Everyone has a story to tell. The oral tradition dates back to the origins of language: the story of the hunt played out in pictures on cave walls; the passing of a story from generation to generation. Some of us might have memories of stories told around the campfire or vivid memories from our childhood that still play out in our minds today.
Daniel Pink includes the sense of Story as one of his Six Senses in A Whole New Mind. He says about story, it “exists where high concept and high touch intersect. Story is high concept because it sharpens our understanding of one thing by showing it in the context of something else.”
We construct knowledge through connecting with prior knowledge, things we already know. New knowledge emerges when relationships with prior knowledge are formed. Story is a powerful tool for learning and understanding. Pink closes his chapter on Story with the following:
“We are our stories. We compress years of experience, thought and emotion into a few compact narratives that we convey to others and tell to ourselves. That has always been true. But personal narrative has become more prevalent, and perhaps more urgent, in a time of abundance, when many of us are freer to seek a deeper understanding of ourselves and our purpose…The Conceptual Age can remind us what has always been true but rarely been acted upon-that we must listen to each other’s stories and that we are each the authors of our own lives.”(p. 115)
This adventure will introduce you to the world of digital storytelling. There is no “one way” to create a digital story, just as there is no “one” story to tell.
Adventure 1: Listen to a story of living Adventure 2: Collective storytelling through the Classrooms of the Future Time Machine Adventure 3:
Explore a collection of digital storytelling resources
ADVENTURE 1
Objective: You will have a chance to listen to and experience the power of a personal narrative.
DIRECTIONS
This collection of stories is a sample from Story Corp. Each of these short stories (1-2 minutes) are from a monumental time in a person’s life. These are stories that have helped shape these individuals.
Monique Ferrer
"When I met Michael I was 14 years old." Monique Ferrer remembers her ex-husband, Michael Trinidad, who was killed in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Mweupe Mfalme Nguni
"Recess came and the boys had a football…" Mweupe Mfalme Nguni remembers his first day at an integrated elementary school in 1965.
Cynthia Rahn
I said, ‘I couldn’t go to school and not have anything…’" Cynthia Rahn remembers trying to complete a kindergarten class project.
Geraldine Nash and Gustina Atlas
When I was in high school I was afraid of you…" Master quilter Geraldine Nash (R) talks to her former math teacher, Gustina Atlas, who is now her quilting student, about their friendship.
Objective: Here you will have a chance to explore one tool that is easily used to capture stories in a digital form.
DIRECTIONS
Welcome to the Voicethread environment. Watch the short video that will walk you through the process of listening and commenting on Voicethread for this adventure. After watching the video, launch Voicethread, create your identity and leave a comment on one or more of the images.
Voicethread Movie
Listen to the stories and watch the images. If you see something that strikes a memory for you, create your new identity then leave your comments.
Objective: In this adventure, you will have a chance to explore several rich resource sites for digital storytelling.
DIRECTIONS
The following sites are rich with information to help you get started in digital storytelling. The CogDog site explores 50 tools you can use to create your story. Alan Levine, author of this site and the CogDogBlog, tells the same “Dominoe” story in each of these tools. This makes a great resource for those who want to tell their story and are looking for the perfect resource.
