Story Forms: 5 Inspiring Examples of Digital Storytelling

1.Cowbird

Screen Shot 2015-10-05 at 3.13.49 PM

“Cowbird is a public library of human experience.” Tap into the collection of stories from around the world, search by topic, location, or respond to ” story seeds.”  Currentlythey house stories from 52,533 authors from 185 countries have told 83,639 stories on 28,076 topics. Contribute to the community and listen to some great stories!

2. Demolished: The End Of Chicago Public Housing

Screen Shot 2015-10-05 at 2.49.17 PM

In this interactive photo/story/essay produced by NPR, we hear the story of urban photographer Patricia Evans. Back in the 1980s, after she was beaten and sexually assaulted near a Chicago public housing project, she chose not to run from her fears. Rather, she became a photographer of life in Public Housing.

This is a powerful example of using placed based story sharing in an interactive platform to give voice, power, and representation to voices and communities whom are often not heard.

3. Human, the film.

Screen Shot 2015-10-05 at 3.31.32 PM

Photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand is known for his aerial photography of the Earth’s landscapes, but in his film Human, he blends his trademark overview style with simply shot interviews with people from all over the world.

4. Welcome to Pine Point

Screen Shot 2015-10-05 at 3.32.50 PM

Michael Simons and Paul Shoebridge, formerly of Adbusters, recreated a town that doesn’t exist anymore. Part book, part film, part family photo album of a place that’s been lost in time, the National Film Board of Canada’s Welcome to Pine Point website explores the memories of residents from the former mining community of Pine Point, Northwest Territories. Overall, it’s an interactive media exploration of how we remember the past.

5. Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek 

By JOHN BRANCH

Screen Shot 2015-10-05 at 3.33.27 PM

In 2012, the original Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek told the story of skiers caught in an avalanche. It did so with an immersive magazine layout that elegantly married media with top-rate journalism.It set a new standard for long-form storytelling on the Web through its use of a magazine-like layout, infinite scroll downs, moving background imagery, and other techniques.

Sites DOT MIISThe Middlebury Institute site network.