Have you caught up with the Juan Mann story yet?
It is the simple nature of the digital storytelling which makes it so compelling, but the back-story is almost as engaging. One man giving away free hugs on Sydney’s Pitt Street is documented on video by an aspiring rock star, after editing the footage and adding a soundtrack by his band he uploads the video to YouTube to raise the spirits of our intrepid free-hugger after the death of his Grandmother, over 3 million downloads later, the rest as they say is his story!
Mention storytelling in education and the image it conjures up is one of new-entrants sitting cross-legged on a mat listening intently to their teacher reading from a storybook; however, two down-to-earth Dunedinites have been influential in redrawing that picture.
Janice McDrury and Maxine Alterio’s seminal Learning through Storytelling links storytelling to reflective practice and has influenced Helen Barrett’s work on ePortfolios and now, I imagine much to the surprise of the modest Southerners, Chris McKillop, who has transferred their five-stage storytelling model to the online environment.
Storycorps
An American site encouraging people to record their own stories. A good way to start and an important part of digital storytelling ethos - getting people to tell their own stories in their own words.
It’s always good to go the efest and meet up with old friends and new faces. Storyboards had a quick (nostalgic?) lunchtime meeting at the Lido and subsequently offered to make the efest digitalstory for 2007. To go forward sometimes you gotta look back.
The term “digital story” was used at conference and has been used in other places too. A digital story has passion (usually), power and most of all tells a story. Maybe we need to find another term for these other things. Digidoco (hmm too clumsy). Digimentary (sounds medical).
Maybe there’ s a better term.
So what was good? The Wellington old town hall venue is great but maybe next year the organisers might want to consider using the (new) Dowse conference centre. Maybe it would be good to have a closer relationship between museums, art centres and e-fest. And that brings us to the highlights: Hazel Gamec and Lin Yew Cheang, from the Wanganui School of Design, Sarah Reo from cultureflow, Stephen Downes (group and networks: is it true that ‘group’ people seem to think solutions lie in exclusion and network people see education as a way to work towards solutions?). Mark Strom was pretty impressive bringing the old philosophies to the new (people and situations). Not sure that that modernity is the emperor and postmodernity the boy (that offered no solutions). He was pretty impressive and an inspired choice as a speaker.
Other stuff? Good sessions, great venue, great Wellington days and oh yes-great food!
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