In 2009 and beyond, being a learner means being connected, and that means understanding how to develop connections face to face, as well as through online networks. It is these connections form the basis of a personalized learning network that literally can make learning a 24/7 endeavor that involves co-learners and co-teachers from around the globe. Central to this ability to learn online, to participate online, is the ability to craft messages that have the potential to impact others. Schools need to prepare students for a lifetime of storytelling through a variety of media, so that students can have a voice, and a voice that is heard. One such opportunity for voice lies within the creation of small films, based in personal narrative, called digital stories.
Simply stated, this about voice. It's about having something to say, and sitting with a computer, to tell the story, and use the affordances of the machine to develop the story within a rich media context, and then distribute that-here is what I have to say, here is what I think, here is my contribution. That's the power, that's the potential.
At the same time, it's important to not get caught up in what Joe Lambert of the Center for Digital Storytelling calls Digital Spectacle. True digital storytelling is grounded in the development of personal stories through narrative, and focuses on developing fundamental skills such as:
Critical Reading and Contribution:
The Digital Storytelling Cookbook | from the Center for Digital Storytelling
Digital Storytelling: A Methodology for Individual and Community Transformation | requires registration at the site
Digital Storytelling: Supporting Digital Literacy in Grades 4-12 | Tom Banaszewskis Master's Thesis
Open Discussion on Web2.0 Storytelling | Bryan Alexander and Alan Levine
Web 2.0 Storytelling: Emergence of a New Genre' | Bryan Alexander and Alan Levine
How the world mediascape is changing:
2. It's now the standard. Who wants to work for an organization that advertizes this way? See the Roanoke Times Ad
3. It's now absolutely pervasive. From YouTube to TeacherTube to SchoolTube to whatever other network emerges, online video is everywhere and there is no end in site. It's even become part of obituaries, see Art Buchwald Video Obituary from the NY Times.
4. It's now about You as the media creator. Everything you need to produce digital stories is now online, from the software to the images, and with the development of cell phones, everyone can have a storytelling tool in their hand. The distribution of $100 laptops makes everyone who recieves one a potential storyteller (see pictures of Nigerian rollout of OLPC computers). What stories will be told as a result of this project?
What does this mean for digital storytelling? Is there a different kind of digital storytelling on the horizon, a digital storytelling 2.0 if you will? The answer is yes and no.
What would digital storytelling 2.0 look like? In my opinion, it features five areas:
1. New Media: how can students take advantage of what others have created, and how can they contribute their own media to become collaborators?
Film on the Fly | KOCE-TV
FlickrCC | download, resize, crop, add text, along with attribution information
2. New Tools: how can the new online tools be used to literally create an online design studio, capable of distributing content in multiple formats for multiple types of devices?
In my opinion, these tools are in their early stages of usefulness and appropriateness. It will be interesting to see what these tools become as they ultimately become more sophisticated. Will tools emerge that enable serious digital story creation, within the context of the fundamental processes and expectations for learning that we have for digital storytelling?
50 Ways to Tell a Story | Alan Levine
Place-based learning | Dennis Grice
3. New Messages: how will you help students find the personal story in the content you teach? How will you use this process to have students create truly meaningful messages, that enable students to tell a global audience, "Here is what I think?"
How will you help students write themselves into existence?
How will you help student perform their writing?
Digital Diplomacy Project | True America
Woodson | Ben Grey
4 Generations: The Water Buffalo Movie | Philip Greenspun
Case Studies from the Center for Digital Storytelling
4. New Networks: how can networks be leveraged for distribution of student voice?
Stories for Change | from the Center for Digital Storytelling
Ed.Voicethread | Voicethread Portal for Education
Digital storytelling done right...
An example of a digital story done right (non-literal use of visual images, utilizes Creative Commons Attribution imagery from Flickr accessed via Flickr Storm, length is appropriate, original music from a classmate, is personal, and based in her Hispanic heritage, and comments on an worthy topic, and is distributed world-wide on YouTube with moderated commenting).
Storytelling resources | Jakesonline.org
Flickr resources | Jakesonline.org
Photostory resources | tutorial and screencasts
Sample Stories | Jon Orech