Digital Storytelling

"We are...addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep the mind stays up all night telling itself stories." Jonathan Gottschall, The Storytelling Animal

Storytelling is a uniquely human characteristic.  It's one of the few feats that separates the human mind from others in the animal kingdom.

Stories are everywhere. Many songs tell stories, all movies do, billions follow the riveting drama surrounding pro sports, and the video games we play offer interactive storytelling.

What are the advantages of being a good storyteller?

Do we look at our own lives as an unfolding story?

What are the avenues through which we tell stories?

Before the 20th Century, we had books, speech, art, and music.  Within 100 years, we mainstreamed the radio, the telephone, the television, photography, motion picture, audio recording, video games, the Internet, podcasts, mp3s, and more.

By 2014, all of these mediums have gone decidedly digital.  Moreover, at this point in the 21st Century, our need for storytelling is so pronounced that we reflect this staggering statistic in our daily behavior: YouTube and Netflix account for half of all Internet traffic.

It's important to consider how much of this use is in storytelling vs. storywatching.

How do we teach students to get out in front of the audience and practice storytelling?

The Story Arcade is designed to be a blog that looks at digital storytelling in the 21st Century.  If the 1900s gave us all of the mediums above, which new forms (such as social media) are reshaping storytelling now?  Which forms will we discover and share in the years to come?