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Introduction to Digital Storytelling by Daniel Meadows Digital Stories are short, personal, multimedia scraps of TV that people can make for themselves. They're 'mini-movies'. Desktop computers enabled with video editing software are used to synchronise recorded spoken narratives with scans of personal photographs. This project requires commitment for, as well as all the technical stuff that must be learnt, script writing, picture editing and performance skills are also needed and these have to be worked on, which is why most Digital Stories are made by people attending workshops where participants can benefit from the help and advice of facilitators. People of all ages and abilities make Digital Stories and many have testified how rewarding the experience is for, when their story is shared with friends and family or posted on the web, they find they have discovered a new voice. There's a strictness to the construction of a Digital Story: 250 words, a dozen or so pictures, and two minutes is the right length. As with poetry these constraints define the form (e.g. a haiku is a poem written using 17 syllables, and the 14 lines of a sonnet are written in iambic pentameter) and it's the observation of that form which gives the thing its elegance.

THEORY - "Boris Mikhailov: A New Metaphysician" Boris Mikhailov: A New Metaphysician By Helen Petrovsky (Ithaca, New York) If we were to define photography today, we would have to posit its essential anonymity. To be more precise, we would have to rethink the very conditions of its theorizing: it is no longer "my" photograph that has to be redeemed by being set against the flow of time or the grand narratives of history. (And such, we remember, was Roland Barthes's project.) It is "nobody's" or, better still, "whatever" photograph that is likely to take its place in theorizing.

Academics and artists at London Metropolitan University worked with photographer Paul Trevor to make a selection of his images of East London digitally available to artists, students and researchers. The Collection includes 500 images (chosen from a total of 120,000) of the Spitalfields area from the 1970s to the 1990s, a period of rapid social and physical change. The Paul Trevor Collection is part of a larger archive project at London Metropolitan University, which will eventually include oral as well as visual narratives, that aims to represent aspects of the lives of local East End communities in their distinctive social, economic and political contexts. The process of producing this photographic dimension of the archive was lengthy and gave rise to challenging questions. What are the aesthetic, historical, and social dimensions of creating a photographic archive and how might these be related? Which factors contribute to the construction of a photographic archive as a relevant resource for public history and/or academic inquiry? How can aesthetic and social/political discourses work together to achieve this end?

NEED magazine creates exposure for humanitarian aid via an educational, artistic, visual narrative of human stories.

Declaration of Principles Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone is news reporting for the new millennium - a nexus of backpack journalism, narrative story-telling techniques, and the Internet, designed to reach a global audience hungry for information. Our Mission and Goals To cover every armed conflict* in the world within one year, and in doing so to provide a clear idea of the combatants, victims, causes, and costs of each of these struggles - and their global impact. With honest, thoughtful reporting we'll strive to establish Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone as a forum for information and involvement. Users will not only learn about the scope of world conflict, but will find ways to be part of the solutions- through dialogue, debate, and avenues for action. How We'll Do It We will be aggressive in pursuing the stories that are not getting mainstream coverage and we will put a human face on them. We will not chase headlines nor adhere to pack journalism but vigorously pursue the stories in front of and behind the conflict, the small stories that when strung together illustrate a more complete picture. Veteran war correspondent Kevin Sites will travel solo to these conflict zones, aided by a U.S.-based "mission control" team: Producer Robert Padavick (NBC News, CNN) and Researcher Lisa Liu (Radio Free Asia, International Medical Corps). Using the latest technology, including high-definition digital cameras and satellite modems, Kevin will deliver stories via a five-fingered multimedia platform of text, photography, video, audio, and interactive chat - all available on one website (http://hotzone.yahoo.com).

"Creating a Transmedia Symphony I re-read the article in Wired on transmedia today, and found it as good a read as the first time. Coming to the last paragraph I read Jeff Gomez's comment about transmedia and the birth of a new Mozart, "We are going to see visionaries who understand the value of each media platform as if it's a separate musical instrument, who'll create symphonic narratives which leverage each of these multimedia platforms in a way that will create something we haven't encountered yet." This rings true for me as an analogy of what many of us are trying to create. The question that popped up in my head was, however, "but hey, how do you create a "normal" symphony?". Lo and behold, a Google search later I found this wikihow on, yes, how to create a symphony. After reading it, the analogy rings truer still. So, to translate the creation of a "normal" symphony to the creation of a transmedia symphony, these would/could be the steps to take:"

please watch these in advance of the session -Take Care by MediaStorm because of it's great use of stills and video to combine for a moving and aesthetically powerful visual narrative, it's great character development and that fact that within a short time frame you get transitions and a transformation within the story. I'm impressed that this project came out of a one week workshop, which is testament to the collaborative effort that so often is part of a successful multimedia work, but also to Gillian Laube's visual sophistication. http://mediastorm.com/training/take-care -Blanco- by Stefano de Luigi is a great example of multimedia that is more conceptual, evocative without being journalistic and visually stunning. While the reliance on special effects might turn off some, I find it quite effective in this case. As multimedia developments and evolves as a new medium in the context of photojournalism and the profession of photography, we must remain open to using the new tools and techniques available to us. http://magazine.viiphoto.com/feature/show/267 -50 Milligrams Is Not Enough- by Bob Sacha and Scott Anger, produced by Pam Chen for Open Society Foundation. This marvelous piece highlights a worldwide issue in healthcare, told in an intimate, moving, visually lush way. This piece is a great example of visual storytelling and advocacy journalism, done with the highest aesthetic qualities. Great character development, in a wonderfully told plot, with sensitivity and high journalistic standards. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWeUDNyqo1I -Leaves Keep Falling- by Ed Kashi, produced by Talking Eyes Media, is a short film and strong example of advocacy journalism. About the lingering impact of Agent Orange on the children of Vietnam, it mixes stills and video in a linear narrative to keep a story that seems old alive and relevant for new generations to remain aware of. It was produced for a foundation in cooperation with an NGO working to support families

MediaStorm: Visionary Journalism Weaving Stories Producers start by cutting audio, creating a "radio edit" of the story. Then they work with the journalist to craft a working narrative. A cohesive story emerges, and then it's time to pair the images with the audio. For that, they use Final Cut Studio. "Final Cut is our workhorse," says Storm. "Our producers live inside Final Cut all day long. It's a simple and powerful tool. It does everything you need it to do, yet I can teach a new producer how to create our type of project in a day." Images are exported out of Aperture at twice 1080p resolution, giving producers the flexibility they need to experiment with shots. "We pull everything into bins in Final Cut, and we use a lot of labeling to organize it," says Storm. "It's very simple: We use green for a picture that's in, red for one that's out, blue for a maybe. We have a very visual environment inside Final Cut to get things done quickly."

Submit between 3 - 6 images as an exhibition series. Images must fall into the criteria of reportage, fashion, documentary, landscape, wildlife, portraiture or fine art photography. The judges are seeking dynamic and arresting images which portray a compelling narrative.

great site for multimedia/interactive projects

Cheat sheet for multimedia story decisions As newsrooms everywhere struggle to adapt to the digital information environment, everybody in the newsroom needs to gain some multimedia literacy. At the basic level, that means you understand what the media are suited for. Even if you do not know how to make an audio slideshow, you must understand what kinds of stories work well in the audio slideshow format - and which stories are poorly suited for it. If you don't understand that, you're in a weak position for telling stories in the 21st century.

Multimedia journalism is one of those terms often used to refer to a wide range of online content. Recently, I began a discussion with my students at the UBC Graduate School of Journalism to define exactly what the term means and how we can harness the many forms of online media to produce quality journalism. We started by first asking what a multimedia story is not. After all, go to any news website and you are certain to see stories being told using a combination of media. But just because an online story has multimedia elements does not mean that it is a multimedia story.

"The story is a machine for empathy"

I like telling stories. What sort of stories do I like to tell? Stories about days at school, life in the ANZ Bank, stories my father told me, historic sagas and the like.

I like telling stories. What sort of stories do I like to tell? Stories about days at school, life in the ANZ Bank, stories my father told me, historic sagas and the like.