• 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…

  • 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…

  • digital storytelling,  education,  story,  timeless,  tips

    How to use ‘swooping’ in your storytelling

    I made a presentation to Cardiff Geek Speak this month about ‘swooping in storytelling‘ and they asked me to put my presentation online. I haven’t put the whole thing here but I have highlighted  out one section, which looks at some of the elements that make up… A great story  E.g. Walking with Maurice by Hanne Jones on the BBC Capture Wales website. ·         Starts with one incident and work out from that. ·         Has a clear point of view (Hanne’s was a personal take). ·         Makes you give a damn – I can’t define how to do this, but I did care for Hanne and her Granddad. ·         Has the stepping-stone-effect: when you reach the other bank you…

  • 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.

  • digital storytelling,  education,  instruction,  timeless,  tips

    Running a personal storytelling workshop with a large group

    This article is about running a storytelling workshop with a large group. Canadian digital storyteller Kent Manning contacted Barrie Stephenson and I recently with a question: “I’m conducting a digital storytelling session next month for a group of 26 educators. I value the story circle part of the process as this is the way I was taught by the folks at CDS. Would you have any suggestions for conducting story circle time with such a large group? Would you have individuals share their stories with the large group? Small group sharing perhaps?” Here’s what I suggest: 26 is a big group. You could either split it into three and hold…

  • 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…

  • capturing assets,  education,  instruction,  media literacy

    A gentle introduction to Creative Commons for digital storytellers

    Copyright in the old days: All of this is owned by me, contact me if you want to discuss the possibility of re-using it. Copyright nowadays: You can still use the above model. Or… You can state explicitly and irrevocably up front that you’re happy for people to re-use your intellectual property in certain stated circumstances without them having to come to ask your permission every time. This is attractive to those making digital stories who want the world to be able to share and re-embed what they’ve made. And a knowlege of this kind of license is useful for someone who wants to include other people’s work within their…

  • conference,  digital storytelling,  education,  story,  Wales

    Just a quick post about Great British Story, HLF grants and an EdTech conference

    1. The BBC Great British Story roadshow is in St Ffagan’s, Cardiff, Saturday 16 June 2012. 2. Attending will be representatives of ‘All Our Stories’. There are grants of £3,000 – £10,000 available to from Heritage Lottery Fund for UK organisations “Using collections like archives, libraries and museums, including collections held by people in the community – and – Recording things like people’s memories … scanning old photographs and documents…” Now that sounds like an interesting source of money for digital storytelling projects. Spread the word. 3. Here’s some news of a free event in Cardiff on 26 June I heard of via Dysg’s excellent e-newsletter, mailed out every week…

  • capturing assets,  digital storytelling,  education,  instruction,  museums,  people,  story,  timeless,  tips

    Digital storytelling admin

    I’ve just been speaking on Facebook with south Wales digital storytelling and community video practitioner Sandra Anstiss. She’s venturing into the private sector making stories with owners, marketing staff, customers, etc. and she was asking members of the Facebook DS Working Group for advice about consents and copyright. I’d say there are three or more issues here… 1. The stated consent of the storyteller and featured subjects; 2. Some form of evidence that any third-party assets are OK to use (other people’s pics, music, etc.); and 3. Something that says who owns the finished digital story entity. Once these are established, it becomes possible to license the story’s re-publication elsewhere,…

  • digital storytelling,  education,  media literacy,  mobile,  story

    Center for Digital Storytelling’s Joe Lambert teaching iPhone storytelling in London 2-4 June

    Joe Lambert, CDS Founder and Director, is coming to Cardiff to DS7 on 7 June 2012. While he’s in the UK he’s leading an iPhone workshop in London on June 2-4. Here’s the info from CDS: “Join CDS Founder and Director Joe Lambert on a weekend walk through the old City of London to explore your story against the backdrop of London streets. Using iPhones, iPads or iPod Touch, you will shoot, record, edit and complete a short film. See http://www.storycenter.org/iphone-workshop/ for more information. Special offer – Sliding Scale $100-$300/participant. Limit 15 participants.” For details, email workshop@storycenter.org This sounds like a diamond opportunity for UK Digital Storytellers to learn about…