What Is Digital Storytelling?
There are many different definitions of “Digital Storytelling,” but in general, they all revolve around the idea of combining the art of telling stories with a variety of digital multimedia, such as images, audio, and video. Just about all digital stories bring together some mixture of digital graphics, text, recorded audio narration, video and music to present information on a specific topic. As is the case with traditional storytelling, digital stories revolve around a chosen theme and often contain a particular viewpoint. The stories are typically just a few minutes long and have a variety of uses, including the telling of personal tales, the recounting of historical events, or as a means to inform or instruct on a particular topic.

The Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling

1. Point of View – what is the perspective of the author?

2. A Dramatic Question – a question that will be answered by the end of the story.

3. Emotional Content – serious issues that speak to us in a personal and powerful way.

4. The Gift of your Voice – a way to personalize the story to help the audience understand the context.

5. The Power of the Soundtrack – music or other sounds that support the storyline.

6. Economy – simply put, using just enough content to tell the story without overloading the viewer with too much information.

7. Pacing – related to Economy, but specifically deals with how slowly or quickly the story progresses.

Types of Digital Stories

1. Personal Narratives

2. Digital Stories that Examine Historical Events <iframe src="http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/ds/dsembed.cfm?vid=359&amp;w=640&amp;h=480" width="330" height="330"> 3. Stories that Inform or Instruct

3. Stories that inform or instruct