What is a digital story: Part I

The Center for Digital Storytelling defines the work as this:
"While the term "digital storytelling" has been used to describe a wide variety of new media practices, what best describes our approach is its emphasis on first-person narrative, meaningful workshop processes, and participatory production methods."
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We will continue to explore this definition. But let us begin together with this: The first thing to say about digital stories (DS) is that they are first and foremost STORIES. They have to be good stories. True stories. Stories that are important to you. Your story is the foundation of your digital story. You can have great pictures, a wonderful soundtrack, and know the editing software and yet still have a weak DS if your script doesn’t work. Think of it as a birthing. It ain’t easy, so I’m told, but the product of the process is miraculous.What makes a script work?
1. Find a topic you want to say something about.
2. Be brave as you approach it.
3. Be honest to yourself and to your topic. Your audience will follow you to the ends of the world! 4. Be open to discovery as you write your story. You may learn something about an experience you thought you knew everything about.
5. Listen to me and other readers. I don’t expect you to do everything I ask. I offer a lot of ideas. Listen to me. Explore new ways. I get lost too, but I help writers find their stories. I’m your Sherpa! -- Ask me how, what, where … anything. I am here for you and committed to seeing you through.
6. Expect to re-write. Re-write. Re-write. Most of you don’t know what it means to spend dozens of hours on one page of writing. I do. It’s a fantastic challenge, and it may not take you days. But expect work and expect a good story in the end.
7. Give yourself to the process. The journey can be unforgettable. And in the end, join the circle of human race in the 21st Century and share. I, for one, am waiting.
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