Digital Storytelling Online Event

Lessons Learned so far - Digital Storytelling Challenge

sharon@socialmediaalive.com — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:06:37 GMT

Our team at ATCAA has been working on the digital storytelling challenge as a way to learn how to use technology simply and easily, and teach our community about the power and responsibility of using technology for applications such as telling stories.

Here are some of the challenges/issues we have been learning about thus far:

1) Culture/Responsibility: we have a lot of outstanding stories in our agency, but the idea of sharing stories publicly is not a simple part of the culture. We work with confidential and private issues, etc. in subsets of the agency, so we need to establish guidelines and develop release forms to responsibly share pictures/videos/stories. I have been able to collect a few copies of release forms we have used for photos in the past but these will need updated and used in the future for video/web posting and become part of our continued storytelling processes.

2) Attribution: we don't yet have experience attributing photo/music credits. To simplify I used stock photos we paid for, and approved photos taken by people in our agency. I also used music provided by the application. Creative Commons could be beneficial for us in this area, improving our ability to properly share and collaborate.

3) Tools - we don't have fancy computers, cameras or software at our community disposition, and we lack broadband connection (which is one of the projects we are working on for the digital storytelling challenge). So we need to learn from TechSoup and Social Source Commons and leverage affordable and effective tools. During the digital storytelling event we learned about Goldmail (but didn't use it since Mac isn't supported), we tried iMovie, and then late in the game read a post about Animoto.com and tried this. The team really liked the free 30 second test video in Animoto, so we decided to use this tool for the challenge (we are still working on getting this to YouTube).

4) Support: The digital storytelling event has been hugely beneficial to us since we have had a chance to hear from experts and ask questions real-time! We will still need more support as we go a bit further with our storytelling efforts. Forums such as this one are great ways for us to get answers and ideas!

5) Rallying community members. Creating the story is definitely an important step, but then we need to send it out and get folks engaged! Since we are not yet a very connected community, the channels are not yet developed. But we do have early adopters and community advocates which should be able to help us in our challenge to spread the story.

I appreciate hearing about some of the other lessons learned in this process!

Want Another Challenge? Here's a Chance to win a $7000 Grant!

MeganKeane — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:54:05 GMT

Did the Digital Storytelling Challenge get you excited about your cause? Are you itching for another challenge? Now that you've polished up your video skills, don't miss this opportunity to win a $7000 grant, by submitting a video illustrating how your organization can make a difference in the world using Windows 7.

You can find out all the details here, so get those cameras rolling!

If you need help along the way, please don't hesitate to post your questions here in the forums!

Best,

Megan

Missed some step? Trouble getting our 5 frame story part of Group for event...

amy.price@webindigo.com — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:30:07 GMT

It appears that our submitted photo story is not a part of correct group, or at least when I search for our photos with a filter for the tsdigs tag within the Tech Soup Global group, they are not found. In advance, I do realize that I am asking this too late, however after having a few hiccups earlier in the process, we thought we finally had our 5 image set as part of the correct group for the digital storytelling event - only now that I am home for the day, and thought I would peruse the many wonderful entries, realized that our photos aren't there. Can someone advise what step we missed?

Here's what we did (or thought we did): Note: We did not have a yahoo account or photos on flickr so we created all of this new today. We uploaded the photos into a newly created set, assigned each photo the tag tsdigs, gave a location, & then joined the group Tech Soup Global & when I look at my Groups, it shows the TechSoup Global and when on the group page, I dragged the photos to the Group Name. Again, I realize submissions closed at noon, but we would hate to miss out again, so I'd still like to figure out what step we missed this time. Thank so much for your help! (Based on the directions online I think this is the correct place to post this, however I don't see many other questions like ours, so please accept my apologies in advance if I should be directing this elsewhere - of course that could just be a sign of our inexperience!.)

RSVP for the TechSoup Digital Storytelling Awards Screening Party Tommorow, Wednesday October 21, 7 PM

MeganKeane — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:27:41 GMT

We've had all kinds of happenings with TechSoup’s Digital Storytelling Event and tomorrow night we’re rolling down the red carpet for the finale! http://bit.ly/g3OCh

We received over 100 submissions to the Digital Storytelling Challenge! The digital stories are currently being reviewed by our esteemed panel of expert judges.

Now that the work is completed, the next part is all fun! Please RSVP for the mixed reality awards screening party (and tell your colleagues, friends and constituencies to do the same):

http://bit.ly/g3OCh

Whether you’re a Challenge participant or interested supporter, don't miss this opportunity to mix and mingle with nonprofit colleagues, show your support, and see the Challenge winners! Here is a link to the many fabulous prizes we are awarding: http://www.techsoup.org/community/online-events/tsdigs/challenge/#prizes

If you are on Facebook, please RSVP here too and share on your profiles:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=185472420099#/event.php?eid=146107591363&ref=ts

If you tweet, here’s a pre-fab tweet for you to share with your followers:

Got my RSVP in 4 Digital Storytelling Challenge Screening Wed. 10/21 @techsoup in SF & @npsl rsvp: http://bit.ly/g3OCh #tsdigs

Remember to use the tag #tsdigs with all of your tweets, posts, Flickr, Youtube, Delicious, etc.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask! Email: community@techsoup.org

See you Wednesday night, on the red carpet!

Susan Tenby and Megan Keane, of the TechSoup Community and the rest of the Digital Storytelling Team

Challenge Date Extended--Submit Your Story and Join the Party!

MeganKeane — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:00:22 GMT

www.techsoup.org/go/tsdigs-challengeThe Challenge deadline has been extended, so submit your story by Mon. October 19th, 9 AM Pacific. http://www.techsoup.org/go/tsdigs-challenge

Tell us your organization's story in a 5-panel image story on Flickr or a 60 second YouTube video or GoldMail audio-visual message. You'll be in the running to win one of our many fabulous prizes including a Flip Video camera, Adobe software, mp3 players and more!

Want to see the winners? RSVP: http://bit.ly/g3OCh for a screening of Challenge stories and prizes awarded to the winners. You can have a look at the stories submitted so far on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/techsoup/ and Goldmail and YouTube http://www.youtube.com/group/tsdigs

Here's the best part: Join us Wednesday October 21st, 7PM, at TechSoup headquarters in San Francisco as we role down the red carpet for a screening of the digital story videos who were the challenge winners and a party! Watch the challenge submissions from fellow social changemakers, broadcasting live in San Francisco and on the web and in the virtual world of Second Life. Don't miss this opportunity to mix and mingle with nonprofit colleagues in person or virtually. and showcase your organization by submitting to the Challenge!

Watch the challenge submissions from fellow social changemakers, broadcasting live in San Francisco, streamed on the web, discussed on TweetChat and projected into the virtual world of Second Life. Don't miss this unique opportunity to experience the interaction of community channels through this multi-channeled event.

Winning submissions will be selected and prizes awarded at the TechSoup Headquarters, 525 Brannan Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, and virtually in Second Life at TechSoup's Nonprofit Commons. Stay tuned to the event pageand the Twitter #tsdigs hashtag for more details.

Hope to see you there!

DIGITAL STORYTELLING EVENT: Welcome to the Digital Storytelling Online Event! Introduce Yourself!

MeganKeane — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:09:55 GMT

Hi everyone and welcome to the Digital Storytelling Online Event! We are very excited to have such a great panel of experts in the Digital Storytelling arena who will be hosting the forums discussions and webinar. We'd like to know who you are too, so please introduce yourself on this thread.

For those of you new to the forums, I'm Megan Keane, the Online Community Manager here at TechSoup. I am really new to using video tools, but I've been pleasantly surprised so far how easy it is for people that are not technically inclined (read: me) to use, so I hope a lot of you will roll up your sleeves and take part in the challenge. You can see event information on the event page, as well as sign up to get email announcements about the event.

Video that's made an impact

MeganKeane — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 03:22:42 GMT

For those of you who have made videos in the past for your org., what was the result? What kind of impact did your videos have on your supporters?

Whether you've made a video or not, what nonprofit video that you've seen made an impact on you? Post your favorite examples of compelling nonprofit videos that touched you.

Best,

Megan

Tell the Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter Story in 5 pictures

GusGrosch — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:06:41 GMT

Here is a discussion in the Tech-soup group over at flickr. The five pictures are of what goes on at Sea Biscuit. Pelicans are the most common birds treated, so I had a number of pictures of various stages of the journey at Sea Biscuit.

video camera help -- Prosumer or Camcorder?

dkitchen — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:03:35 GMT

There's a chance that I might have $2,000 or so left in my budget this year. I've been wanting to get a good video camera for a few years, so this might be the time. But what should I get?

As I see it, I could get a nice Pro-sumer camera (like a Canon GL2) or, with limited knowledge and experience, should I just get a simpler, cheaper camcorder for now (or maybe two if they're low-cost enough) and hope I can get a nicer one in a few years.

I will also need a tripod and would like to get a lavaliere mic out of this money, so I can't spend it all on camera(s).

Of course, while I have a decent PC, I also will need something for editing purposes.

We do have a Flip cam now and it's nice, but would like something with a mic input to have a little better audio for interviews, etc.

Thanks in advance for the help!

David

ps I'm enjoyed the #tsdigs so far!

pss I accidently posted this in the wrong spot the first time. ;-)

Free vs Paid Video Tools

MeganKeane — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:23:40 GMT

One question that came up in our expert webinars was, "Why should I use video tools that have fees attached when there are many 2.0 tools, that are usually free that will do the same thing?"

I posed this question on Twitter as well and got this response from @francisaquino:

@penguinasana I disagree. As video evolves, more companies want video to drive traffic to their sites, not a "free" svc like YT [YouTube] or Vimeo.

I wanted to continue this conversation here. Money is always a consideration for nonprofits so it's attractive to use free tools wherever possible. However, nonprofits are in the same boat of wanting to drive traffic back to their own sites as well. There's also the issue of content ownership if you are hosting video elsewhere.

So why would you want to pay for a video tool? When does it make sense to do so and when might free tools fit the bill?

Best,

Megan

Submit Your GoldMail Digital Story HERE & Win Great Prizes

robkeynes — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:59:33 GMT

Hello Storytellers,

I'm creating this thread for you to submit your GoldMail digital story. You can create and share a GoldMail in literally minutes, so why not grab some images and give it a go.

Submitting Your Goldmail story:

Download a 30 day fully functioning GoldMail free trial from www.goldmail.com

Watch a couple of examples on the GoldMail Gallery or this one I created last week

Discover where you can find some great sources of Free content

Create your audio-visual GoldMail story, 60 seconds or less then post the link to this thread.

Prizes for Winning Challenge Submissions

Prizes to be awarded to winning submissions include:

Flip Video Ultra U1120 camera
Flickr Pro Account
Philips 512 MB MP3 Players
GoldMail Synergy account
Adobe Production Premium
Adobe Audition 3

I'm looking forward to seeing your entries & good luck

Rob

Where to find great content for your Digital Story

robkeynes — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:45:28 GMT

So, you're ready to create your digital story, but wondering where to start.

I've often been asked where is the best place to get creative content for GoldMail audio slideshows, so a while ago I compiled a list.

There are some tremendous sources of free photos, images, illustrations, and clip art avaliable if you know where to look. Of course (quite rightly) in most cases “free” comes with the caveat that you should attribute the content to the photographer or creator of the work.

My first port of call when looking for content is always to Search Creative Commons, which not only helps you find images, but audio too.

If you would like to learn more about where to find content, read the blog article.

I'm sure I've probably missed some great resources too, are there any that you know of?

Cheers

Rob

Open Source and Social Media

gmcknight — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 20:19:02 GMT

Hi All

I just published with the Open Source Business Resource a paper on Open Source and Social Media for your enjoyment

http://www.osbr.ca

Article is called

" Social media and Open Source: Worlds Apart?

Regards

Glenn McKnight

Less Voice, More Empathy

elliotharmon — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:33:13 GMT

Today on the TechSoup Blog, we took a look at Mark's advice to focus less on tone and voice in your storytelling and more on empathy with the audience.

How do you put together a message that resonates with potential supporters? Any stories of an unexpected reaction?

Cheers,
Elliot

DIGITAL STORYTELLING EVENT: Join us in Second Life for Digital Storytelling Events!

evonne — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:26:37 GMT

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Plush%Nonprofit%Commons/90/130/26

Join us in Second Life if you cannot join the ReadyTalk portion of this event! We will provide slides and streaming audio inworld to the Nonprofit Commons today at 11AM and again for tomorrow's webinar and the main mixed reality event on September 21st.

See you inworld....

~InKenzo~

Evonne Heyning @amoration

TechSoup Digital Storytelling Event September 30 with event activities continuing through Oct. 21

MeganKeane — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:57:59 GMT

Hi everyone--

We are getting very excited about our upcoming Digital Storytelling Event, which will include event discussions with expert hosts in this very forum! There are lots of ways to spread the word, including badges on our site. The official announcement is below--please pass on to anyone you know that may be interested.

Thanks,

Megan

***************************************

Every organization has a story to tell. But yours doesn’t have to be a bland, corporate-sounding video or canned sound bite. Even with limited resources, time, or skills, your nonprofit can tell a compelling story that captures the importance and impact of your cause — and we’ve got an event that will show you how!

Mark your calendars for TechSoup Global's Digital Storytelling Online Event! This free event will take place across three separate platforms: webinars, forums and the virtual world of Second Life. The webinar portion will take place over two days: Wednesday, September 30th and Thursday, October 1st. The Digital Storytelling Online Event’s discussions will occur in the TechSoup forums with expert hosts from the webinars. You’ll have the opportunity to ask questions and engage on a deeper level with the event hosts.

Visit the event webpage at: http://www.techsoup.org/tsdigs . Register to receive email announcements about the event.

How Can You Participate?

There are a number of ways that you can engage in the free Digital Storytelling Event. You are welcome to join any or all avenues listed below:

Join a webinar
Enter the Challenge by creating a story, and be in the running to win one of our many fabulous prizes including: a Flip Video camera, Adobe software, mp3 players and more!
Engage with the experts in the TechSoup Forums
Follow the action on Twitter #tsdigs
Attend the Challenge Screening and Awards party at TechSoup Headquarters in San Francisco or from Second Life

What do we mean by Digital Storytelling?

According to Wikipedia, "Digital Storytelling refers to using digital tools so that ordinary people can tell their own real-life stories." Nonprofits are among the storytellers who are using digital tools to tell compelling stories, showcase their work, engage their constituents, and spread awareness.

At our Digital Storytelling Event, our nonprofit partners and partner companies providing digital storytelling tools will show you step-by-step how to tell your story as a captivating, sensory, visual, and audio experience and showcase inspiring non profit case studies to demonstrate the power of digital storytelling in engaging your audience. Whether you're a nonprofit video veteran or you're just starting to share your mission through online images and audio, the Digital Storytelling Event will provide you with information about the latest digital storytelling tools and how to acquire them at a discounted nonprofit rate through our TechSoup Stock program.

Event Schedule:

9/30: Event Day 1 – TechSoup forums event discussions and expert webinars

10/1: Event Day 2 – TechSoup forums event discussions and “How to Create a Digital Story” webinar

10/1: Digital Storytelling Challenge kickoff

10/1-10/16: Digital Storytelling Challenge submission period. Expert digital storytelling hosts will be available in the TechSoup forums to answer your questions

10/19-10/20: Challenge submissions judging

10/21: Winners announced and movie screening party in the virtual world of Second Life and live from San Francisco at the TechSoup headquarters

Our Partners
We are thrilled to be partnering with some of the most knowledgeable and cutting edge nonprofits and corporations in the digital storytelling realm. The following Partners have confirmed participation in the Event:

How to Stay Informed and Contact Us:

Stay tuned on the event website, register to receive email announcements about the event, and follow the action on Twitter #tsdigs. If you would like to get in touch directly feel free to reach out to the TechSoup Team: tsdigs@techsoupglobal.org.