Digital Storytelling

Cheaper and better quality digital cameras, scanners and computers in the mid 1990s led to an explosion of more democratic content creation. The BBC led the way with Video Diaries, using small Hi-8 cameras to enable people to record their own stories at home without involvement from a producer. Soon afterwards, the term Digital Storytelling began to define the practice of using a variety of technologies to enable a person to create a video story timeline. Photographs, audio recordings and sometimes old movies were combined to create a straightforward tale, like someone showing you a scrapbook or getting out their old super 8 projector. The idea was to train people in easily mastered skills, like scanning and recording and to minimise more technically demanding skills like editing and video cameras. The idea predates YouTube by a decade and is a really interesting way to share skills and put people in charge of their own story. Take a look at Bristol Stories and Story Centre.