I’ve always been puzzled by this paradox: people get so many new skills by making their first digital story …. yet most people only ever produce one digital story. It was Jenny Kidd, whose PhD subject was Digital Storytelling at the BBC, who drew my attention to this.
The team at University of Glamorgan (called South Wales University since 2013) has been exploring lowering some of the barriers to continuation by devising forms that use widely-available online
production tools and social media tools.
Carwyn Evans, Lisa Heledd Jones and Susie Pratt of BBC Wales and University of Glamorgan held a workshop in Aberystwyth just before DS3 where they led a group of people through how to upload photos to Flickr.com e.g:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/making_space/2507528951
and how to add comments to photos. They also incorporated some ‘old
media’ like the PostIt and pen, thus:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/making_space/2510751989/in/photostream/
At DS3, I saw a dozen people all huddled around a massive poster print of Aberystwyth prom, scribbling on PostIts. The mix of the photo and different people’s reactions to it is really nice.
Some audio comments were also recorded:
http://www.makingspace.org.uk/ventures/picturepost/listening_circle.html
Tools like voicethread, photobucket remix, flickr, etc. are great levellers because all you
need is access to a broadband-connected web browser and a simple capture device. Of course, there are factors other than technology influencing continued media expression, but I believe using re-accessible technology will reduce one of the barriers to continued authorship. Also, the social networking capacity surrounding these Web 2.0 tools can engender a continued sense of community beyond the kick-off face-to-face workshop(s).
I think Making Space is a fascinating project and, already, the participants’ testimony at DS3 convinced me it’s a worthwhile direction in which to head.
By the way, the team is also exploring other areas via ventures such as:
http://www.makingspace.org.uk/ventures/digitaldresser.html
and
http://www.makingspace.org.uk/ventures/desertislandpics.html
Written and first published by Gareth Morlais on 17 June 2008. Because of the age of this article, not all links still work. I’ve left them here so you can search on the Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive.