Week 2 - Reviewing a Digital Story

PART 1: AN EXAMPLE OF A DIGITAL STORY

I find myself particularly drawn to The Story of Stuff video by Annie Leonard. In this series of educational videos, she describes where the stuff that we buy and use comes from, and where it ends up when we dispose of it. In an engaging and lively way, with humor, she educates viewers on the hidden costs to the environment, and some of the political systems involved in producing the stuff we use in everyday life. The introduction is shown here:

The simple line drawing graphics help illustrate the points that she makes and help focus the viewer on her main points. There is introductory music but otherwise, it is quite plain, with a white background and no background music.

PART 2: EDUCATIONAL VALUE

This story is very educational since most people don't think very much about where stuff comes from or where it goes, so it is designed to raise their awareness. I used these videos a number of years ago when I taught Economics to help illustrate economic systems. The audience for the videos seems to be both children and adults, although the tone sounds like it is for children, and the videos encourage people to get involved in reducing waste, and helping the planet. One ISTE Standard it relates to is 1.3.d: Knowledge Constructor - Explore Real World Issues. It describes the real-life issue of where our stuff comes from, and how production affects the planet. If students did something about the issues it could also relate to the Global Collaborator standard, particularly 1.7.d Local and Global Issues, where students can investigate and collaborate on solutions.

PART 3: OHLER AND LAMBERT'S GUIDANCE

Ohler and Lambert both give guidance for creating digital stories, In a blog about How to Make a Story - Process Notes, Ohler talks about building a "story core" which includes a problem, a transformation, and a solution (Ohler, 2023). In the Story of Stuff videos, the hidden costs of production, such as pollution, waste, inequity, and overproduction are the problems, and the illustrations show how natural resources are transformed into stuff, which then becomes garbage in a landfill. We are encouraged to act to solve the problem of this broken system.  In Lambert's Digital Storytelling Cookbook in chapter 2, he gives seven steps for creating a Digital Story. Those are: "Owning Your Insights", "Owning Your Emotions", "Finding the Moment" (that will illustrate those insights), "Seeing Your Story", "Hearing Your Story", "Assembling Your Story", and "Sharing Your Story". He encourages a deep exploration into each aspect, and not just taking it at a superficial level (Lambert, 2010). In The Story of Stuff, the creators are definitely passionate about the topic of the environment, and how our systems of production cause harm and waste. They have crafted a well-designed story that systematically explains the issue in simple language while using an engaging and entertaining mode of sharing the story. Their story roughly follows the following map:

REFERENCES

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (n.d.-b). 1. students. ISTE. https://iste.org/standards/students 

Lambert, J. (2010)Links to an external site.. Digital Storytelling Cookbook. Center for Digital Story Telling. Open Education Resource. (Chapter 1 - 8 pages)

Ohler, J. (2023). How to make a story - Process notes. Retrieved from: http://storyconcepts.blogspot.com/Links to an external site. (14 pages)

The Story of Stuff Project. (2007). The story of stuff [Video]. https://storyofstuff.org/