December 16, 2008
The following video arrived in my email inbox today. I find it fascinating for so many reasons:
Posted in Applied Narrative on December 16, 2008 : Comments (1)
November 26, 2008
Sharing digital stories online was once a dream. Now it’s a reality. The new website Heekya.com is working to make digital storytelling fun and easy.
I’ve signed up to be invited to use the site when it opens for beta testing because I wonder if FaceBook will beat Heekya to the punch. With everyone already networked together and using FaceBook, how hard would it be for the social network giant to add multimedia capabilities beyond what it’s already got? How will Heekya go above and beyond? Watch the video below and see for yourself.
What do you think about the video? Did Heekya excite and engage you?
Posted in Applied Narrative on November 26, 2008 : Comments (0)
November 22, 2008
When I was living in New York City, I asked a storyteller who was prominent in the local scene what she thought about the urban storytelling non-profit called the Moth. She replied, “Oh, that’s first person stories. That’s not really storytelling.”
I was astonished. The conversation ended there. This woman told stories in Central Park every weekend to crowds of children and adults. She had a repertoire of folk tales at the tip of her tongue. She was certainly known by the families who had come to hear her tell her tales and was known in the community as being a storytelling pioneer.
Meanwhile, downtown, the Moth had grown a significant following and stirred quite a buzz. As a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting storytelling, the Moth changed the face of the stereotypical storyteller from a white-haired librarian/grandma with a book in her hand into a young hipster with an entertaining and sexy personal experience to share.
Years have passed and little has changed. I belong to Storytell, a listserv where storytellers “talk shop” via email. Whenever first person stories come up I am again surprised to learn that there are many traditional storytellers who shun first person storytelling. They don’t see the value it in. They think it’s a lesser form of storytelling, if a form of storytelling at all.
Mind you, not all storytellers take issue with personal storytelling. Just some. But why? Could it be that some storytellers are threatened by the fact that anyone can tell a story? Not everyone can tell a story well, nor tell well every time they perform. But every person has an interesting story that’s captivating and interesting. In some cases, their stories have been told at dinner parties, on long car rides, and in places one wouldn’t consider a performance space. The end result is a polished tale worthy of stage time at any storytelling festival across the country.
What are your thoughts? Is personal storytelling not real storytelling?
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