The Workshop

UMBC faculty started the summer with a five-day workshop in using digital storytelling in their classes. Ten participants in the "Train the Trainers" experience received intensive training in the creative and technical aspects of teaching digital storytelling in a variety of contexts. Ten additional participants had an opportunity to create stories during a two-day mini workshop aided by their own "personal trainer." The Center for Digital Storytelling returned for the third year to conduct the workshop. Here are the stories produced during the week.

This short video tells the story of the workshop itself.

The project is organized by the New Media Studio with additional funding from OIT.

The Stories

The Project

The Charlestown Digital Story Project teams UMBC students with residents of Charlestown Retirement Community to create digital stories. Drawn from the life experiences of the residents, the stories combine narration, animation, photos and music in short movies to be shared with others. Residents work closely with student partners, acting as author and creative director of their individual story. Each student brings their own style and talents to the project, helping to create some unique examples of intergenerational storytelling.

Over thirty stories have been produced to date. In 2007, the project was recognized with a Bronze Telly Award.

The project is organized by the New Media Studio with funding from Retirement Living TV.

View a short feature on the project.

The Stories

On Friday, May 16 UMBC participated in the International Day for Sharing Life Stories, a day celebrated around the world through the sharing of stories in gatherings and virtual environments. UMBC students from classes in Media and Communications, the New Media Studio, Modern Languages & Linguistics and the English Language Center presented digital stories they produced this semester. This gathering is was held at Flat Tuesdays (Commons).

Stories from MLL, ELC and MCS students as well as stories from CCBC's Katrina writing project were shown. RL-TV and the New Media Studio's "Charlestown Digital Stories" project were also highlighted.

This event was sponsored by the Media and Communications Council of Majors, the English Language Center and the New Media Studio. For more information on the International Day for Sharing Life Stories visit: http://internationaldayblog.storycenter.org

Some of the stories presented are available for viewing at http://youtube.com/umbcmcs .

A pioneering and unique Digital Storytelling Project organized by UMBC's New Media Studio and funded by Retirement Living TV (RLTV) has won a Bronze Telly Award. The prestigious Telly Award cites the Digital Storytelling Project as being among the world's best in local, regional, and cable television commercials and programs, as well as among the finest in video and film production. This year's Telly Awards received over 13,000 entries from all 50 states and 5 continents.

The Digital Storytelling Project combines the efforts of RLTV, UMBC and Charlestown Retirement Community. It partners a UMBC undergraduate student (hands-on with the media technology) with a Charlestown resident (autobiographical story and narrative) to produce 2-3 minute video stories. Drawn from the life experiences of the residents, the stories combine narration, animation and photography. The award-winning digital stories can be viewed at:
www.umbc.edu/oit/newmedia/studio/digitalstories/ctds.php

The Digital Storytelling Project is the nation's first three-way partnership between a media company, a university and a retirement community. UMBC students team with Charlestown residents to create a series of 17 digital stories and music in short movies to be shared with others. Charlestown residents work closely with student partners, acting as author and creative director of their individual story. Each student brings their own style and talents to the project, helping to create some unique examples of intergenerational storytelling. The project is organized and supervised by UMBC's New Media Studio.

Student award winners Jorge Rios, An Nguyen-Gia, Samantha Duvall, Andrew Chang, Joanna Lit, and Cathryna Brown received their statues at a ceremony held on September 12 at Charlestown. Andrea Olivier, not pictured. also received a statue.

"We are honored that the television industry has recognized the hard work that went into producing these fascinating digital stories," said Brad Knight, president of RLTV. "The digital stories are reality TV at its finest. They provide a rich, intergenerational experience for Charlestown residents and UMBC students."Winning an award like the Telly is significant in that it acknowledges that stories drawn from the life experiences of retirees with a wider audience," said Knight. "It is also gratifying that the award recognizes the entire collection of work from the Charlestown project. It is very much a group process and every story enriched the experience."

Andrea Olivier with RL-TV president Brad Knight

This summer, nine UMBC faculty members participated in a three-day digital storytelling workshop at UMBC. For the second time in two years, OIT and the New Media Studio brought experts from the Center for Digital Storytelling in Berkely to campus, giving faculty members an opportunity to learn the basics of creating digital stories while exploring possibilities for integrating new media into their teaching.

Joe Lambert and Stephany Sesse led the group through the writing and production process as each participant created a digital movie relating a short personal story. Faculty members included: Beverly Bickel, ELC; Steve Bradley, Visual Arts; Jason Loviglio, Media & Communication Studies; Nicole King, American Studies; Doug Hamby, Dance; Pat Scully, Education; Jody Shipka, English; Joan Shin, LLC; and Joby Taylor, Shriver Center. The workshop was conducted in the International Media Center with assistance from New Media's Bill Shewbridge. Several of the stories produced in the workshop can be viewed here:

For more information visit Digital Storytelling @ UMBC.

The final project of the class was a production of individual digital stories on which the students worked during the eight weeks of class. In this process, the students chose the topics of their stories, wrote their narratives, collected photographic images, and chose the music to accompany their verbal narration. The students also discussed their stories in class, peer-reviewed their narratives, and made online journal entries twice a week which allowed them to reflect on their progress and express their doubts and concerns to their instructor. The students also intensively worked in the computer lab putting their stories together under their instructor's guidance. Several digital stories that were produced in this class can be viewed here.

Participants in the UMBC Charlestown digital story project had an opportunity to screen their works at the 2007 Maryland Film Festival as part of a master class sponsored by the Creative Alliance. Documentary filmmaker Aaron Matthews was on hand to lead a critique of the stories produced in last year's summer and winter workshops. Matthews, whose new film The Paper was screened at the festival, was impressed by the stories and encouraged the group to continue making films. "There is something really refreshing about hearing your voices.There are not a lot of films by older women and it was really nice to hear that. I would definitely encourage you to think of yourself as filmmakers and keep doing it. I think there is a lot of interest in hearing more stories from people from your perspective."

During the fall semester and winter break, students from the New Media Studio returned to the Charlestown Retirement Community for another round digital storytelling. Following the success of last summer's project, Retirement Living TV agreed to extend the workshop which they hope will form the basis of an ongoing program of viewer-submitted content for the network. This time cameras from RL-TV and the New Media Studio followed the students and residents as they collaborated in the creation of eleven new stories. The documentary footage and stories will be a part of an upcoming series on the project to be aired on RL-TV. You can view a short feature about the project here.