All About Digital Storytelling

Digital storytelling is the next logical step in literature. First, there was the oral traditions of Viking sagas and Greek epics, sung by bards who were society's storytellers in those days.  Few texts remain from these sources; examples being Beowulf and Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey.  Fast forward to the introduction of the printing press in Germany, and written literature has become the easiest way to tell stories and transfer information.  Since the 1980's and 1990's, the internet has grown into the best information and technology development ever.  Now, almost every person can use the internet to find information and publish their own findings regarding any topic they choose.  And thanks to this progression of events, stories can be told using any or all of the tools available through the use of computers, voice, text, image, and music can all be combined to tell stories like Homer could have never dreamt.  With the rise of digital storytelling, we can all share our take on momentous occasions to the world. Now everyone has a voice!  "What's your story?"  -The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling

"Digital stories can be instructional, persuasive, historical, or reflective." -7 Things You Should Know About Digital Storytelling  From this article, I have learned that digital storytelling can embody any style of traditional storytelling.  Also, the article says that anyone can do it because these tools are available to any computer and internet user.  Another point the article makes is that digital storytelling makes the internet a viable pedagogical tool for non-technical fields of study. 

The whole idea behind digital storytelling is that computers allow for a vast number of innovations to be incorporated into whatever project on which a person may be working.  Due to this freedom, the combinations for artistic invention are nearly endless.  A story can be told as a collage of images, a recorded video or an animated one, with voice, music, and sound effects, in any combination!  Rather than just text and (maybe) pictures, the story can be told just like on a TV show.  Using these computer tools to express ideas is only the leading step to the next plateau of how stories will be told by humans.

To keep people on the cutting edge, and to bring others up to speed with digital storytelling, The Center for Digital Storytelling helps by providing workshops to promote people telling their versions of things, and opening others up to worlds of which they have never even heard.


Photo by: Digistorytellin