As this Digital Storytelling course ends, I am posting our collaborative Digital Story, and below that, the original "What is digital storytelling?" so I could see it in context of what I've learned in this course. I enjoyed the experiences in this course of combining images, writing, sound and interactive stories. This course encouraged me to try new formats methods, and software, and I'm grateful for the encouragement of our instructor Professor Elise Kermani as I ventured into unfamiliar territory, like recording sound. I learned a lot and appreciate the experience.
Here is the link to our collaborative Digital Story with writing and images by Alexanndria and Allissa, writing by Keegan, and organizing into the story framework by me, Paula.
Here is my original post for this class:
What is Digital Storytelling?
In one way, it's anything on the internet, or made on a computer; any image, news article, portrait, or text however brief or out of context. Depending on the reader (or listener, or viewer), and their imagination, a strange variety of things could be called “digital storytelling”. But a more narrow, useful and intimate definition is given to us by the authors of two interesting texts on the subject, Joe Lambert, and Bryan Alexander.
Here is the link to our collaborative Digital Story with writing and images by Alexanndria and Allissa, writing by Keegan, and organizing into the story framework by me, Paula.
Here is my original post for this class:
What is Digital Storytelling?
In one way, it's anything on the internet, or made on a computer; any image, news article, portrait, or text however brief or out of context. Depending on the reader (or listener, or viewer), and their imagination, a strange variety of things could be called “digital storytelling”. But a more narrow, useful and intimate definition is given to us by the authors of two interesting texts on the subject, Joe Lambert, and Bryan Alexander.
Storytelling for the Twenty-First Century provides a personal and interesting overview of what storytelling is and can be (pages 9, 10, and 11, Alexander). The section about what The Center for Digital Storytelling considers a story was especially meaningful to me. “Instead of reproducing events or situations through art, perhaps stories are essentially about representing people.” (p. 11, Alexander). I read these pages as I was preparing a presentation about a range of difficult-to-connect subjects from gardens to skateboarding to civil rights. It was not coming together. In the past, my only good stories were personal stories, but now, for this presentation, I was trying to tackle these complex subjects and I’d abandoned my personal story telling style. I was lost. After reading the Alexander pages I discarded my clunky details on these subjects and went back to what I know and love; personal stories about people. In the presentation I gave each person’s first name (with their permission; more on the ethics of this later in this essay) and kept each story focused tightly on that one person and their importance to me.
Then the story flowed. The subjects I had to cover were all there, but really brief. In each case, the personal story was the structure, not a telling of facts. Not only did this make the whole presentation more enjoyable for the audience, it meant I could remember it! After rehearsing it twice (and recording it for myself with a digital microphone I’d bought for my Digital Storytelling class) I was able to give the presentation live to a crowded auditorium with no notes. My connection to the real people in the stories carried me through. Excellent acoustics and digital amplification systems in the auditorium meant I could speak in a soft intimate voice, as though I were speaking to one person. Since I had practiced ahead of time recording my story into a computer and hearing it digitally recorded and mixed with the images, I was able to relax and trust people could hear the soft narration, and follow the story and the images. What the Center for Digital Storytelling calls the “gift of voice” (p. 24, Alexander) seems to come through most sincerely when I can speak softly and feel relaxed.
I’ll discuss ethics briefly, because it relates to this presentation, even though that’s really supposed to be covered in week four. The people in my digital story are people I’m close friends with and work with on civil rights issues. They each approached me as teenagers at different times and asked me to help them organize public events, do public speaking, seek college scholarships and do public projects. I asked each of them if they were comfortable with me writing stories and comic strips and making art about them. Each was enthusiastic about this. I met Nando when he was 13 and now he’s 35. I met Beatriz when she was 15 and now she’s 32. I met Keith when he was 18, and now he’s 23. In Nando and Beatriz’s case, because they were under 18 when they asked me to work with them, I also spent a great deal of time with their families, showed them my writing and art work, and made art work with them in their homes so they could understand the nature of what I do. Their families were very supportive, and I’ve become an extended member of each family and join them for weddings and funerals and hospital visits
It’s only this year that I’ve been doing so many live presentations, and adding audio to online presentations. In the past I published the stories and paintings in comic books and magazines. So I asked each person in this story I refer to here, Youth & Climate, if they are comfortable with this live format. They are. Chapter 10 of Digital Storytelling (Lambert, 2013) discusses the importance of being sure people who are the subjects (and sometimes co-authors) of stories understand the implications of sharing their stories, and the context in which they are shared. As I continue through this course, I will re-read Chapter 10 of the Lambert book, and revise my ethics statement. I just wanted to give a brief accounting of the progress of the ethics statement, since it’s related to the Digital Story described in this essay, and relates closely to my answer to the question, “What is Digital Storytelling?” To me, this question cannot be separated from the ethics, and the ethics must continually be reevaluated as circumstances and technologies change.
The Digital Story I refer to in this essay, Youth & Climate is on my blog for our Digital Storytelling class:
The narration is part of the scribd document, if you download it as a PowerPoint you can hear it. The sound quality is not good. I will improve it and have a good quality narration online for this story by the end of this class.
I presented Youth & Climate as a Bookend Event for the Brooklyn Book Festival at the Brooklyn Public Library with WW3 on September 19, 2014.
Sources:
The New Digital Storytelling, Bryan Alexander, Praeger, 2011
Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community, Joe Lambert, Routledge, 2013
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