• audio,  citizenship,  digital storytelling,  empowerment,  hyperlocal,  people,  story,  Wales

    Recording of Ysgol Emrys ap Iwan students reading some of the names of WWI participants from Abergele

    As part of Cofia Abergele Remembers, one of the websites I produce AbergelePost.com, worked with local historian Andrew Hesketh and Ysgol Emrys ap Iwan learners to list and record the names in audio of all the people of Abergele (a seaside town in north Wales) and surrounds who participated in WWI. I’m proud to have produced this project in my hometown. Click the triangle at the top-lift of this Soundcloud widget to hear part of the audio recording. Here’s a list of students who made the recordings: Jordan Harwood Chloe Merrison Anna Humphreys Teigan Thompson Scott Carney Alice Naylor Chantalle Cox Eleanor Lloyd Iwan Coghlan Cian Hanna Mike White Ben…

  • digital storytelling,  instruction,  media literacy,  people,  story,  timeless,  Wales

    What is a digital story and digital storytelling?

    Six features of the digital story we helped people to make as part of the BBC Capture Wales and Cipolwg ar Gymru digital storytelling project, which ran from 2001-2008 at BBC Cymru Wales were that the digital story is:  a video of about two minutes duration 2. a personal, usually true, story written and voiced by the individual  storyteller 3. a “considered narrative” (Daniel Meadows) usually scripted by the storyteller (c250 words) or proactively told, not reactively in response to a media professional’s questioning 4. illustrated with 20 or so of the storyteller’s own photos or images – sometimes including a short video clip – edited together by the storyteller to make…

  • archiving,  education,  people,  story,  Wales

    70 years ago today

    “June 5 1944: The call has come at last. We are on our way to the greatest invasion ever, feeling very cool and collected. I pray to be given the strength to go through this like a man and not loose my nerve, and hope that I may return to my little family who are so dear to me.” – John Emrys Williams This is how my Taid (Welsh for grandfather) began his diary entry  on that dawn of the day of the Normandy Landing in WWII. He was a signalman on board HMS Diadem and he kept a diary about his life on the ship which I’ve published and…

  • Blogroll,  hyperlocal,  links,  Uncategorized,  Wales

    Four new Cardiff hyperlocal websites

    Here’s news about four new Cardiff local websites I’ve just started developing… I’ve been running two hyperlocal websites in north Wales for a couple of years now. I started writing about growing up in Abergele online in 2001. Then a Cardiff local blogging explosion in 2010 inspired me to take things up a notch and move the site to wordpress  at http://www.abergelepost.com. I’ve been so pleased with how this site has turned out, thanks largely to our contributing editors David Huges with 63 posts, Dennis Parr with 14, Nigel Hinton with 8 and John Bowman with 3. My second site is a Welsh-language one all about my birthplace Colwyn Bay.…

  • conference,  digital storytelling,  education,  media literacy,  Wales

    7 diary dates for UK digital storytellers in Jan & Feb 2014

    Information Session on the new Creative Europe programme MEDIA Antenna Wales and Media Academy Wales present an information session on the new Creative Europe programme at the University of South Wales, Atrium Cardiff Campus on Thursday 16 January 2014. ================================================== Guardian Masterclass on video journalism and digital storytelling Learn what it takes to create powerful and engaging video journalism – technically and editorially – from multimedia journalists who have made hundreds of short films for the Guardian. Dates: Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 January 2014 Times: 10am-5.30pm In London ================================================ Social Media Exchange – Enhance your Digital Storytelling By sounddelivery Monday 27 January 2014 from 09:00 to 18:00 in London…

  • audio,  conference,  digital storytelling,  story,  Wales

    The difference between digital storytelling and TV

    SoundDelivery is an organisation led by Jude Habib which does fantastic media work in the community. I was recorded one-to-one at DS8 by Andrea Protheroe for SoundDelivery and I’m grateful to her for sending me the piece on Audio Boo. She said: “Very much enjoyed the conference and my first visit to Cardiff. Hope to return next year.”   listen to ‘Gareth Morlais at the Digital Storytelling conference in Cardiff’ on Audioboo

  • conference,  digital storytelling,  DS Cymru,  inclusion,  japan,  media literacy,  mobile,  people,  story,  technology,  Wales

    DS8 digital storytelling conference review 2013

    Digital storytellers from as far afield as Japan to Norway and from Egypt to Canton gathered together in Cardiff on 14 June 2013 for the DS8 digital storytelling conference. The host, Karen Lewis, co-director of the George Ewart Evans Centre for Storytelling thanked the sponsors – the Arts Council of Wales – welcomed everyone on behalf of DS Cymru and introduced the first guest speaker. (All speakers’ biographies are on the DS8 site) Personal factual participation & collaboration are themes running through Mandy Rose‘s Video Nation, Capture Wales and academic career. Speaking of her time with BBC Video Nation, she said: “I think the veto we gave Video Nation diarists to opt out of…

  • digital storytelling,  education,  language,  Wales

    Storybird is working on multilingual story-sharing

    I was delighted to read the news in Guardian Education about “E-publishing and digital storytelling” They say Storybird harnesses “the power of great art to stimulate creative thoughts and writing and could be used in any language”. Well, now Storybird is working on a soultion. It would be great to see, for example, Welsh-language stories being made and shared on this platform. The Guardian also gives honourable mentions to the Book Creator app and to Puppet Pals, Sock Puppets and Strip Design where students can design and make their own comic strips.

  • conference,  digital storytelling,  education,  story,  Wales

    Call for Speakers: DS8 #digitalstorytelling festival in Wales

    There’s a call for papers and speakers at DS8 – the 8th Annual Digital Storytelling Festival in Wales – from organisers the George Ewart Evans Centre for Storytelling, which is part of University of Glamorgan’s Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural Industries. Following on from the success of DS7 last year (CDS, Cowbird, Historypin), DS8 will be held at Chapter Arts in Cardiff on Friday 14th June 2013. A wide range of attendees is expected: from practitioners to researchers; from community workers to students. Proposals are invited to present either an academic paper or to run a workshop or a break-out session. Deadline for submissions of 300-word abstracts is Friday…