Digital Storytelling by Shana Brooks-Schmit

Digital storytelling could be described as storytelling with different forms of multimedia included. Libraries use digital storytelling as a tool to help with literacy, writing skills and learning new technology. The main difference between storytelling and digital storytelling is that it is almost always told from the first person narrative. These can be imaginative stories, informative ones, tales of voyages and experiences or wherever your imagination leads you. Libraries and schools are implementing these techniques with students and patrons of all ages, introducing them to new ways to use software and combine different media for a final film of their story.

Author Jennifer Sturge (2020) likens digital storytelling to writing, saying it is the same process, "Students brainstorm, plan a story, create a rough draft, revise, edit, and publish their work. Given enough time in the term, students can even be assigned to critique each other’s stories and improve their own based on the reviews they have received. That’s where the interactive aspect comes in.". The process of creating a digital story is a one in which the students learn new skills and new multimedia technologies to enhance their stories. Wawro (2012) breaks down the steps for digital storytelling like this:

• Have the children write out the stories they wish to tell. 
• Record the children telling their stories. 
• Gather their images. 
• Arrange the images and audio in the editing software. 
• Throw in a little movie magic.
• Export the work to a movie file.

Students will also use different tools to add sound, music, and images to their stories and then film them and edit using iMovie for Mac or Windows Movie Maker for PC. There are also other free apps and paid apps available for use to create digital storytelling (see list below, Sturge, 2020). This interactive activity is another example of how libraries and reinventing themselves for the future.

FOR DIGITAL STORYTELLING (free and paid)

• Adobe Spark (spark.adobe.com) 
• Book Creator (bookcreator.com) 
• StoryCorps (storycorps.org) 
• StoryCorps Education (storycorps.org/discover/education) 
• StoryJumper (storyjumper.com) 
• Wixie (wixie.com) 
• Wixie Digital Storytelling (static.wixie.com/edu/digital-storytelling

References

Center for Arts-Inspired Learning. (2018, January 17). What is Digital Storytelling? [Video]. You Tube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5usc00wa40

Rule, L. (2010). DIGITAL STORYTELLING: Never Has Storytelling Been So Easy or So Powerful. Knowledge Quest, 38(4), 56–57.

Sturge, J. (2020). Digital Storytelling: Tips, Tools, and Resources. Computers in Libraries, 40(8), 32–36.

Wawro, L. (2012). Digital Storytelling. Children & Libraries: The Journal of the Association for Library Service to Children, 10(1), 50–52.