Resources

In this section you will find useful resources related to digital stories.

Digital Storytelling Cookbook: “In all communities, in all cultures, stories evolve from the culinary experience. Making media, like making a meal, requires guidance, learning from our friends through the sharing of recipes and from those who spend their professional lives in the kitchen. We have helped over 10,000 people mine stories from their lives and personal media archives. Our cookbook shares our experience, some recipes and some humour to help you get started with your own storytelling experience.” Center for Digital Storytelling

Media available for use in digital stories:

Most media, both online and on paper, film or cd, is illegal to copy. The following sites provide media which you are allowed to use, though make sure you read the terms of use and the relevant section of our rights information before downloading any files. Ideally, make your own pictures and music!

Sounds

• www.ljudo.com – Searchable sound effects site. Samples are free to use for non-commercial purposes.
• freesound.iua.upf.edu – Searchable sound effects site. The creator of each sound must be credited and a login is required (BristolStories has an account you can use).

Pictures

• www.sxc.hu – Searchable photo download site. Restrictions apply to some images.
• www.floppycat.com/paddyblog – A collection of pictures by Bristol Stories project worker Paddy Uglow, and participant Amanda Headley White. You may use pictures of objects and places from the site for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution license - pictures that portray people in a recognisable way may not be used. Pictures must be credited “by Paddy Uglow and Amanda Headley-White”
• www.flickr.com/creativecommons/by-2.0 – A searchable selection of pictures from the Flickr site which can be used as long as the photographer is credited.
• openphoto.net – A selection of pictures than can be used as long as they are credited to the photographer and your story is licensed under the Creative Commons “Attribution-ShareAlike” licence.
• Flickr Photo Finder – Downloaded a photo from Flickr.com and not taken a note of who took it? Either remove the picture from your project and learn your lesson the hard way, spend hours looking for the picture again, or use this wonderful site to find the picture, simply by pasting in the filename.

Music

• www.opsound.org – Wide range of music available for download and licensed under the Creative Commons “Attribution-ShareAlike” licence.

Moving image

• www.archive.org – A collections of moving image, sound and images, some of which is freely available for re-use. Check before downloading; if you cannot find any rights information, assume you do not have permission.
• creativecommons.org/video – You can search for CC-licensed moving image media from the Creative Commons site.
• creative.bfi.org.uk – A collection of archive film material made available free by the British Film Institute for non-commercial use.

Maps

• www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/freefun/outlinemaps/ – Large UK map images from the Ordnance Survey maps showing county boundaries or just the outline. The images are for non-commercial use only and the Ordnance Survey must be credited.
• World map jpeg image – A basic line drawing of a world map. The size is 6264 x 4161 pixels, so it is suitable for cropping, colouring and retouching. Right-click on the World Map link and save the file.

Software for digital storytelling

• iMovie is included with Apple OS X
• MovieMaker is included with Windows XP
• Microsoft Photo Story (see www.microsoft.com) is free for Windows XP and newer.
• InAlbum (www.inalbum.com) is a slideshow maker for older versions of Windows, available as a free or shareware version.
• Audacity (audacity.sourceforge.net) is a sound editor with versions for Apple OS X, Windows and Linux.
• Gimp (www.gimp.org) is a free image editing program for Linux, Unix, Windows and Apple computers.
• Upgrading QuickTime player to QuickTime Pro (see www.QuickTime.com) enables you to cut and paste different media files together and add Dolby surround sound. The current version of QuickTime is usually only available for newer Apple and Windows computers.

Useful documents for story makers and facilitators

• Bristol Stories rights information – a document telling you about Intellectual Property Rights and how they apply to digital storytelling.
• Ice breaker ideas for facilitators running workshops.
• Technology help and time-saving tips for digital storytellers.
• “How to become a master”. People unfamiliar with the tools and techniques of Digital Storytelling sometimes think they’ll never be able to understand them. This page of links will help you learn the jargon and become a Master yourself!
• “The Philosophy of Digital Storytelling - A collection for those who want to look beyond the “Digital” and to consider the “Story”…

Storytelling projects

The links below take you to the websites of projects directly and indirectly involved in the global digital storytelling movement:

• Center for Digital Storytelling
• Capture Wales
• Telling Lives
• City Stories Project
• Digitale Fortellinger – a Norwegian digital storytelling project.
• Tech Head Stories – a source list of digital storytelling sites
• [murmur] – a Canadian “located” storytelling site.
• Oral History Society – UK site with news, events calendar and information about Oral History.
• Story link – a project which allows people to upload their own stories.
• Storyvine – US storytelling project.
• Third world majority
• Yale College storytelling project – digital stories from the Wrexham area.
• Creative Narrations
• Digital Storytelling Initiative of KQED – a public broadcaster in San Francisco
• Digital Storytelling Association
• Australian Centre for the Moving Image
• Dani Landau – Digital Storytelling Projects