Digital Storytelling

Joe Lambert founded the Center for Digital Storytelling (now StoryCenter) in 1994. He and his colleagues developed a computer training and arts program known as the digital storytelling workshop. Joe and his staff have traveled the world to spread the practice of digital storytelling, to all 50 U.S. states and some 48 countries. Lambert is author of Seven Stages: Story and the Human Experience (Digital Diner Press). In 2017, he celebrated his 34th year as an Executive Director of StoryCentre, having evolved his work in the 1980s in the performing arts to work in digital storytelling and media education in the 1990s. Brooke Hessler is Director of Learning Resources at California College of the Arts, where she teaches multimodal inquiry and writing. Her scholarship has appeared in the International Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Community Literacy Journal, Writing Groups Inside and Outside the Classroom, A Guide to Composition Pedagogies, and Digital Storytelling in Higher Education: International Perspectives, among other journals and collections. An award-winning instructor of media arts-integrated courses, her digital story work has included long-term collaborations with K-16 educators, community arts activists, museums, and survivors of natural disasters and domestic terrorism.

"Our innermost and deepest stories often lie buried inside of us. Digital Storytelling is an artistic and technical guide to learning how to find those stories and tell them in the digital age. Hundreds of my students have used this deeply beautiful book to guide their own search and then assist community storytellers in creating stories of their own." -Nina Shapiro-Perl, American University"Digital Storytelling is not your typical text for writing courses—it is a truly engaging history about storytelling that helps students connect to why we even tell stories. Storytelling is an art, and Lambert’s text reflects this. I enjoy using Digital Storytelling to not only teach my students how to become comfortable with telling stories, but to also inspire me on how I approach my storytelling instruction. The text covers the essential elements of storytelling via a storytelling circle that creates a safe environment for the most timid of students to participate in class. There are also plenty of astute examples and references for the students. For a book that averages about 200 pages, this is quite a feat. My students tell me this is a text they enjoy reading and applying the techniques the text offers them in order to help them craft stories with a enhanced sense of creativity and a can-do spirit. This is one of a small collection of texts that students typically do not sell back, instead they share and re-read their text when they need to rejuvenate future stories—some of which have gone on to win awards or shaped capstone texts and films at UHCL. This text is a must for any storytelling course. Your students will thank you for making this their primary text for your course. This new edition updates some of the content to ensure the text remains contextually relevant to the field of storytelling and its related topics in the dynamic academic landscape of digital media communication.Since 2002, Lambert has paid attention to our field and I now consider Lambert a formative researcher and instructor whose text is the go-to text to use when one wants to instruct an engaging course that promotes storytelling in a proactive and humanist manner. Additionally, students take note that the text has been in print since before the advent of digital media and has adapted to remain a text that stays true to the essential aspects of excellent storytelling instruction. Just read the interviews and examples and you will be hooked!" -Debra E. Menconi Clark, University of Houston Clear Lake

• Chapter 1 – The Work of StoryChapter 2 – Stories of Our LivesInterlude 1: The Legacy of TanyaChapter 3 – A Road Traveled: The Evolution of the Digital Storytelling PracticeChapter 4 – The World of Digital StorytellingInterlude 2: Wynne's StoryChapter 5 – Seven Steps of Digital StorytellingChapter 6 – The Story CircleChapter 7 – To Students: Getting Started in Digital Story Work: Mindsets and MethodsInterlude 3: İlmiye’s Story by Burcu ŞimşekChapter 8 – Approaches to the Scripting Process: Prompts and ProcessesChapter 9 – The Walking Story Circle: Rethinking Digital Storytelling in the Era of Mobile DevicesInterlude 4: Areej's Story by Nikoline LohmannChapter 10 – StoryboardingChapter 11 – Designing in Digital: Working With Digital Imaging, Audio, and VideoInterlude 5: Nellie's Story by Rani SandersonChapter 12 – Distribution, Ethics, and the Politics of EngagementChapter 13 – Applications of Digital StorytellingInterlude 6: Zahid's StoryChapter 14 – Silence Speaks: Interview With Amy HillChapter 15 – Listening To Change: Stories From Alaska’s Native Health Communities: Interview With Laura Revels Chapter 16 – Humanizing Healthcare: A Conversation With Dr. Pip Hardy and Tony SumnerChapter 17 – Transforming Education Through Story Work: A Conversation With Dr. Brooke Hessler Addendum: Silence Speaks: Guidelines for Ethical Practice