How to find and tell your story

DigitalStory.Tools is a directory of tools and resources to help you build your digital stories. Have fun with our handpicked list of 85 tools.

Read the full article to find the link to the (currently) 21 categories of tools.

"Using digital storytelling resources in your classroom connects students to an age-old practice in a modern way."

Read the full article to find out, and link to, 30 of the best digital storytelling resources on the web today. 

"Our ancestors used it to preserve history; sometimes even drawing images on cave walls and rocks to support their narratives. Kids before grew up telling stories around the campfire, their eyes reflecting the joy and wonder at new chronicles heard over roasted marshmallows. 

Today, storytelling takes on the form of interactive media. Thanks to advancements in technology, we’re not just exploring stories from history or science – we’re also discovering each other’s tales. From students, journalists, cooks, photographers, and even entrepreneurs: we’ve become the new breed of digital storytellers."

Read the full article to find out more about these six platforms for digital storytellers:

1. Medium
2. Storify
3. Maptia
4. Atavist
5. Shorthand
6. Steller

From the related blog post

"Few could argue that storytelling is a powerful tool to inspire action and change, and to influence thought leaders and decision makers. The shape and delivery of stories has also shifted dramatically in the digital era. Long-form narrative and conventionalism journalism now share a stage with messages 140 characters or images that disappear in seconds after they are opened. There have never been more ways to reach audiences, but it's also never been more difficult to really reach them.

The Foundation recognizes a big opportunity in this intersection of story and technology, and has launched a project to consider the role that digital technology can play in elevating the practice of storytelling as a means to improve the well-being of the poor and vulnerable around the world.

We drew the insights and ideas in this report from interviews and roundtable discussions with thought leaders in entertainment media and news, brand strategy, technology, philanthropy, government, nonprofits, and business."

Read the blog post to find out more about the background of this report, as well as what the foundation's next steps are.  You can also download the report (same as above SlideShare) as a pdf.

A presentation from a workshop held at Skidmore College in March 2014.

Skidmore Storytelling

This workshop will cover a simple development process. Participants will create a digital story using images, audio, and/or video using free web tools and/or mobile apps. I use "story" in a general sense; it may be one of personal discovery or growth, a fictional narrative, a travel experience, a presentation, or something else you find worth telling. I discovered more than 50 such tools and recently have expanded the site to include mobile apps as creative platforms. As an example I created the same story in each tool. The result is that a good story and the creative process should and do transcend the tools.

The workshop process:

• Warm Up Activity
• The Way of the 50+ Ways (presentation above)
• Table Group Activity: Story Brainstorm
• Table Group Activity: Pick and Find the So What?
• Table Group Activity: Find Media
• Individual Activity: Build a Story in a Web Tool and/or a Mobile App
• Summary and Review

To see the workshop in action see Alan's blog post.