Digital Storytelling

Surfing through social networks in search of ideas and materials on storytelling techniques we stumbled upon a text of the Observatory of Educational Innovation from Tecnologico de Monterrey (Mexico) that we found very interesting. The text spoke, among other things, about the use of digital technology in storytelling.

According to this text, the use of a digital format in storytelling, facilitates the development of communication skills and, at the same time, improves transmission and exchange of ideas, which allows the building of a dialogue between authors, story, message, content and society, thus encouraging other cognitive and psychopedagogical factors.

Digital storytelling not only facilitates the transfer of knowledge and experiences, but can also help spreading the collective voice of a group or community (Burgess, 2006). In this sense, Lambert (2015) proposes seven steps to use digital storytelling:

1. Give a point of view: success lies in allowing room for writing down the experience and using the power of personal emotions.

2. Generate a dramatic question: a story catches the attention of the audience when asking an intriguing question, which will be resolved by the end of the story.

3. Use emotional content and emphasize joys and sorrows: the most effective digital tools in narratives evoke emotions in the audience.

4. Modulation of the recorded narrative voice: verbal presentation and the timbre or tone of narrators must be compelling, in order to give a personal tone to the story.

5. Use music and sound effects: Music can add charm or pain but should always be what creates the story’s atmosphere.

6. Economy of language: the extent to which effects are used to meet the physical needs of the story.

7. Rhythm: is used to avoid monotony and to keep the audience’s expectations.

The creation of a story is not only framed within technological tools. It is vital to clarify the meaning of creativity, because from it will follow the anatomy of the story, the narrative. It is difficult to think of a sophisticated story with fine details of visual production without being integrated into a dynamic, creative, energetic, original and impressive idea to remember or to refer to.

To develop digital storytelling projects it is essential to know the tools available for building a story from different formats. We offer some of the applications available:

Apester:

http://apester.com/ is an innovative web hosting that allows to interact in multicultural communities. It works as a generator of content that empowers information to develop digital storytelling.

Thinglink:

https://www.thinglink.com/edu is a platform for creating images, videos and virtual reality. Helps to lay out or design contents from different formats, which can be implemented on mobile devices, tablets and computers. You can have support for Facebook posting

Slidestory:

http://www.slidestory.com/ This application allows focusing on vocalization or oral environment. It offers the possibility of organizing stories in slideshow format and incorporates the compression format MP3. You must register for free access to the various options.

Storybird:

https://storybird.com/ is a high quality program that proposes the invention of stories in a storyboard style type, which can be viewed and shared on social networks

Storify:

https://storify.com/ is a flexible and plural tool that helps creating stories and narrations that can be easily shared on social networks and the web.

PowToon:

https://www.powtoon.com/home/g/es/ innovative instrument that allows various approaching specialties: educational, economic or advertising

Glogster:

http://edu.glogster.com/?ref=com is a media format that can motivate the production of a creative and attractive project with the possibility of attaching audio, video, images, graphics, text, …

CreApp Cuentos: 

https://www.creappcuentos.com/ is an application for Android and IOS with predesigned images, availability of scenarios and facilities to develop texts with comics and animation.

When confronting the creation of a digital story it is necessary first to experiment with available applications and work with those that offer the best opportunities to tell the story we want. We must jump in the deep end and start experimenting.

Burgess J (2006) “Hearing Ordinary Voices: Cultural Studies, Vernacular Creativity and Digital Storytelling. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 20(2), 201-204

Lambert, J (2015) Digital Storytelling: campuring lives, creating comunity. Berkely, CA: digital Diner Press