Digital Narratives

Instructors
Philip Molebash
Lance Ochsner

Introduction

God made man because he loves stories.
—Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlev

Have you ever noticed that the people we find most interesting are usually good story tellers? Grandparents, political leaders, pastors, principals, and yes, even Kelly Nicholson, are typically very good story tellers. Moreover, the music we listen to, the movies we watch, and the books we read--if they have any ability to hold our attention it is because they contain the elements of a good story.

Enter technology.

A Digital Narrative or a Digital Story involves using new digital tools to assist ordinary people to tell their own stories in a compelling and emotionally engaging way. Because they are digital, they can be shared electronically all over the world.

Technology has given us the power to help bring our stories to life and to help us remember.

What makes a story good?

Think of Jack and the Beanstalk. What intrigues you about this story? The characters, the conflict, the magic, the transformation, and the way this story is relatable are all components that draw the listener or viewer in.

Daniel Meadows defines digital stories as "short, personal multimedia tales." They are written with feeling and usually in the first person. He goes on to say that narratives "subject themselves to structures of form tend to elegance. Digital Stories -- when properly done -- can be tight as sonnets: multimedia sonnets from the people." View this example of a digital narrative that he produced to make his point.

We, your humble instructors of this course, contend that there are no new stories, only new story tellers. Every individual lives a unique life and, if one digs deeply, can grant reprocessed stories new breath. Therefore, what makes a good story is a good story teller.

Approach

This course is designed to be hands on. This, in turn, will make the course practical, current, interesting, empowering and thought-provoking. It is built around active learning and collaborative thinking. Using the tools provided, you will create a personal digital narrative and leave the class with an understanding of how to use this tool in the classroom setting.

Learning Outcomes

In this course you will learn how to

• identify the elements of a digital narrative;
• discuss and utilize digital storytelling in content-specific ways;
• use iMovie, iPhoto, and other tools as necessary;
• discuss and design strategies (eg. lesson plan) incorporating digital narrative composition.

Assignments

Above All...

Come and participate! Every 20 minutes of class missed (either physically or mentally) takes 1 point off of your final grade (total possible 100).

The Minor Assignments

Some activities are designed for you to do on your own. They're meant to be hands on and fun. Do them and be prepared to discuss them when we reconvene.

The Major Assignment

You will create a two-minute long personal narrative incorporating good story telling elements and the use of digital tools. You will be evaluated using a soon-to-be-provided rubric.

Schedule for Group 1

Schedule for Group 2

Resources

• creativecommons.org - the est place to start. By doing a search on this site, you can find lots of photos and music.
• fr.creativecommons.org - French creative commons site.
• flickr.com - one of the most extensive photo sharing sites. this links to the creative commons portion of the flickr site.
• freeplaymusic.com -this site is purely royalty-free music.
• magnatunes.com -this site has cheap music...I haven’t played too much with it.
• morguefile.com -lots of big picture files...good quality.
• memory.loc.gov - a lot of pics and some video...some of this may be copywritten.
• archive.org -there are pictures and movies(moving images).  Have to work a little to download these, but doable.

Some Rights Reserved by Philip Molebash, PhD & Lance Ochsner, RCG