The speakers are:

• Mandy Rose - Senior Research Fellow at the Digital Cultures Research Centre, University of the West of England. Mandy was one of the first people I spoke to about digital storytelling back in 2002.
• Yasmin Elayat – 18daysinegypt.com
• Carlotta Goulden-Allum - Carlotta is the founding director of the arts charity Stretch
• Alex Henry - Alex is a freelance Digital Storytelling, oral history and creative heritage practitioner based in the North East of England. Alex was in my Training Trainers workshop at the start of Culture Shock. Now I’m looking forward to learning from her!
• Rose Thompson – National Centre for Mental Health, Cardiff University – see her work at Epilepsy Action
• Pip Hardy - Pip Hardy is joint chief executive of Pilgrim Projects, a small education consultancy specialising in quality improvement in health and social care.
• David Frohlich – Digital World Research Centre, University of Surrey
• Grete Jamissen – Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences
• Darcy Alexandra 
• Petra Aydin Barberini
• Suzana Sukovic
• Aske Damm

The 8th Digital Storytelling Festival in Wales promises to inspire, encourage and showcase exciting projects across a wide spectrum of digital storytelling activity.

After the success of DS7, this years event will once again be hosted by the University of South Wales’ George Ewart Evans Centre for Storytelling and will be held at Chapter Arts in Cardiff on Friday 14th June 2013.

As well as keynote speakers, this year we will be including an academic element to the Festival and therefore announce a call for papers.

We wish to emphasise that DS8 is not an academic conference; however we would like to provide an opportunity to our wide range of attendees i.e. practitioners, researchers, community workers, youth workers and students to present either an academic paper or run a workshop/breakout session – the choice is yours!

For further details, and to book your place at the event, please visit the event website. Please keep checking this website for updates as they announce more speakers and the full event programme.

You can also follow updates on Twitter, @DScymru

The iPad (and iPhone) mean digital storytelling workshops can happen just about anywhere. No need for boxes of gear – with just an iPad you can tell your story anywhere.

So I took the step of selling the old Macs (I still have a couple if you want one) and investing in iPads, and so many people have one of their own they can bring it along and take their story away with them at the end of the workshop.

I love the tactile nature of storytelling with the iPad. Want to crop a shot, shorten a clip, tweak a sound track? Just touch it and do it there and then right in the timeline.

One thing doesn’t really change – the time old process of storytelling. Before the technology comes the story. So as the workshop evolves the storycircle still brings out the best from the participants memories and events.

Watch out for some new workshop events – and this time I’ll be travelling light – possibly by train, on foot or even by bicycle.

Which reminds me of a digital story I told last year.

We are looking for speakers or facilitators to run sessions for us at this year’s Digital Storytelling festival – DS8. It will be held in Cardiff at Chapter Arts Centre on Friday 14th June.

If you have experience and insight that would help bring DS8 to life click on the link below and tell us about it.
http://cci.glam.ac.uk/ds8/

I am involved in a joint bid with Riding Lights Theatre Company to use storytelling, theatre and digital coding to create an app to help families affected by dementia. To promote our bid we created this video to tell the story.

The film features two people who are affected by dementia. One of them, Paul, is the artistic director of Riding Lights Theatre Company. His father is in the advanced stages of Altzeimer’s Disease.

If we are successful in our bid for funding we’ll be working with young people to develop an app that will both explore and capture the stories that will help families engage with dementia suffers who are close to them.
The line in the film that sums up the ambition of the project is “Make a present out of the past.” A lot has been developed to help sufferers but there’s little to help younger members of the family to engage with the stories from the past their relative is living in. They need a virtual time machine. By gathering photos, stories, objects and professional tips the family will populate the app to present valuable insights into to how to deal with the confusion.

It is the one UK event that attracts a wide range of digital storytellers. Practitioners and academics exchange ideas and experience; and it’s a vital place to network and update your practice. I always enjoy being in Wales for this event. There’s no doubt that some of the best digital storytelling practice has been developed in this relatively small country. I owe much of my experience to people who live and work there.

The organisers are inviting submissions for papers to be presented at the festival – but they are keen to emphasise that it’s not a purely academic event. There’s room for practitioners to share their best work too. More information on the DS8 Festival site.

See also Bring DS8 alive with your energy, insight and experience

Armed Forces Community presents…
St Helen’s Square
Wednesday 31 October to 3 November inclusive
6.30pm – 9:00pm
Free

City of York Council is pleased to present a short film capturing the personal stories of local people with a connection to the armed forces. Be prepared to be astonished, amused and moved. Produced by Barrie Stephenson a pioneer of digital storytelling as part of Armed Forces Community presents… (www.yorkstories2012.com) and funded by a Community Covenant Grant. Look out for the big screen in St Helen’s Square throughout the Illuminating York Festival.

Armed Forces Community Presents… is funded by City of York Council and Armed Forces Community Covenant

Story Circle

What is a digital storytelling? A digital story is a personal narrative, recorded by the storyteller in their own voice and illustrated with pictures from their own photo collection. it can be streamed on the internet, burned to DVD or added top a digital archive.

Who can attend? Anyone who has a personal story about life with the armed forces in York and is willing to tell it.

What skills are needed? None except the willingness to share and tell stories. All skills required will be taught in the workshop.

What skills are acquired? Writing, scripting, use of a microphone, voice and reading a script. Computer skills, image processing and video editing are also learned in advanced workshops.

What do I need to bring with me?  Just an idea for a story and any photographs that may help you to tell it.

Where can the workshop be held?  They can be delivered almost anywhere where an exclusive space can be provided.

Where can I join a workshop? Taster sessions and workshops will be listed here

What will happen to the stories?  They will be recorded in the voice of the storyteller and added to the collection of York 800 stories. They may be available in a public archive or streamed on the internet. (Full editorial guidance about content is provided in the workshop.)

Are there any follow up workshops? Storytellers will be encouraged to join a more advanced workshop to add pictures to the story narrative to create a multimedia digital story.

Frequently Asked Questions