I’m looking forward to DS8 in Cardiff which starts on Friday at 10am at Chapter Arts.
I have chosen my breakout sessions in advance.
In the morning I shall listen to David Frohlich (University of Surrey). His topic is:
Mobile Digital Storytelling for Development
In this talk David describes another use of digital stories as community news items expressed in pictures and sound. The work was carried out in rural regions of India and South Africa where literacy rates are low and technical infrastructures for authoring stories on desktop or laptop computers do not exist. In these contexts the mobile phone is a more appropriate platform for story creation and sharing, and a new medium for visual and oral expression.
It’s fascinating how many developing countries have joined the digital revolution in the mobile age almost completely missing out desktop and laptop computing.
In the afternoon I want to go along to two breakouts but as they are running at the same time I’ve had to make a choice. I used the logic that I can travel up to Newcastle to talk to my friend Alex Henry anytime I like to find out how she is using iPAD in story gathering projects So I opted to listen to Carlotta Allum of Stretch – only to discover that she is based in York – the place where I live. So much for my logic.
Stretch Story Box
This presentation is mainly about the project ‘Stretch Story Box’, a digital story telling project inside prisons. ‘Stretch Story Box’ is a rolling project to collect prisoner-stories and educate the education staff in digital story telling. We found the intense delivery of a story telling project suited the prison regime. The prison staff are moved by the stories, tutors have said ‘ the group have been changed by the experience, they will remember it for ever’
As well as being a digital storytelling practitioner I am also chairman of a housing charity I helped to found a few years ago to provide homes for people who are homeless. In that role I meet some ex offenders and have often thought about offering a workshop for our tenants to tell their stories. So I’m hoping to benefit from Carlotta’s experience.
So I’m looking forward to meeting up with friends old and new. If you’re planning to be in Cardiff for DS8 please introduce yourself.
