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The end of television
I've heard him say it before and since - but it still sounds almost too big a statement. "We are witnessing the end of broadcast television."
Joe Lambert also goes on to say - "Broadcasting was a mistake."
"If it was not for television we would not have George Bush." 'as president' is implied. Unless of course you think that his birth was also a mistake of broadcasting.
Joe, the Executive Director of the Centre for Digital Storytelling, was summarising the ten years of digital storytelling festivals, the first being in Crested Bute, Colorado in 1995. As I have already confessed I missed the start of his presentation because I was enjoying an afternoon in the sun and riding a rented bike across the Golden Gate Bridge. So by the time I returned he was already recalling some of the more outrageous moments of last year's festival in Sedona when two of by British colleagues, Rupert and Huw, took centre stage at an impromptu and informal storytelling event at a hotel in the town.
Back to the end of broadcasting. This is of the type that gives a lot of power to a few people who have access to the broadcast medium. Joe pointed out that there are now 4 million people who know how to use digital editing software on their computer. They have found their own voice. Joe said it was time to move from celebrity to correspondents.
There are stories to be told for which we cannot wait for grants before we go to gather them. We have to be there now - eg New Orleans.
We need new performance rituals - to stop and listen - to reflect spiritually on what is being said.
The last session of the festival was the recreation of a
Next Exit event as frequently staged by Dana Atchley. Joe Lambert narrated and introduced the speakers and some of Dana Atchley's best loved films were played. They took us back to the start of the digital storytelling movement.
Reflecting on the festival I realise that now is not the time to look at how digital storytelling might be exploited for commercial purposes, or how it might revive broadcast television. We have just begun the process of giving people their voice - today it is still a whisper - one day it will become a roar.
The KQED manual
In the second week of the festival I ran a workshop with Leslie Rule of KQED. Ten participants worked hard to make digital stories, each producing their own short film. Together we learned to make short stories out of some of the most diverse and long oral narratives I have ever heard in a workshop. The workshop was based on a manual produced by Leslie and Denise Atchley. It is now online so you can
download your own here.
You did this? You're brilliant!
Digital storytelling in Education
Feature Presentation: Jeanne Biddle and Leslie Rule
This session on Sunday morning was the most inspiring of all the presentations. Leslie and Jeanne showed digital stories made by school pupils and they engaged me more than anything else I saw at the festival.
Swim Fishy, Swim was made by Rachel, a first grader. It contains a level of wisdom that confirms that we should take notice of what comes "out of the mouths of babes and sucklings .. "
In the film a lazy baby fish only learned to swim after coming under threat from its mother AND a predator shark. A child's drawings and superimposed script drew us into a drama that convinced me that this girl's name will appear in the credits of a much longer piece of work in twenty years time.
Leslie's work brings teachers into her workshops at KQED and then follows them back to the classroom to introduce them to their IT departments. As we all know to our cost teachers and IT staff do not speak the same language!!
She is generous with the project equipment and allows less well equipped schools and projects to have the free use of her laptop computers. Her level of trust and risk is rewarded with a catalogue of digital stories.
Leslie told us about the Coming to California competition for schools in the Bay Area of California. The films are on the
KQED website. Worth watching.
Jeanne Biddle is the Director of Technology for
Scott County Schools in Georgetown, Kentucky.
She introduced a film told by Renee a teenage girl with issues at home and at school after a series of set backs including an unwelcome move to Kentucky. Her digital story,
Help, was the first thing she had ever completed. Her mother wouldn't let the story onto the web until she had seen it. It transformed their relationship - there were tears and hugs - "You did this? You're brilliant!" Her behaviour was transformed for a time. Later poor behaviour returned but the place of making the digital story was acknowledged in the local paper, which inspired her to return to school for a few days - her story was again given significance.
2nd grade students are using Photoshop, Premier and even Final Cut Pro. They don't have a problem with it. Teachers hold pupils back because they think they need to master the tools first - instead of putting them in their hands and letting them do it. A Digital story made by a senior student - makes fun of the teacher - pupils took over the process and a three week project was completed in the 40 minute periods.
When children come to school we are asking them to power down - they want to power up.
Public Service Announcements
Children make digital stories to appeal to funders to maintain support for technology. Sponsors often walk through the buildings and see computers without considering that they are out of date - why do you need more?
At first digital storytelling was after school add on - too much work - too long - bad mouthed - it took 4 years to be accepted.
Class room management - accessibility to technology - teacher as facilitator - celebrating our success - competitions and contests - good at critiquing their own work. Festivals.
There are lots of stories to watch on the
Scott County Schools site
Show on the bus
There was a golden moment on the bus ride back to KQED. A large man wearing a yellow vest top and tight bright green shorts got onto the bus somewhere in the Castro area. He sat next to a woman he appeared to know. The conversation was loud, camp and entertaining. He'd just been watching the British TV series
Keeping Up Appearances on cable. His female friend asked if that was the one set in a store. "No, that's
Are You Being Served? but I like that one too." I could have been in London except conversations on the red buses are more rare!
I used the buses frequently in San Francisco and even purchased a seven day pass, inviting predictable comments about Barrie getting his bus pass!
California Dreaming
I look out across San Francisco Bay from the Golden Gate Bridge. I am in the saddle of a rented bike on a sunny day in California. It's Sunday and the crowds are out to see an air display by the Blue Angels. I've escaped the festival for a few hours to see the bridge. The context exhilarates me and I sing California Dreaming as the pedals turn beneath me. The leaves are not brown nor the skies grey, but this could be a dream. The first time in any beautiful location has a dreamlike effect. "Am I really here?". My memory flips back to
The Grand Canyon last year. I wasn't sure how I was going to travel to the Golden Gate. I took the 33 bus from 16th and Bryant near KQED. It wound it's way over the Twin Peaks along Haight, past the notorious junction with Ashbury to the Golden Gate Park. I found a cycle shop and within a few minutes I was at the start of a ten mile circular ride which would take me across the GG Bridge and back.
I had toyed with the idea of bringing my folding bike with me on this trip but the thought of the "Streets of San Francisco" had put me off. But there were cyclists everywhere. It wasn't all steep hills, freeways and nose to tail traffic. In the saddle I was free to explore and I wasn't alone. It was a good afternoon ride but I admit to missing the start of Joe Lambert's first session at the Festival as a result.
Telling Stories, Taking Action
Described as a Feature Presentation by
Natasha Freidus and
Thaddeus Miles -a curated look at excellent works in community building
Mass Impact - Community Building - Self Expression and Healing
What makes good community building? What makes good multimedia?
Answer: Story.
- How do we use the stories we have made to make change?
- How do we integrate stories into social justice work
- How can we institutionalise training and distribution.
Renee's story - a digital story - was shown.
It was about addiction, the story of one individual - but it was also a call to action - in this case to vote for change.
- How do we move from being emotionally touched to taking action?
Targeted venues
Material/resources
Clear action steps
Bohille's Story is about a South African man who is HIV positive - to be used in Education. Produced by the Amy Hill Centre for Digital Storytelling it demonstrates effectively that your choices are your future
Thaddeus Miles spoke in a direct no nonsense style.
"Look around at your neighbours - Who's not here of the people you serve?"
Where do we need to go and which conversations do we need to have - lessons to learn from those who are doing it - mainly not in the US.
He said he walked around San Francisco as a photographer and all he could see was the homelessness - amongst all the great architecture the homeless people were all he could photograph. What are their stories?
Help funders understand what digital storytelling can do. How to dream a good dream and to understand their past history. There should be a digital storytelling institute in every state. How do you reach out to people in the communities who build homes to understand DS and to engage people in it?
Thaddeus is also President of the National Consortium for Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands. How does he get us into the communities that others are afraid to go into? How do we interact with them? It's not a technological gap - they have the latest. It's a sociological gap - fear. Look more at diversity.
These are bullet points from his presentation
- Distribution
- National
- Media that matters film festival
- Community based efforts
- Telling Our Legacies Digitally
- Giving out CDs of stories about domestic violence
- Documenting impact
- Students could be helping us to document
- How can we use digital storytelling to help the victims of trauma - e.g. Katrina
Access to all - giving people with disabilities access to the technology.
How do we present to people with disabilities - do we know the guidelines?
Drifting in Antarctica was shown- a film made at MOMI by/for deaf people. Made at MOMI
________________________________
Over coffee afterwards we were discussing the issues this presentation had thrown up - particularly about approach.
- Should we go and do digital storytelling to marginalised communities - won't that simply confirm their marginal status?
- Shouldn't we run workshops for the whole community - so that it can discover its unity.
Winning Hearts
This was a panel presentation moderated by
J.D. LasicaPanel Participants: Josh Goldman, Richard Prelinger, Ezra Cooperstein, John W. Higgins
- Digital Storytelling remains the best-kept secret in the media world. But new channels from Internet television to the Web to traditional cable offer a chance for digital storytelling to break through into the mainstream. Here's how to get visibility for your work.
JD introduced the
Ourmedia.org site where any story can be stored with free bandwidth for ever. He was disappointed that there are only 15 digital stories out of 45 thousand works on the site. He is keen to work with storytellers to source more material
Much of the early discussion was about re-versioning existing work in new films.
Richard Prelinger has an internet archive - the
Prelinger Archives. Digital artists can download free archive footage while supplies to broadcast and commercial market are charged. He sees the potential to break the distribution gap. Serving the needs of independents. In this way work won't go out of print - others can take it and remix it, edit and reuse, it becomes part of the cultural fabric.
The principle of a
Creative Commons was explained. It gives flexibility to the use of copyright material. The site is worth reading but it's still a difficult area.
Josh Goldman introduced the
Akimbo Set Top Box. It downloads digital material in downtime and presents it on demand through a menu. A way of organising video blogs - similar to what iTunes can do for Podcasts. Bringing non mainstream digital content to the television
The digital set top box linked to the internet. Assets downloaded and stored on the hard drive in the set top box. Justin list of recently downloaded Video Blogs, digital stories, (including JD who appears in three contributions to the service.) Josh showed us a Steve and Carol Show - Beer Tasting.
There over 5,000 shows on the service which supplies a combination of personal and commercial programming - TCM is one of the major providers. Vlogs appear listed beside Discovery Channel.
John W. HigginsPublic Access Media projects.
Handout - on website as .pdf
Ezra Cooperstein talked about
current.tv Al Gore created this cable channel to offer anyone the opportunity to make their own TV. About 25% of the content is contributed, but would like it to be more.
Final discussion.
At the end the questions returned to issues about copyright. I don't think my view has changed since last year - one reinforced by
Daniel Meadows at the start of the festival. Why do we need to rip off material from other people when we can create and make our own?
Neighbourhood narratives
More situated storytelling.
Hana Iverson introduced Neighbourhood Narratives from a project in the Eldridge Street Synagogue in the Lower East Side, New York. It became the place for an installation called
View from the BalconyShe described her work with Jewish women, "My story is more Life in the Fragment. Dealing with layers of the community."
From the website.
The central motif of the video presentation at the Eldridge Street Synagogue is the gesture of mending. Sewing is a traditional female task, and here acts as a metaphor related to rifts and healing.Hana is part of the Faculty at
Temple University - where students are producing narratives tracking their lives through the city.
Nick West introduced Digital Geographies - the same meaning as Mediascapes.
He suggested they stretch definition of story and stretch boundary of the city to find out what it becomes when we participate in it.
He explained
Urban Tapestries. In one example "stickies" were given to people in the city to make comments on a place and then to stick them on the map.
What people said:
- I was here
- Architectural comments
- History and other tours
- Messages to friends
- Stories
- Some were WAY miscellaneous. e.g. One woman identified all the places she had fights with her boyfriend!
Creating a story commons
Discovery
We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our knowing
shall be to arrive where we started
and know it for the first time.
TS Elliott
Thank you Natalie and Leslie who gave me this quote on separate occasions.
Situated Storytelling
The presenters were Abbe Don, Jo Reid, Hana Iverson, Nick West
You can read their
biographies here.
"In our culture we have moved the stories from the place where they occur into the living room - TV Internet Video"
Creating stories in the place where they occur requires the development of mobile social software. Something called psycho geography has also been devised as a new way of exploring an urban environment
Nick West from HP Labs Bristol explained the Scape the Hood Mediascape. Stories had been gathered from the locality around KQED in San Francisco and saved them as audiofiles on an iPAQ. The file also contains the coordinates of each story's origin. The iPAQ determines the location of the user and plays out the story relevant to that space. I have used the same set up in an earlier demonstration in Bristol.
The software can be downloaded for non commercial use from the
Mobile Bristol site
people attending the festival could go out with a holster slung around their body holding an iPAQ and small Bluetooth GPS receiver to experience the mediascape called Scape the Hood.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported the experiment.Jo Reid - also of HP Bristol introduced another project but this time built around one historic event - The Queens Square Riots of 1831. In this case the audio files are dramatic productions of the conversations from the riot. There's a page on the
Mobile Bristol Site which explains it.
Jo also talked about applications for games, festival and event information and the use of 3D spatialised sound.
As a storytelling environment the frame work is not linear and relies on finding Magic Moments when the user/listener is surprised buy the juxtaposition of the audio and the environment triggered simply by walking into a location. They are the moments of revelation that people remember.
So how does situated storytelling for Mediascapes compare with what we know as digital storytelling?
Digital / Situated storytelling
Personal / Stimulated by environment
For PC consumption / Mobile consumption
Quiet / Noisy
Dedicated attention / Many distractions
Reflective / Seeing with eyes of others
Thoughtful / "Throw away" - work fast
/ Physical sense - smells and movement.
