I had an email this morning from a student at Albany, NY, USA, who’s making a digital story for a college assignment. He was writing to ask about online tutorials. Here are three that came to mind: 1. www.photobus.co.uk > DS > DS Tutorial. Daniel Meadows goes into the software and the key steps to building your digital story. There’s also a fantastic pdf guide to making a story using iLife on this site. 2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/highlandlives/ – BBC Scotland’s model is a little bit Video Nation and a little bit Digital Storytelling. The tutorials take you through the steps involved. 3. http://uk.current.com/make/training – Current TV was a pioneer in giving…
-
-
Five things to plan for in a digital storytelling post production session
You’ve been invited to help a group of digital storytellers to post produce their stories at the end of their workshop or course. Here are some things to think about when you prepare your digital storytelling post production. 1. know your ‘deliverables’. Have a list of things you need to take away from the digilab and make sure you go home with them. It’s good to have this printed and hand it out or pin it to the wall. I use my Dream Deliverables list as a guide. (Gosh, that page is being linked to now, it’s Number 1 for that search term in Google today) 2. have a Plan B,…
-
Highland Lives website with ace Flash tutorials
I’ve just been looking at the new Highland Lives website. The Flash video tutorials look really good and there’ll be an uploader there soon. Editor Liz Leonard is coming to Aberystwyth for DS2.
-
Jason Ohler
Dr. Jason Ohler, University of Alaska (www.jasonohler.com) wrote to me today to let me know about his… “…new web journal, subTechst (like subtext, just more digitally inclined); it’s low impact (a few short postings a month), and is about technology and learning, with an emphasis on my work in new media and digital storytelling. Right now it is featuring, among other things, excerpts from my new book, Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning and Creativity.” I’ve asked Jason to sign me up. You can do this yourself by visiting http://subtechst.blogspot.com/. I’ve been an avid reader of Jason’s work in the area of storytelling in education…
-
New digital storytelling manual
Here’s a link to a new digital storytelling manual by KQED: http://dsi.kqed.org/index.php/workshops/about/C66
-
Video camera training for digital storytelling
If you’re planning to train people to include video clips in the form of ‘pieces to camera’ in their digital story or ’short’, there’s a lot people need to learn: – how to feel comfortable and come across as well as they can on camera – how to say something that’s engaging for the viewer – how to set the camera up to record video – how to set the camera up to record audio – how to frame their shot and not move or zoom the camera – the possible importance of taking covering shots and to tell the full story in the overall visual narrative – etc., etc.…
-
Audio Storytelling Legacy Setup
Someone asked me this week about setting up and training people to run audio storytelling workshops on someone else’s equipment. It’s best to be prepared for the unexpected. The biggest challenge is often the fact that machines are ‘locked down’ by the administrator. To work around potential permissions issues when working on computers in community cyber cafes, libraries and educational establishments, buy a dozen, fast, USB memory sticks. Paste some portable applications in one directory on the stick and make another directory for people to record their sound. There could be a third directory containing the ‘tutorial audio’ which everyone will use to learn to edit audio together. Then ask…
-
Good housekeeping in Digital Storytelling
File and folder housekeeping is really important when it comes to building, re-building and archiving your Digital Story movie-file and associated assets. It’s worth emphasising this. Devise a way of working whereby all the components of the Digital Story fit in named sub-folders of one master folder which has the storyteller’s full name on it. When you’re helping someone to make their Digital Story, ask them to make sure that none of their images, sounds, videos or project files are anywhere other than in their named folder or in its sub-folders. When you follow this simple guideline, it should be possible to burn that folder onto a disc and re-build…
-
Ten things to show someone who has never used a computer before
When helping others to make their first Digital Story, you may work with people who’ve never used a computer before. Here’s a checklist of ten of the first things you need to know about if you’re unfamiliar with computers: 1. How to switch your computer on and off. 2. How to sit comfortably; tilt the screen to optimise the quality of the picture you see on it; take screen breaks for eyes and posture; be aware of trip hazards like cables. 3. How to using a mouse; it can be re-configured and moved if you’re left handed. (Try to remember how it felt the first time you used one). 4.…
-
Streaming Media Europe presentation
Presentation at Streaming Media Europe 2006 about Managing Digital Assets, taking Digital Storytelling as a case study, by Gareth Morlais – BBC Wales Digital Storytelling. Digital Stories are two minute personal films created by the storyteller, using their own photos words and voice. Slide 1 – The Any List Rights management becomes easier if you brief authors before production. Digital Storytelling is no different to any other form of content production. Here’s the advice we give: ANY photos or clips of ‘other people’s children’? ANY sensitive issue involving a third party in relation to violence, abuse, sexuality, unhappy family background, marital problems, privacy, fairness, etc. which might cause hurt to…