CREATE – SHARE – LISTEN | 4th International Conference on Digital Storytelling

There is a host of excellent speakers at this event – and if you are willing to brave a Norwegian winter then now is the time to book. There’s a 500 NOK (£52) early bird discount if you book before the 1st of December.  Here’s the summary from the front page of the website:

The content will include presentations, theoretical reflections, case stories, workshops and great experiences. Meet world renowned speakers and be inspired. We explore the increasing diversity in the use of Digital Storytelling and seek to contribute to knowledge and understanding of the potential of digital storytelling in a variety of contexts. These cover educational purposes and health, leisure, recreation, activism, community building, planning, professional communication and reflection.

Contributions should aim at building knowledge about digital storytelling as a genre and its ambitions and potentials in society. We therefore welcome critical and well founded presentations of applications in various contexts, methods and expressions used and in what directions future developments might go.

I haven’t been to the International Conference since the first one in Cardiff in 2003 so I think it’s time to show my face next year. See you there? I hope so.

Some thoughts on things I’ve seen for October 15th from 12:15 to 12:15:

• UK adults’ media literacy | Ofcom – Interesting comparisons in this report to previous surveys carried out by OFCOM

Some thoughts on things I’ve seen for October 1st from 12:06 to 12:06:

• Place-Based Digital Storytelling Modules – National Parks of America – As the latest Ken Burns series about National Parks hits the screens on PBS television in the USA a series of web tutorials about place based digital storytelling has been created by the the National Parks of America.
  As an elementary introduction to Digital Storytelling this series of screen casts is excellent. Well worth a visit. My one comment would be that the example uses way too may zooms on the still images and some images are repeated too often – you only need to see a picture once. All the same, the site is a useful resource for anyone wanting to develop digital storytelling skills.

Some thoughts on things I’ve seen for June 1st from 12:31 to 12:31:

• Online video more popular than blogging and social networking – Brand Republic News – Brand Republic – This is a very interesting and revealing piece of reporting. It demonstrates the opportunities presented to digital storytellers. There is an audience out there willing to watch video online in preference to watching broadcast TV. The challenge is now about promoting those stories to the potential audience.

Some thoughts on things I’ve seen for May 19th from 07:22 to 12:15:

• Vicar’s shed for ex-cons – Yorkshire Evening Post – This is one of the stories I recently recorded at a workshop for the Yorkshire and Humber Faiths Forum.
• What does social capital have to do with digital inclusion? : Connected Communities – A chance to participate in this event online. Storytelling is the heart of digital inclusion. The means to tell your story are secondary to knowing what you want your story to say.
• Video tools list for journalists – Jumpcut is closing down. Yahoo bought it about 18 months ago and now they’re pulling the plug as “part of the ongoing prioritization efforts at Yahoo!”. So I went on a search for other sites that offered slideshow and video editing services. None appear to be as versatile as Jumpcut, but there’s a list here if you want to plough through and give them a try. If you find one that suits the digital storytelling process come back here and comment. After a quick browse through the list Movie Masher appears to be best suited.
• 7 Minutes to Reinvent the Internet – The web has turned advertising principles on their head. The money is flowing in new directions and who knows where it will all end up. Seven people look into the not too distant future to suggest how advertising can be reinvented to fit the internet. Whilst these presentations are largely about making money, the lessons about how people use and experience the internet are valuable to all content creators.

I spent Friday morning in East Dorset explaining to a group of people in Wimborne Minster how digital storytelling works. These sessions do me as much good as the people I’m presenting to. Somehow it re-ignites my vision for the whole process, and as the group start to tell stories of their own I get a new sense of how many stories are waiting to be told.

So sometime this spring I shall be in Dorset Training Trainers to deliver workshops of their own.

And on Monday I am at the National Media Museum in Bradford to start a workshop for Broadcast Engineers. The weather’s not looking too kind at the moment (Sunday evening) but hopefully the train will take me there – and those participating.

The second digital storytelling workshop for engineers to tell their own stories has been scheduled for the National Media Museum in Bradford. It is essentially for Broadcast Engineers to talk about the events and inspiration that led them into their career. The workshop takes place on three consecutive Mondays. February 9th, 16th and 23rd 2009. Participants need to be able to attend all three days.
The aim is to raise public awareness of what engineers do and what motivates them and to insprie young people to consider the profession.
The workshops are funded by an award from the Royal Academy of Engineering to the Universities of Salford and Southampton. Places on the workshop are free but must be booked in advance. You can download a flyer here and find more information on the digistories website

You can watch stories told by acoustics engineers in a pilot workshop to give you an idea of the style of these digital stories.

For more details and a booking form contact Dr Zoe Stec. L.Z.Stec@salford.ac.uk

Aberth Digital Storytelling — digital storytelling, participatory media and easing access to mass media

This is the blog of Gareth Morlais. Gareth was the guy who showed me my first Digital Story back in 2001. It was made in one of the pilot workshops of the BBC Capture Wales project, which has sadly just closed it’s programme.

In this blog you will find an introduction to the BBC Wales Guide to Digital Storytelling. It contains the distilled wisdom of several years experience of running workshops across Wales.