Digital Storytelling in a Web 2.0 World

Digital storytelling has arisen as a form of narrative expression that is crafted into a media production. While there appears to be general agreement that digital storytelling integrates meaningful stories with media, and characteristics of digital stories have been described, the definition of and purpose for digital storytelling remains somewhat open to interpretation. Even more unclear is how the growing array of interactive Web 2.0 video-sharing technologies are being used to facilitate digital storytelling. This paper presents a pilot study conducted to begin learning how digital storytelling is manifesting on YouTube, which is currently the most widely used of all video-sharing services. A relevance sample of 100 digital stories was obtained from YouTube. The videos were analyzed to determine how closely they match published characteristics of digital stories and to what extent interactive features of YouTube were utilized. Results indicated variation among the stories in terms of adherence to the classic model and the media elements used. Interactive tools such as ratings, comments, and video responses were used, but not extensively. The Changing Nature of Digital Storytelling Digital storytelling, in the most general sense, is the process of creating a story with digital media such as images, text, music, and audio narration. However, a precise definition of the term is elusive. This is because the term digital storytelling tends to undergo shifts in meaning depending on factors such as context, audience, purpose, and philosophical stance. Among other things, digital storytelling has been described as the art of creating a short movie based on a meaningful personal narrative (Davis, 2004; Lambert, 2007). It has also been discussed as an educational tool that can be aligned to standards for technology and language arts (Ohler, 2008) or as a way of framing the process of portfolio development and the assessment of deep learning (Barrett, 2004). These varied shades of meaning pose a challenge for researchers due to the lack of agreement about what actually constitutes a digital story. Because of this, the starting point for the study described in this paper was to identify a set of defining characteristics TCC 2009 Proceedings 160 for digital stories within the context of the Web 2.0 video-sharing service where they were hosted. While the selected characteristics may not encompass all possible definitions of digital storytelling, they serve to reduce ambiguity and provide an entry point for exploration. Characteristics of the Classic Digital Story The phrase classic digital story is used in this paper to describe the model originating from the Center for Digital Storytelling (http://www.storycenter.org/), which offers training and workshops to teach digital storytelling techniques. A classic digital story takes the form of a personal narrative presented as a short movie using a series of images, first-person audio narration, and sometimes a music sound track. This style of digital story is emphasized in the Digital Storytelling Cookbook (Lambert, 2007). This manual serves as a good starting point when delving into the nature of digital stories and the manner in which they are produced as digital media. The cookbook describes several types of personal stories that can be developed in media format. These are listed in Table 1. Table 1. Types of Personal Digital Stories in the Digital Storytelling Cookbook Character Stories Meaningful relationship with someone we love or have been inspired by. Memorial Stories Remembering those who have passed. Adventure Stories Travel and personal adventures. Accomplishment Stories Achievement of goals or life milestones. The Story About a Place in My Life A place that has personal meaning. The Story About What I Do Profession, work, hobby, and career stories. Recovery Stories Overcoming a life challenge. Love Stories Love relationships and meaningful partnerships. Discovery Stories The process of learning or uncovering information. Web 2.0 Video-Sharing for Digital Stories Since digital stories are short movies they are suitable for hosting on sites like YouTube, which currently imposes a 10 minute duration limit on video uploads. Web 2.0 videosharing services have exploded across the Web since the creation of YouTube in 2005. Digital stories and video-sharing are a natural fit. Users can upload their videos to be hosted at YouTube, share them with others, and interact through comments, ratings, or video responses. This adds a level of interactivity to digital storytelling that was more difficult to achieve, and far less ubiquitous, prior to the onset of free video-sharing. An array of specialty video-sharing services have emerged in recent years to cater to specific user groups. Among these is the Story Circles video-sharing site (http://www.storycircles.org/), which has functionality similar to YouTube. Here users TCC 2009 Proceedings 161 can upload their digital story movies, search for other stories, post comments, rate videos, and browse by category. Given that the site is hosted by the Center for Digital Storytelling, the majority of stories posted there are more likely to assume the more classic form taught in their workshops. However, it should be noted that this may not always hold true. An interesting question arises regarding the form digital stories will take when generated by YouTube users who may or may not adhere to the classic model. This may reveal the need for a broader taxonomy to more fully describe the spectrum of digital stories currently being produced. Furthermore, the expansion of digital stories into Web 2.0 video-sharing sites may lead to additional shifts toward a more engaging interactive model. Ohler (2008) explains that the future of digital storytelling will include short movies, such as those on YouTube and that Web 2.0 will facilitate “...interactivity and participation locally and at a distance, allowing students to share and collaborate on digital stories” (p. 40). Bull (2008) notes the proliferation of free browser-based Web 2.0 tools that are available for storytelling, which supports the feasibility of this idea. Currently, there is a transition from the view-only format commonly found in the past when support for commentary or community-building around digital stories was not as readily available. A good place to begin investigating the current manifestation of digital stories within interactive video-sharing sites is to start with the biggest one of them all. YouTube (http://www.youtube.com) is consistently listed as the largest and most highly used of all video-sharing sites (Comscore, 2007; Nielsen Online, 2008). A pilot study, designed to begin exploration of digital stories on YouTube, is described next.