Storytelling - thoughts on a working definition

I know that for the most part this is saying nothing in reality, but I think it speaks to how nebulous the term digital storytelling is to many people and a wider description (and for academia one that is better than "stories made with computers") may be more useful, so in a recent post (see link above) I came up with this:

I think I've started to get a handle on how to stretch the boundaries of this form of storytelling and I think that the best way to think about it now is not a short story, or a short film, or a documentary or anything in between. The way that I would describe digital storytelling now is that it's a way to use a range of digital tools to connect with content or events and in so doing hope to move others to understand a little bit more.

Thoughts?

Digital Storytelling and EFL or ESL

I'm teaching a group of graduate students in a digital storytelling workshop/seminar this summer at Iowa State. In the course I have several international students interested in using digital storytelling within their English as a Foreign Language and English as a Second Language classes at the public school level.

A challenge to our group: does anyone have any thoughts, links or resources that I could share with my students?

Thanks in advance

Cynthia

Da Vinci Code Digital Story Challenge

Ewan McIntosh has thrown down a glove of challenge to digital storytellers worldwide concerning "The Da Vinci Code" book and movie. Get more details and accept the challenge!

The project wiki is open for editing and contribution links!

SITE Workshop

I recently took the time to participate in the Digital Storytelling Workshop at SITE. I am new to the product and was very impressed. My question is - if we forgot to write down the number of our project we did at the workshop, is there another way to find it on the server. Also, once it is saved to the server can you go back and edit or delete a project? Hopefully someone reading this Blog can help me out as I am a newbie to this but would really like to learn more and use it with my student teachers.

Digital Soft-telling?

Hello all. My name is David Jakes and I am the Instructional Technology Coordinator for Community High School District 99, in Downers Grove, IL, USA. We've had a digital storytelling program for almost three years in our district and kids have created some absolutely phenomenal work. I was formally trained at the Center for Digital Storytelling in Berkeley and am a huge fan, as their work has greatly impacted mine, and in the process, impacted hundreds of students in my school district.

I recently read Wes Fryer's blog entry about Joe Lambert's presentation at SITE. Wes, as most of you probably know by now, is exceptionally talented and I look forward to his blog posts every day. In this particular entry, Wes captured the idea that some in academia felt that digital storytelling was "soft." I don't know who mentioned it or what the context was, but I felt compelled to respond.

Well, I've done just that on my blog as well as my weekly post at Techlearning.com. I would be interested in your thoughts and comments.

Joe Lambert Keynote on Digital Storytelling

Please feel free to use this space to offer comments on Joe Lambert’s keynote: “Digital Storytelling—Giving Purpose to Pixels.”

Roundtable: Digital Stories as a Reflective Tool

On Monday afternoon (4-5 pm), March 20, Dr. Helen Barrett, renown for her work in electronic portfolios, conducted a roundtable on “Digital Stories as a Reflective Tool.” The session was well attended, especially for a roundtable, with about 30 people. Dr. Barrett used a number of great digital stories to illustrate the points she made. Audience participants were quite diverse, which led to a healthy discussion on a number of topics related to digital storytelling as a potential tool for reflection: Exactly what is a digital story? Can the applications of digital stories as a tool for pedagogical purposes diminish its value as a creative tool? Are perspectives on digital storytelling culturally based? In a formal education environment, what systems could be applied to the evaluation of digital stories? What would a research agenda for digital storytelling be?

As with most good sessions, this one left me with more questions than answers. Would anyone who also attended this session care to comment?