A
digital story is simply a story told using some combination of still and moving
digital images, digital voice over narrative, and digital music. Technically digital
story telling is a form of social networking because of the shared emotion
between the teller and the listener.
Library 2.0 says that a well told story draws people together in a way
that uni-modal and frequently unedited characters of blogs and wikis may not.
Digital
storytelling is also a tool that can give new life to libraries. In the early twenty first century, as
academic libraries seem in danger of becoming increasingly irrelevant to the
institutions they serve, the stories of library history, treasures, and people
offer libraries opportunities to become not just collectors of stories but
storytellers in their own right, reviving their own spirits and connecting with
their communities. As well, managing
information can no longer be the focal point of the librarian’s job. The librarian must incorporate new roles of
helping users to find meaning in information, to care about it, and to develop
empathy for it.
Digital
storytelling was conceptualized in the 1990’s by Dana Atchley, Joe Lambart,
and Nina Mullen, all of whom went on to found the Center for Digital Storytelling
in Berkley, CA. Joe Lambert says there
are seven elements of digital story telling which include:
·
Point (of view)
·
Dramatic question
·
Emotional content
·
The gift of your
voice
·
The power of the
soundtrack
·
Economy
·
Pacing
Point is the author’s overall goal
where as the point of view is the perspective from which the author tells the
story. Dramatic Question links the point
and point of view together for the listener. The emotional content is the emotion conveyed
by the story. The gift of voice is referring
to actually recording your voice over the story to give it identity for the
listener. The power of the soundtrack
helps to add another layer of emotion to the story through chosen music. Economy refers to the length of the story
which is usually 3-5 minutes so every word must be wisely chosen. Pacing is the final element which refers to
the variation in speed, rhythm and intensity.
There are many different types of
digital stories, but for general purposed we can group storytelling into three
main types:
·
personal narratives - accounts of
significant incidents in one’s life
·
historical documentaries –examine
dramatic events that help us understand the past
·
informational - designed to inform or
instruct.
There are various
ways that Digital Storytelling can be used in education. Teacher can use
digital story telling as a part of their lesson presentation or they can have
students to create digital stories as a class project. Some teachers may want
to create their own stories and show them to their students as a way to present
new material. Teacher-created digital
stories may be used to enhance a lesson within a larger unit and to facilitate
discussion about the topics and bring clearer understanding to abstract topics. Digital Storytelling can also be a great tool
for students who are taught to create their own stories. After viewing examples of digital stories
created by their teachers, students may be given assignments in which they are asked
to research a topic and then choose a particular point of view and, as
described in the Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling.
The
University of Houston’s web site for the educational Use for Digital
Storytelling has several great resources to help you get started with your
digital storytelling project. First the University of Houston offers a step by
step guide to help us get started. The
basic steps are listed below.
·
STEP ONE: Choose a Topic, Write a Script
·
STEP TWO: Collect Resources
·
STEP THREE: Select Content, Develop a Storyboard
·
STEP FOUR: Import, Record, Finalize
·
STEP FIVE: Demonstrate, Evaluate, Replicate
For more detailed step click follow
this link; http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/getting_started.html The University of Houston also offers the use
of storyboards is another way to get started in planing a digital storytelling project.
A storyboard is a visual representation that helps in the planning process of
digital storytelling. Storyboards lay out images in sequential order to create the
flow of the production. They can also include technical aspects and
explanations of design. Click on this
link to learn more about using storyboards to create your digital story; http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/storyboarding.html
. Finally on the University of Houston
website you can find links for two different tutorials about digital
storytelling. The links are http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/photostory.html
and http://langwitches.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Digital-Storytelling-Guide-by-Silvia-Rosenthal-Tolisano.pdf.
Although
digital storytelling has been around for some time now, it seems to just be
starting to catch on. It seems like a
great resource for connecting with others and helping our students connect in a
much more personal way to their learning.
Media specialist should take advantage of this tool to not only help their
patrons connect to learning, but make connection in their community. This would be a great tool for building
collaborative lessons with the classroom teachers, thus building a stronger
connection to your media center for all. To see some great examples of digital
storytelling click on this link http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/pop_culture.html.
My favorite is the one titled “The
Legacy”.
Wow! I had no idea that people were doing these. Some were very elaborate in the pop culture website. I did take a look at several. I liked the Edward R. Murrow, and Vietnam stories. I have to say that the longer ones got a bit much and I didn’t finish them. I guess that’s why they recommend 3 – 5 minute length films. I agree about the gift of your voice. The tone and feeling comes out in the voice in a way that reading the script just doesn’t develop. We found that with our sons. They didn’t like to read, so we bought Harry Potter books and then got the audio tapes to go with them. They enjoyed reading the books with the audio tape. I believe that the audio tape can make or break a book. If you don’t like a voice, the book will never be the same and vice versa.
ReplyDeleteI like the concept. I’m sure that my efforts will be sluggish, but that I will learn a lot while doing one of them. The story boarding is a painful, but necessary step in the planning process. I liken it to outlining a topic before starting to write. If you get a good plan, they almost write themselves. I feel that the storyboard is the same for the films. Thank you for putting this together. It has been very educational.
I think the comment you made about libraries losing relevance to be very moving. It is hard to imagine that libraries would not be an integral part of education, but if a change is not made, that could be very true. It is vital that we keep media centers up to date and fully utilizing technology. Digital stories are a great way to make that change. I think this is a way for us, as media specialists, to make our media centers a integral part of the education process. I can imagine creating a library of digital stories that can help teachers meet the standards in ways the will engage children. As the new common core standards are being implemented, it is a perfect time to create digital stories to use in integrating the content areas into Language Arts.
ReplyDeleteChristi,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post about digital storytelling. You did a great job explaining why digital storytelling is a wonderful tool for students, teachers, and media specialists to utilize. I do think that keeping media centers up to date with technology is extremely important. I have seen some media centers and classrooms that possess technology but do not use them so it is also important that these are being utilized properly. As I am working on the digital storytelling project, I know that reviewing the steps to creating a digital story will be most helpful to me. It was very interesting to view the digital stories on the link you provided. I really liked the one about advertising! I agree that tone and voice play a big part in how you perceive and react to the digital story.
As I was reading this post, I had two thoughts come into my head. Digital storytelling would be a great way to help preserve a family's history. I cannot remember how many times my wife and I have said that we wished that we would have taped conversation with relatives who have passed away. We also will be looking through old photographs and will wonder just who are the people in the pictures. Digital storytelling seems to be a super way to put all of this together. It seems that the pictures could be scanned into a computer and put into a presentation. The reletives could then put their knowledge into the presentation and you will have one part of the family history. To hear a relative talk about the people in a picture and give some insight into the circumstances of the picture would be an outstanding addition to a family history project. This could be done with different people using the same photographs while putting in some news ones.
ReplyDeleteThe other thought has to do with the closing of schools (I was in a school that closed at the end of last school year and we are closing another at the end of this year). It seems to me that there would be enough pictures taken over the years by various people that a wonderful history of the school could be complied for anyone who had in interest in the school. The ability of the speaker to talk while the pictures are on the screen would add so much to the presentation.
I know that these two ideas are not really "educational" in content but I think that both would be good for the overall education of a person or student.