Storytelling & Authenticity II - Capture Wales

Capture Wales - Lisa Heledd

Lisa defined a digital story as a 'short personal multimedia film'. For me, the key word here is 'personal' (i.e. autobiographical) in so much that it differs from traditional tale telling. In this definition of digital stories the teller uses their own material to illustrate, and is narrated or spoken through the teller's voice.

Digital storytelling has been heavily influenced by the work of American artist Dana Winslow Atchley III who wanted to trigger memories and tried to find a way to bring new media forms and people together. Similarly, photographer Daniel Meadows tries to show that technology can break down barriers and facilitate the sharing of stories. Karen (BBC) & Daniel created a workshop approach and pilot to creating digital stories (Capture Wales) and the 3 year scheme is now almost finished.

Lisa claimed digital stories can have power to affect you emotionally and certainly the examples she played support this (e.g. My two nains and Samiya). She also noted the opportunities digital storytelling gives you to say things that you couldn’t say to family/friends in any other way – normally the things which are most important. This is turn triggers discussion within families/groups (e.g. Lisa sent copies of My Two Nains to her family).

Natural themes emerged in the stories from the Capture Wales workshops, and this let the team direct the story creation process to fit these themes and aided the development of:

• portfolio of technology (cameras, equipment)
• portfolio of story seeds (e.g. genealogy, questions, photographs)

The technology element is important, helping people to engage with technology. Most people who attended the Capture Wales workshops would describe themselves as compute illiterate and this potential fear of technology was addressed through sympathetic facilitation - making people feel comfortable about stories and technology through jokes and anecdotes.

A good digital storytelling experience needs 3 things:

1. Strong story - that is, best version of the story that author can possibly produce
2. Transferable skills – normally 2 days spent on learning technology, gaining the knowledge of what is possible
3. Ownership - storyteller is owner.

One specific project Lisa talked about was working with streetkids - working with groups where the technology was deliberately lo-tech, through using disposable cameras. To me, digital cameras are still a relatively recent phenomenon and I remember (and maybe actually preferred) getting physical photos through the post or picking them up at Boots and the fun of sitting in the local square with friends looking for the one decent photo in 24. But children nowadays don't get to do this and so in terms of this project it was a novelty value. The delayed time it takes to see what the photograph is heightens the excitement and surprise and allows reminiscence of actually making the image.

And finally, last comment on technology, Capture Wales started using video, mobile phone video to be precise. They used mobile phones because they saw the benefit of building on the familiarity of using mobiles. (Although, if you actually think about it, a mobile video phone is actually a lot more complex interface than a camcorder.)

My Thoughts
Following on from discussions after this talk (along the lines of 'but is this really storytelling? Who does it appeal to for an audience?') I think an important thing to keep in mind is the aim of digital storytelling. I mean, what is it's purpose?
It is the process or the output which is more important? I would suggest that for traditional oral storytellers the output is more important. Pleasure in telling the tale comes from a love of the story and engaging the audience directly.
In digital storytelling it seems to me that the process can be more important to the teller than the output - to create a piece that they can be proud of. An achievement in technological competence, creating a rendition of personal feeling/anecdote. It seems a cathartic experience, primarily meaningful to the creator, and of interest to their immediate circle of friends and family in articulating how they feel. A niche product, symptomatic of Web 2.0...
This isn't to say that either traditional or digital storytelling is better or worse than the other in either of these contexts, just that they are different and answer different needs in society.