The end-of-workshops screening – along with the storycircle – is everyone’s favourite part of the workshop. This afternoon at two at Valleys Kids, Soar Chapel, Penygraig, Rhondda, we’re holding the Rhondda Lives! screening and I’m really looking forward to it. This week has been a fantastic one with ten people making a personal film with Valleys Kids using archive footage from BBC Wales and the National Screen and Sound Archive in a project funded by Heritage Lottery money. This project has been a lot of hard work for a lot of people and – seeing the stories that people have made – makes me realise it’s worth all the hard…
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What God looks like
Hamish Fyfe: ‘I remember being in a classroom in Northern Ireland where the children were drawing. I noticed one little girl of about seven and asked her what she was drawing. “I’m doing a drawing of God” she said. I said I thought that was interesting since a lot of people didn’t really know what God looked like. “Oh”, she said, “that’s alright, they will in a minute”.’ That’s a story Prof. Fyfe told at University of Glamorgan last night as he set out his vision for society where there are exciting new spaces set out for the arts. He show digital stories and compared today’s You Tube age with…
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Queuing and digital storytelling
When I lived in Ardfert, County Kerry, in the Republic of Ireland in the mid 90s, I remember a radio programme called ‘Queueing For A Living’ in which the presenter Paddy O’Gorman sought out queues of all kinds and recorded conversations he had with those waiting. From laundrettes to prison waiting rooms, there was something about the stories that came out of those everyday situations and people spoke of things I hadn’t heard many people speak of on radio before. I think Professor Hamish Fyfe of University of Glamorgan would have enjoyed that programme too. I’m looking forward to attending his inaugural professorial lecture this evening at the Glamorgan Business…
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DS and political engagement PhD
University of Leeds is advertising two fully-paid PhD scholarships, one of which will be about “Digital storytelling and political engagement”. I studied media management with this university’s Institute of Communications Studies and it’s a great department and a fabulous place to study and live. (Link to application from on right-hand side of this page.)
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Media Literacy Summit
I had an interesting day at the Media Literacy Task Force’s Digital Media Literacy Summit at Channel 4 in London yesterday. “Right now there are more than 300 million people around the world watching video content online. It’s a fundamental shift that completely democratises our business.” Peter Chernin, News Corp. (Jon Gisby’s slide; I think this is the source.) Yes, democracy can be served by absorbing content but it’s participation is what makes the democracy vibrant … and that isn’t happening yet because only: “0.16% of YouTube users upload to YouTube” (Ewan McIntosh‘s slide – photo of Guardian chart, May 2007) I’d really hoped for more from the Task Force…
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Decisions decisions
If you’re starting out in digital storytelling, you face some fundamental decisions that will determine or be determined by equipment and software you have access to. I’m not going to give many answers today, but I’ll come back to these in future. It’s just useful to be aware of the scope… What kind of computer am I going to use: Apple or PC? Or am I going to use a device like a mobile phone? Am I going to work in Standard Definition or High Definition? Which operating system am I going to choose: Windows, Apple, Linux? Will I launch the operating system from the comupter hard drive or will…
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Participative media in the mass media
My friend and colleague Rhys Williams just showed me a website he’s project managed for a new Welsh-language TV show for young people called Mosgito. I haven’t watched it yet but judging by the website this looks like a fantastic show, where the producers have woven elements of participative media into the on-air programme. They’ve recruited a team of participants – Gwegang – who use their own webcams to record pieces for the show. Other kinds of participation are also encouraged. In the Citcreu (create-kit) area, there are video tutorials on storytelling, camerawork, animation as well as uploaders so authors can share their work. It’s great to see a programme…
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Tell your story
Here are three links I wanted to share with you in the area of storytelling, participation and citizenship: 1. http://www.friction.tv/ If you’ve got a webcam and a microphone plugged into your computer, you can contribute to this site. It partners with Channel 5 news and is a managable way to get your point across on video. The drawback is that it’s difficult to make a polished piece: good sound and light, memorising something fluid and engaging, looking comfortable in front of the camera, etc. Oftentimes though, the speaker’s passion shines through. From Mandy Rose 2. http://voicethread.com/ A Flash-based online storytelling tool. You can add photos from Flickr or your computer,…
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It’s about the story
I gave a brief presentation about digital storytelling in Wales on behalf of BBC Wales as part of last night’s RTS Wales Media Literacy Network event at the University of Glamorgan’s new Atrium building in Cardiff. DK of Mediasnackers blogged the session here. I wanted to show a digital story called Set Free by Dean Byfield during my presentation. I invited Dean to come along and he and his wife Hailey were kind enough to come. There was heartfelt applause at the end of his story and Dean stood up and made a storming off-the-cuff speech about his experience of making his digital story. Here’s an outline of my presentation…
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Health and safety in public digital storytelling workshops
Here are some public health and safety considerations for digital storytelling workshop organisers. I hope they prove useful. Venue – nearby parking and public transport – accessibility for wheelchairs with no trip hazards – accessible toilets and break-out spaces – enough space, tables, chairs to accommodate all the equipment and people and to allow facilitators to move comfortably between participants – power points along two sides of the room makes safer rigging easier. – break-out spaces – because people will be working intensively together, maybe over a longish period – check if anyone has any special dietary needs and request food hygiene certificates from caterers for your records. (Thanks to…