Digital Storytelling in Our World - How Journey Through Hallowed Ground Uses Digital Stories

From LIS5313

Jump to: navigation, search

A report by Autumn C.

Contents

[edit] Introduction

With the emergence of easy-to-use video editing and audio editing software in the recent years, almost anyone can be creative with their photographs and videos. One of the most personalized ways of creating media is through digital storytelling.

People may ask, why digital storytelling? What does it have to offer? Well, it is difficult to answer that question directly. Research on the development of storytelling skills in young children and the constant use of technology in today's world are both reasons why digital storytelling is developing as an educational, community, and personal tool.

"Storytelling of all sorts is the primary form through which we understand and impose order on our experience" says Cassell and Ryokai (2001, pg. 170). This explains why many digital stories are told through the voices or perspectives of the people creating them. Storytelling is a skill we build upon from our childhoods, and theoretically anyone can attempt to create a digital story once they have grasped a digital understanding.

To further probe the importance of storytelling, Cassell and Ryokai propose the following:

Storytelling is an important activity for the development of knowledge about the self, particularly in relationship to others. Storytelling is the time when we learn to tell what we know about social interaction and ourselves to the others who matter in our world (Cassell and Ryokai 2001, pg. 174).

Their view on storytelling is a great example of how digital storytelling can be a community experience and sharing project. By people wanting to share personal stories with a community, a community is more likely to want to share community stories with the world. Joe Lambert explains that organizations like the Center for Digital Storytelling were born out of "civic engagement" and "the new media explosion" in the past two decades (2007). As more and more people become involved with new media, we are sure to see a movement toward new creations like digital stories.

[edit] What Is Digital Storytelling?

Each school, organization, or person using digital storytelling seems to have a different definition of a digital story, digital storytelling, or a digital storyteller. The following are several descriptions of digital storytelling. Each gives a unique perspective on this cultural and communicative phenomenon.


Corey Hitchcock describes digital storytellers as "artists/writers using new tools and techniques, like HTML hyper-text linking for the web, animation programming in Macromedia Director and digital movie-making using Adobe Premiere, to tell their stories" (Hitchcock 1997).


Alan Davis describes a digital story as "a form of short narrative, usually a personal narrative told in the first person, presented as a short movie for display on a television or computer monitor or projected onto a screen" (Davis 2004).


Sheng Kuan Chung calls digital storytelling "the practice of incorporating digital text, imagery, video, and audio into the presentation of a computer-mediated multimedia story" (Chung 2007, pg. 17).


The website www.teachingteachers.com defines digital storytelling as "the intersection between the age-old art of storytelling and access to powerful technology that is easy to learn and use" (Nichols).


The Center for Digital Storytelling [1] does not give a particular definition of digital storytelling but instead describes the emphasis. CDS says the organization focuses upon the "emphasis on personal voice and facilitative teaching methods" (Center for Digital Storytelling).


Karen Diaz and Anne M. Fields describe a digital story as "a story told using some combination of digital still images, video clips, voiceover narration, and music" (Diaz and Fields 2007, pg. 131).


What do all of these definitions tell us? First, looking at the years the definitions were given, it is obvious that the idea of digital storytelling is different. In 1997, Hitchcock is talking about artists and writers making digital movies but by the 21st century the definition is focusing upon the individual, everyday person, and the actual art of storytelling in a digital world. Not that the definition is right or wrong either way, but the span of a decade can tell us a great deal about change and the evolution of media skills that an everyday person can learn.

In 1997, few people could have imagined sitting at home splicing together their photographs, their music, their home videos, and their own voices into one program on the computer. Today, in 2007, it is definitely imaginable because many people have the skill set - at least for editing and manipulating photographs. Having knowledge of at least one editing software paves the way for subsequent editing and the putting together of digital media.

[edit] Who Is Using Digital Storytelling?

There are many people who are embracing the use of new technologies and media. Blogging and podcasting are some of the most popular forms of social media and networking that the general population is using. Digital storytelling is not as widely used as blogging and podcasting, but it seems to be emerging in schools and other educational settings.

[edit] Teachers

Many proponents of digital storytelling see the connection between the technical aspects of creating digital stories and the need for technology in the schools. Jason Ohler explains how digital stories will survive by being tied to curriculum. He says "they need to be...used to strengthen students' critical thinking, report writing, and media literacy skills" (Ohler 2006, p. 46). He also believes that digital storytelling has "a great deal" to offer education today (Ohler 2006, pg. 44).

Judy Salpeter has spoken with several people, including teachers, involved with digital storytelling. One teacher who participated in a CDS workshop believed that digital storytelling provided "a powerful way for students to personalize their learning" (Salpeter 2005).

Other teachers, like Tom Banaszewski, wrote articles about their experiences with using digital storytelling in the classroom. He reminds us that "the teacher must surrender a great deal of control in embarking on digital storytelling with students" but that the reward is "students...are in the director's chair" (Banaszewski 2002, pg. 34).

Many digital storytelling sites are focusing upon the needs of teachers. The following are sites that provide resources for teachers:

[edit] Families, Communities, Etc.

On most sites relevant to digital storytelling, education and community is often the focus. The focus on families is few and far between but there are some references to digital stories as genealogical resources. Families are creating stories in attempt to honor their ancestors and pass on the history of their families to future generations. Sites like Family Oral History Using Digital Tools use a blog to throw around the idea of using different digital technologies to preserve their families' tales.

StoryCorps provides a connection between family and community. This organization promotes people to record their stories through an online oral history project.

Salpeter, in her article, gives an example of a community digital storytelling center in which the public school system and the public library have joined together. Her specific example is the Scott County Digital Storytelling Center in Kentucky (Salpeter 2005).

[edit] Organizations

Organizations like the American Folklife Center and the Center for Digital Storytelling lead the list of many many sources which Linda C. Joseph provides for readers (Joseph 2006, pg. 13). Besides schools, organizations seem to be the main venue for digital stories. Organizations often connect the personal, educational, and community perspectives when there is no other connection between these facets.

The following are some organizations' sites that either offer classes on digital storytelling or their business is digital storytelling:

  • Digital Stories is actually an organization for digital storytelling that is hosted by a school district in Illinois.
  • Center for Digital Storytelling is the spearhead organization that most other digital storytelling organizations are modeling after. They offer workshops to teach people how to be effective digital storytellers.
  • Journey Through Hallowed Ground is a historic preservation organization that just so happens to use digital storytelling or "vodcasts" as part of its summer camp curriculum. This program is the main example of this wiki report and more can be learned about it in the next section.

[edit] Journey Through Hallowed Ground - An Organization that is Teaching History by Letting Students Create Digital Stories

Journey Through Hallowed Ground is a historic preservation organization that focuses upon the corridor of land that stretches from Monticello [3] to Gettysburg [4]. Its education outreach program involves a summer camp in which at the end of the students' historical "journey" they reflect upon their experiences by creating vodcasts or digital stories (The Journey Through Hallowed Ground, 2007).

Angela Stokes is the program director and founder of the organization. She took the time to answer a few questions about why Journey Through Hallowed Ground [5] has taken steps toward incorporating digital technologies into its program.

Stokes said that when developing the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Extreme [6] they "wanted to build a program that the students would love and one that would require them to be creative. Technology was a great answer to those two goals!" She added that "it helped that incorporating technology into the curriculum...is a top priority for every school system" (Stokes 2007).

JTHG currently provides the equipment used by the students as well as having an information technology specialist as part of the program in the summer. Having an IT teacher lead the group allows for other teachers, who do not have a background in IT, to learn about it and be excited about "bring[ing] the technology back to the classroom" (Stokes 2007). The software being used by JTHG for the Extreme program is Macintosh software - i-movie, i-photo, etc.

On thoughts of expansion of the program or being a model for similar organization and programs, Stokes mentioned speaking to others about their program. Also she spoke of their being an Educators Extreme program so more teachers can be involved next summer (Stokes 2007).

All in all, this program is a great example of what one teacher with a vision can do to form an organization that reaches out to students, teachers, and the community. Journey Through Hallowed Ground is a pioneer organization that preserves both history but also does it in a innovative and creative way.


For further information, here are links to Journey Through Hallowed Ground's Extreme video and the transcript of the interview with Angela Stokes:

[edit] The How-To-Guide for Teaching Middle School Students Digital Storytelling

  • Once you know that digital storytelling is, explain the concept to students.
  • Assist students with brainstorming ideas. YouthLearn has a good example of a using a graphic organizer for a story mapping activity. This will help with exploring initial ideas.
Story mapping graphic organizer originally from YouthLearn
Story mapping graphic organizer originally from YouthLearn
  • If needed, do a tutorial on how to use and care for digital cameras and digital video camcorders.
  • Use group field trips or even self-guided activities to give students the opportunity to take photographs and video clips for their stories.
  • Teach students the basics of photo, audio, and video editing software.
  • Inform students about copyright.
  • Finally, assist students with creation process and have fun!


This Flickr photoset accompanies this how-to-guide with visual representations of most of the steps in the guide.

[edit] Conclusion

Digital storytelling is a new, creative, and powerful tool that can be used at home, in school, or as part of the community. The things to remember about digital storytelling are: it is still not a mainstream activity and thus it is still evolving; it can be tied into school curriculum; it gives students and others the opportunity to create something personalized; it allows students and others to express themselves in a reflective manner that sometimes writing alone does not facilitate; and finally it gives people the opportunity to share a point of view or a personal story with a larger community that way not have otherwise seen it.

Digital storytelling is important because it can bridge together communities and people. It gives every person the opportunity to be a director and creator. It is easy to learn and easy to do with the right type to hardware and software to accompany a computer.

Digital storytelling is the new way of expressing ourselves - we should all embrace and enjoy it!

[edit] Notes

  1. ↑ abbreviated CDS
  2. ↑ Check out Teaching Digital History, near the bottom of the page
  3. ↑ in Virginia
  4. ↑ in Pennsylvania
  5. ↑ abbreviated JTHG
  6. ↑ the summer camp currently for Albemarle County, Virginia middle school students

[edit] References

Banaszewski, T. (2002) Digital storytelling finds its place in the classroom, Multimedia Schools. January/February, 9(1), pp. 32-35. Available from: Wilson OmniFile. http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com [Accessed 2 December 2007]

Cassell, J. and Ryokai, K. (2001) Making space for voice: technologies to support children's fantasy and storytelling, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing. August, 5(3), pp. 169-190. [Online] Available from: SpringerLink Contemporary. http://www.springerlink.com [Accessed 2 December 2007]

Center for Digital Storytelling. CDS: What is Digital Storytelling?, [Online] Available from: http://www.storycenter.org/whatis.html. [Accessed 30 November 2007]

Chung, S. (2007) Art education technology: digital storytelling, Art Education. March, 60(2), pp. 17-22. [Online] Available from: Wilson OmniFile. http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com [Accessed 2 December 2007]

Davis, A. (2004) Co-authoring identity: digital storytelling in an urban middle school, [Online] THEN: Journal. Available from: http://thenjournal.org:16080/feature/61/. [Accessed 3 December 2007]

Diaz, K. and Fields, A. (2007). Digital storytelling, libraries, and community, in Courtney, N. Library 2.0 and beyond: innovative technologies and tomorrow's user. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Hitchcock, C. (1997) Storytellers of the New Millenium: The World of Digital Storytelling, [Online] Available from: http://www.sfgate.com/technology/specials/1997/dstorytelling.shtml [Accessed 3 December 2007]

Joseph, L. (2006) Digital storytelling, Multimedia & Internet @ Schools. July/August, 13(4), pp. 13-16. [Online] Available from: Wilson OmniFile. http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com [Accessed 2 December 2007]

Lambert, J. (2007) Digital storytelling: how digital media help preserve cultures, The Futurist. March/April, 41(2), p. 25. [Online] Available from: Wilson OmniFile. http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com [Accessed 2 December 2007]

Nichols, M. Digital Storytelling, [Online] Available from: http://www.teachingteachers.com/. [Accessed 30 November 2007]

Ohler, J. (2005/2006) The world of digital storytelling, Educational Leadership. December/January, 63(4), pp. 44-47. Available from: Wilson OmniFile. http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com [Accessed 2 December 2007]

Salpeter, J. (2005) Telling tales with technology. [Online] TechLearning. Available from: http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=60300276. [Accessed 2 December 2007]

Stokes, A. (2007) Personal Interview (Journey Through Hallowed Ground's use of technology in education), 7 December - 10 December.

The Journey Through Hallowed Ground. (2007) Journey Through Hallowed Ground - Who We Are, [Online] Available from: http://www.hallowedground.org/content/view/110/6/. [Accessed 30 November 2007]

[edit] Resources

  • StoryCorps provides a connection between family and community. This organization promotes people to record their stories through an online oral history project.
  • Digital Stories is actually an organization for digital storytelling that is hosted by a school district in Illinois.
  • Center for Digital Storytelling is the spearhead organization that most other digital storytelling organizations are modeling after. They offer workshops to teach people how to be effective digital storytellers.
Retrieved from "http://wikispace.ci.fsu.edu/LIS5313/index.php/Digital_Storytelling_in_Our_World_-_How_Journey_Through_Hallowed_Ground_Uses_Digital_Stories"