“When a digital story is finished it should be remembered for its soul, not the bells and whistles of the technology tools.” - Bernajean Porter, author, DigiTales: The Art of Telling Digital Stories
Digital storytelling is about stories and the telling of stories using multi-media tools. It weaves traditional oral storytelling with a spectrum of media like photos, videos, music, and the storyteller’s audio narrative.
New Word Order brings you An Evening of Digital Stories in August, where graphic designer, author, and now, digital storyteller, Angeline Koh, will show how people are discovering the timeless delight of storytelling in this digital age.
New Word Order is an initiative of The Arts House.
A condensed version of this article appeared in the TODAY papers on 10 August 2011, a day after Singapore celebrated her 46th birthday. Click to download the PDF Telling The Singapore Story.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s opening message at the HeritageFest launch resonated with me.
“Home means you must have some memories, you must have shared experiences and you must have some sense of where we came from, why we are here what it means to us… we will tell the stories about it to the younger ones and the next generation…we will connect to one another, connect to our parents and past, and to our children and future.”
For a struggling start-up social entrepreneur with a passion to “Create Storytelling Movements. Empower Ordinary people to tell their stories,” PM Lee’s statement is a beacon of hope, an affirmation that Digital Storytelling Asia (DSA) is on the right track. Storytelling is what Singapore as a nation needs.
When I speak of storytelling I do not mean the “once-upon-a-time” fairy tales that we think belong only to the domain of children. Stories are the stuff that life and memories are made of — the stories of our lives shape us. History is story. There are national stories and there are personal stories. We all have histories even the quietest of us.
Stories are shared memories. They can be painful ones like seeing a loved one through cancer or happy ones like remembering the old kampung house we grew up in, or the silly ones that make us laugh at ourselves. We have personal, family, community, and national stories. Stories engage not just our minds but our emotions and glue us together. Stories are the heritage that we leave with our children and our children’s children.
In the 9 September 2010, TODAY papers, Yeo Lay Hwee wrote, “The Singapore Story – A new narrative, a new story that can engage the younger generation, is needed.” Commenting about the immigrant issues, she said:
I also have a nagging feeling that the unhappiness about the large influx of foreigners is only a symptom of some larger issues and questions. It is not about us and them, but it is a question of who we are, what kind of society we want to build and what kind of Singapore we want to have.
Have we come closer to finding our Singapore Story? Our “romantic narratives” of fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, of unlikely knights turned heroes on a quest? There are unsung heroes in our midst — they are our mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, people we meet each day in our homes, schools, work, and play. There are heroes in the making. The young people in our midst who shape tomorrow.
Our children need to realise that their lives are stories that they are writing by the choices they make each day. They have the power to become heroes by the brave and sacrificial choices they make — to not live indulgent lives but to live well and to live for the good of others.
To quote Yeo again,
…We now have to think of a narrative that will take us from First World to XXX — the unknown? We need a new narrative, a new story that can engage. And this story can no longer be written by the Government alone…
The story that can engage our imagination must begin with a “WE”. It has to be a story that as many people who want to participate in the writing must be given the opportunity to do so.
It has to be a story that we all believe in.
Our individual stories are like little streams that converge into a river and into the ocean. The Singapore Story is the sum total of the stories of her people.
So where do we start?
Moving HeritageFest to the heartlands and creating events like these are steps in the right direction. PM Lee hit the nail on the head when he said, “These trails should be developed by the community, as a ‘grassroots, bottom-up’ effort.”
BBC Wales and BBC England initiated projects, ‘Capture Wales” project ran successfullyfrom 2001 until 2008. Nearly 600 stories were produced and it won some awards including a BAFTA Cymru. ”Telling Lives” (England’s parallel to the Wales project) ran from 2002 to 2005.
“Everyone has a story to tell” the sites say. All over the UK, “people made Digital Stories about real-life experiences and each story is as individual as the person who made it. Each Digital Story is made by the storyteller themself, using his or her own photos, words and voice.”
The series which were screened on BBC and showcased on their websites with the aim to “Connecting communities is a key aspect of the BBC’s contribution to social value. Many of our programmes, our physical presence and our grass-roots activities serve to encourage participation and a sense of belonging.”
In my keynote address at the International Digital Storytelling Festival organised by the Aberystwyth University, the Arts Council of Wales, the National Council of Wales, and the BBC held in Wales on 17 June 2011, I said that my dream is to create storytelling movements and to empower ordinary people to tell their stories.
John Hartley and Kelly McWilliams in the book “Story Circle” (2009),wrote:
“…Digital storytelling… is less developed in Asia, Africa, and South America. Most of the workshops held on those continents have been run or led by Western organizations or Western workshop facilitators and, by large, have not resulted in ongoing local programs…”
Digital Storytelling Asia is a Singaporean initiative. As far as I know, an early mover (if not the first mover) of digital storytelling in Asia. DSA which collaborates with the National Book Development Council of Singapore is a bottom-up initiative that seeks to fill that gap by creating storytelling movements and empowering ordinary people to share their stories.
The late Dana Atchley, also known as the father of Digital Storytelling said:
“The stories and anecdotes we share with one another
are the ways we let each other know
who we are,
where we come from,
where we are going,
and most importantly,
what we care about.”
We need to keep telling and listening to our stories. We need to help others find and tell their stories.
“The sharing of stories at the digital storytelling workshops give me rare opportunities to cross race, language, and religious boundaries. We connect with each other as one human being to another. We talk about our mums, our dads, siblings, work, struggles, our likes our dislikes, our concerns, our dreams…Cultural boundaries fade…I can see digital storytelling filling up a lot of our social gaps,” said Digital Storytelling Asia (DSA) founder Angeline Koh at her keynote speech at the 6th Digital Storytelling Festival (ds6) in Wales.
Digital storytelling practitioners and enthusiasts from different parts of UK and other countries gathered last 17 June 2011 at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre for the annual festival.
Angeline talked about “Digital Storytelling in Multicultural Singapore”. She presented the huge potential of the use of digital stories in Singapore with its technological advancement and critical need of discovering, preserving, and sharing the stories of its people.
An excerpt from Angeline’s speech:
While digital storytelling has been widely used in the US, UK, Australia and a few other countries since almost two decades ago, it is not even quite at the infancy stage in Singapore. DSA takes the challenge of pioneering the work in the region.
At the festival, many participants enjoyed sharing ideas, making connections, and encouraging one another. It created a buzz in Twitter:
BBCommArts Breaking Barriers
#ds6 angeline koh – what an inspiration
@Karl_multistory
Karl Greenwood
‘Media shows our need to connect with each other’ Angeline Koh #ds6
@BBCommArts
Breaking Barriers
#ds6 angeline koh really passionate about #digitalstorytelling the story media for the people
@Karl_multistory
Karl Greenwood
#ds6 Angeline Koh ‘Digital storytelling can fill in social gaps’
@getgood
Nicky Getgood
#ds6 “all I wanted to do was tell my story and help other people tell their stories.” Angeline Koh speaks for so many people there!
@digistories
Barrie Stephenson
Cultural boundaries fade at the digital storytelling workshop. Angeline Koh (Singapore) #DS6@
@MoreHavoc
Christopher Carney
@hannahnicklin Gosh! Good work Singapore!
On a separate interview, Julie Gade (Story Field, Copenhagen, www.storyfield.dk), one of the speakers at the festival said: “I’ve really enjoyed the festival. What I’m taking away from here is all the different ways of using digital storytelling that’s breaking a little bit out of the traditional way…people are rethinking the ways they’re using digital storytelling.”
“I was very inspired by Storyworks that does really nice films and the ways they’re using it…and also by Pip Hardy (www.patientvoices.org.uk) …that people who can’t even use their hands to control their mouse but she’s still managed to pull stories out of them – that’s really inspiring.”
Another participant, Brian McCausland (England) shared: “Meeting such great people from all over the world who are all interested in digital storytelling has really been encouraging…and I got lots of interesting ideas, fascinating ideas that I’m gonna follow up…I think telling stories is so powerful…I especially want to work with older people so they can make digital stories for future generations to enjoy because I think it will be lovely to give that as a gift to the future generations.”
Organised by the Arts Centre, Aberystwyth University, the yearly event is Wales’ premier festival to celebrate international digital storytelling and is supported by the Arts Council of Wales, National Assembly of Wales and the BBC.
The National Book Development Council of Singapore and Digital Storytelling Asia are jointly initiating DiSC, Singapore (Digital Storytelling Circle).
DiSC is a support group for digital storytellers.
We would like to see Digital Storytelling become not just an event but a movement. This support group will meet once every two months. It is where you can interact with other digital storytellers and also invite your friends who might be curious about digital storytelling.
An Evening of Digital Stories will showcase works done by past workshop participants.
Watch digital story samples.
Discover what it is.
Explore how it can help you – in your homes, communities, organisations, and businesses.
Find out what it takes to make a digital story.
Interact. Have your questions answered.
You’ll be surprised that
YOU can tell a story. Digitally.
Tuesday, 4 January 2011 . 7 pm to 8.30 pm Visitors’ Briefing Room, Level 1, National Library Building
Admission is FREE.
Please email info@digitalstorytellingasia.com to reserve a place.
Thanks to those of you who asked about our Digital Storytelling (DS) workshops. If we have been silent, it is only because we have been getting ourselves organised.
In January 2011, we will launch our first Digital Storytelling Circle (DiSC), an initiative we are jointly organising with the National Book Development Council of Singapore. We would like to see Digital Storytelling (DS) become not just an event but a movement. This support group is where you can interact with other digital storytellers and also invite your friends who might be curious about DS. More information will be posted in the coming days.
Do feel free to email us with your DS questions or suggestions or if you want to be a part of this.
In his National Day Rally speech on 14 August 2011, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong quotes DSA's founder Angeline Koh's Telling the Singapore Story. The article which emphasizes the need for Singapore to capture stories was published in the Today papers on 10 August 2011.
"This workshop has been a watershed moment for me and I believe for many others also..." - Victor Toh, Singapore
About the stories
The stories in this site are owned by the storytellers and used with their kind permission. They do not necessarily reflect the views of Digital Storytelling Asia and are posted for your enjoyment and for educational purposes.
Thank you storytellers for sharing your stories.
DSA is a partner of Singapore Memory Project a national movement to
collect 5 million stories by 2015
when Singapore turns 50
