Here’s a powerful and moving digital story by Jaimie from the Banyan Tree’s Taking Root project in which Asian and Pacific Islanders share stories about how HIV affects them.
I was delighted to read the news in Guardian Education about “E-publishing and digital storytelling”
They say Storybird harnesses “the power of great art to stimulate creative thoughts and writing and could be used in any language”. Well, now Storybird is working on a soultion. It would be great to see, for example, Welsh-language stories being made and shared on this platform.
The Guardian also gives honourable mentions to the Book Creator app and to Puppet Pals, Sock Puppets and Strip Design where students can design and make their own comic strips.
This article is about running a storytelling workshop with a large group.
Canadian digital storyteller Kent Manning contacted Barrie Stephenson and I recently with a question: “I’m conducting a digital storytelling session next month for a group of 26 educators. I value the story circle part of the process as this is the way I was taught by the folks at CDS. Would you have any suggestions for conducting story circle time with such a large group? Would you have individuals share their stories with the large group? Small group sharing perhaps?”
Here’s what I suggest:
26 is a big group. You could either split it into three and hold three storycircles or here’s a suggestion that may help.
1. Pair people up and ask each to talk for two minutes about ‘the most remarkable day of my life’. Their partner takes notes and will relate their partner’s story in the next step.
2. Bring neighboring pairs together into six or seven groups of four. The tell each other’s stories of their big day to this small group.
3. Bring neighboring quads together into three groups of eight or so people for the Love/Hate game.
4. If you want one preparatory activity with all 26 together, Gilly Adams’s Match Game is the one I suggest.
5. Back to the three groups of eight will be the best way to develop the stories each participant intends to tell.
For other Story Circle activity ideas, see also this page with seven articles about helping people to capture their story in a digital storytelling workshop.
“I employed a couple of the strategies you mentioned at my DS session in New York City. The group was a close knit bunch and all had very good working relationships so small group interaction as you suggest below worked the best. And then we gathered as a larger group to talk about our stories.
The teachers came prepared to the workshop with story ideas and photos, so we used the morning as a writers workshop and most folks had a working draft by noon. It was at this point we started our conversations and story circles in depth.”
If you’ve worked with larger groups and have tips or experiences to share, feel free to use Comments.
Written and first published by Gareth Morlais on 5 May 2013.