“If you would like to contribute to the festival, please email klewis (at) glam (dot) ac (dot) uk with an abstract of 200 – 300 words outlining what you would like to present. Please submit by February 25th 2012″ source

On the website there are videos made by 3VTV themselves as well as from partner organisations like Breaking Barriers Community Arts, Made in Tredegar, etc.

Viewers are invited to upload or suggest embed links to their own films.

I especially like the navigation of films by map. That’s after all what local and hyperlocal are all about.

To keep up to date with developments you can follow @3VTV on Twitter.

Here’s a taste of the output. It’s a video called Pins and Things about a mother and daughter – Zoe and Jay – who run a haberdashery shop in Ebbw Vale.

Please help to spread the word about 3VTV because it’s great to see a new local TV channel like this launching.

“The seventh annual Digital Storytelling festival is happening in Cardiff this year, not Aberystwyth. It will be hosted by the George Ewart Evans Centre for Storytelling (University of Glamorgan), and will be held in Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff on Thursday June 7th.

“There will be more publicity out in due course, but I wanted to give you all the date for your diary now as you may be interested in attending.”

1. Archive Mashup
Learn how to mix diverse archive video clips and sounds.
A part-time course beginning 26 March 2012

2. Shooting for the web
Learn how to plan, script, shoot, edit and upload footage specifically for the web and mobile devices. Using Sony EX3 cameras, the trainer is Simon Walker. A three-day course from 12-14 March 2012

For details of course fees, application and selection process, go to Cyfle’s website. The courses are held in Wales.

Vlog tutorial This short video tutorial is from one of the pioneering video blogging sites.

Great tips from the Video Nation archive.

Citizen media network Witness Video Advocacy offers craft and safety tips here.

The old BBC Scotland digital storytelling project Highland Lives offered this valuable PDF document with useful tips on planning your shoot and advice about getting good sound.

Japanese participatory media research group MELL Platz is conducting a public research seminar on 10 December 2011 at the Tohoku University in Sendai, in the area which was so badly affected by the tragic events.

It’s called “Designing A New Media Forest of Japan: From Civic Generated Narratives and Memories of Post 3.11.”

The event begins with a workshop for participants to share their narratives and memories of the 3.11 east Japan great disaster.
This is followed by a panel discussion about the future media ecosystem (the Media Forest) of Japan after 3.11.

On the platform will be Kenji Kai (Sendai Mediateque), Martin Fackler (New York Times), Shin Mizukoshi (Univ. of Tokyo). Chairing the session will be Kuniko Sakata (Tohoku Univ.) and Kiyoko Toriumi (Univ. of Tokyo).
There’s more information on the MELL Platz website.
via @shinkeugri

Read also about some of the innovative projects of the “Media Exprimo” Shin Mizukoshi group.

Ray is a Caerphilly 50+ Forum member; thanks to Mandy Sprague of that Forum for sending the link.

On Friday, I attended an industry screening by Cyfle’s Digital Delta multiplatform writers. Cyfle began as a training organisation for TV in Wales and – starting with its landmark Dimension 10 course – it has diversified into digital multiplatform too.

The project that most caught my eye was an audio digital story project called A Shoebox of Snow.

AudioBoo was used as the publication platform and the brief to participants was: “what do you keep hold of in your home because of the stories that are attached to it?”

The concept’s sponsor was Justine Potter @savvyjustine of Savvy Production. That company had won a commission to make a BBC radio play, starring Richard Briers. They wanted to work with Cyfle’s multiplatform writing trainees to generate some press and media buzz and some great stories by inviting people to share their own audio stories about their precious possessions by addressing two questions:

1. What is your object?
2. What is the memory that makes it so special?

Estelle in Plymouth recorded this memory of her dogs and their collars, in an interview with multimedia writer Hannah Wood:

Cyfle’s Digital Delta multiplatform writers were: Medina Bailey, Leusa Llywelyn, Tina Jenkins, Mali Tudno Jones, Dylan Owen, Simon Stratton and Hannah Wood.

And the participants who came from technical and design backgrounds were: Tom Beardshaw, Robbie Brewster, Paula Major, Tara Davies, Natalie Clements, Gareth Milton Griffiths and Jon Maguire.

And the lead trainer was Cyfle’s multiplatform manager Rhys Miles Thomas.

The crew closed their presentation with a peek of Zoetrap – An Alternate Reality Game. The creators are crowdsourcing funds for this Victoria horror game and I’ve got a feeling it’s going to be big.
If you’re going to Storyworld San Fransisco starting Halloween ’11, keep an eye out for Zoetrap.

The main speakers are:

• Bernard Robin, University of Houston, USA, on the educational uses of digital storytelling
• Dr. Jose Luis Rodríguez Illera, Universitat de Barcelona
• Dra. Esperanza Roman-Mendoza, George Mason University

There’s a wide range of applications of digital storytelling listed in the programme: from educational to cultural; from TEFL to tools.

Registration for the conference and workshops costs 120 euro, rising by 20 euro next year,

There’s a call for papers which includes many categories. The deadline for abstracts is 15 October 2011.

(If the embedded video won’t play, here’s a link to it on blip.tv)

Here are the ingredients:

- one object you can hold in your hand which is related to a place that’s special to you. Two photos are taken: the first is a close-up of the object or photo itself; the second photo is of you holding it.

- a personal story of fewer than 100 words or 45 seconds which you’ll record (tell or read) onto an mp3 file (via phone or voice recorder)

- a closing title: Place; by (name)

The form owes a lot to Capture Wales’ Shoebox Stories, developed mainly by Huw Davies, Lisa Heledd Jones and Carwyn Evans.

I used Windows Movie Maker to edit mine but any other video editing software will be fine.

The small print I want to declare is that it’s reasonable for the storyteller to make such a film in just one hour as long as the person making it has prior media-making experience – can take and upload a photo; has access to and knowledge of audio recording/editing tools; etc. Of course, working solely with people who already have these skills is missing the point of digital storytelling’s inclusiveness and up-skilling capacity. So perhaps it’s fairer if I say that these stories can be made in as little as one hour.

Finding the story in so little time is challenging. With only 100 words to play with, it’s difficult to bring out the personal impact above the factual matter which needs to be conveyed for the story to make sense. I’ll need to keep working on that aspect of the one-hour digital storytelling form…

That aside, making such a simple digital story can be comparatively straightforward, fun and quick.