creativenarrations.net/site/storybook/index.html
• Telling their stories (from WWII, Holocaust, Civil Rights and more):  http://tellingstories.org/index.html
• Elementary student examples:  http://www.dtc.scott.k12.ky.us/technology/digitalstorytelling/studentstories.html 
• Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction:  http://mcli.maricopa.edu/storytelling/examples  
• Or, consult the digital story guild where there are numerous links to sites offering Digital Stories:  http://ddguild.org/resources.html

Now, it's time to begin integrating digital storytelling into your curriculum! It's not only another form of writing, it is a means of expression and personal growth. And, through the digital medium, a story can be shared with millions of people instantaneously. 

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