Storytelling is a fundamental aspect of human communication and expression that predates the written word and creates a personal connection to a world beyond ourselves. It serves as a bridge between generations, a tool for education and persuasion and a means of sharing the rich tapestry of human experience. In both personal and professional contexts, the ability to tell a compelling story is a skill that can have a profound impact. Telling stories digitally, gives them new life, increases access and enhances our own digital, visual, technological and information literacies (and fluencies) as well. 

Digital storytelling merges the art of traditional storytelling with the limitless possibilities of modern technology. It harnesses the power of multimedia elements such as text, images, audio, video and hypertext to craft narratives that are not only engaging but also immersive. Whether you're a seasoned storyteller looking to harness the digital realm's potential for a classroom project or a newcomer eager to explore new modes of communicating story, we hope this guide will help you along the way.

We will list some modes and technologies for telling stories below, with plans to expand upon this page with more in-depth information on each of them in time. It is our hope that we can help you to craft stories that engage, inspire, preserve history and culture, foster empathy, enhance communication skills, humanize complex content and create lasting connections.

Oral History

"Oral history is generally defined as a methodology for conducting interviews, curating the result of those interviews, and making those interviews available for research, in accordance with the best practice guidelines established by the Oral History Association. Digital Scholarship is the process of using digital tools and platforms to investigate, arrange, and analyze oral histories, texts, data sets, and archival records. Digital Storytelling refers to the process of creating documentary stories for a public or chosen audience from a variety of digital source media — including archival imagery and edited narratives from oral history interviews." —Oral History in the Liberal Arts (OHLA) 

Preserving oral history requires special hardware (mics, recorders, sometimes cameras) and software (audio or video software). Learn how we can support you with audio and visual software. 

View OHLA's extensively informative tutorials. 

Kenyon Oral History Examples

Podcasts

Podcasts are non-music audio content that is on-demand. They come in a variety of genres about any subject you can imagine, and they're engaging and accessible (unless you are differently abled when it comes to audio material). According to Michelle Manafy, editorial director of Digital Content Next, podcasts are unique because they give you "unrivaled intimacy" with your audience — you're literally in their ear — and the content isn't "background noise, skimmable or swipable." Podcasts have been used in public service, entertainment, news, marketing, music, politics, health and in education. 

If you're assigning podcasts for your students to create, we recommend scaffolding in podcast content as "reading" assignments, small audio assignments to get students comfortable with audio recording and editing before the final project is due, and considering early the way you'd like to store and (possibly) distribute final projects. 

View a more comprehensive guide to implementing podcasts in the classroom here, as well as a guide for creating podcasts that you can provide your students. 

Podcasting requires special hardware (mics, recorders, sometimes cameras) and software (audio or video software). Learn how we can support you with audio and visual software. 

View our "Introduction to Podcasting" slide deck that we can provide your students.

Interested in having us visit your course? Email us! 

Video / Film

There are lots of ways to make videos and film digital stories. Our low-learning curve video editor of choice is WeVideo. WeVideo is web-based which means you don't need to download it to your workstation and access is the same whether you use a Mac or a PC. It's also great for group work because it has real time collaborative capabilities. Talk to us about getting premium licenses for you/your students.

You can also use a tool you already have mastery over and import it in or screen record it to enhance the content and quality of your videos. Ideas for these would include: Power Point, Google Slides, Prezi, Maps, Canva Video or Slides. 

Learn how the CIP can help you with your video needs. 

Kenyon Video Storytelling Project Examples

Websites and Web Exhibits

Websites are a great way to integrate video, still image, sound, and text into one finished product. They're also great for class-scale projects and group projects or housing a podcast or video series in a cohesive way. Using a website or web exhibit to knit pieces of media together can also tell a story. We have experience supporting Google Sites, Blogger, Word Press and Omeka sites. We have a variety of tips to get started (including a video) as well as some Kenyon-specific class examples.

Other Tech for Telling Stories

There is really no limit on what tech can be used to tell a story. Here are a few examples of other tech that can be used: