Ryan Fukunaga

Category: Digital Storytelling

  • Take It to the Streets

    This is what I spent my summer doing. From there website:

    University of Toronto Scarborough, in partnership with community partners, hosted two-day digital story workshops for resident-led initiatives identified by community partners. Participants scripted, narrated, designed, and directed short stories that serve as a window into their lives and experiences and tell stories of Scarborough from within the community.

    Individuals were trained on how to create a multimedia video capturing their story of community-building. Through these workshops, the University of Toronto Scarborough and our community partners are working together to build capacity and invest in professional and leadership development opportunities for residents across Scarborough.

    Workshops were facilitated by Digital Storytelling Toronto, an initiative of Centre for Community Learning & Development. Thank you to Free Geek Toronto for providing laptops for these workshops.

  • Video School

    I’m always on the look out for online tutorials that freely available. Vimeo’s Video School is good starting place for people looking for tips and explanation for most of the technical aspect of creating videos. From explaining different camera shots to how to storyboard to why pre-production is important, these short articles are written in clearly and get to the point. Check it out.

  • Taking Pictures

    9 types of local stories that people like to share
    9 types of local stories that people like to share [NPR]
    I’ve been reading through some of the articles on NPR’s Editoiral Training website and this one about taking better pictures with a smartphone really caught my attention. Then there’s one about open copyright, which was also really interesting. And telling me how create a visual story?

    While these articles don’t directly relate to digital storytelling they have lots of tips and tricks that make you consider different styles, strategies, and concepts when creating a story, especially regarding the practical skills.

  • Starting the digital storytelling process

    Mic & HeadphonesDigital storytelling starts with finding a story. Without a story, it becomes a news piece. So, as a facilitator, you have to find ways to get people thinking of their stories. Sometimes that’s simply having them talk to each other with a particular topic or theme in mind; other times it starts with an interview.

    I’ve had many discussions with people about how digital storytelling differs from the traditional oral storytelling. The process of creating a digital story can be solitary process, with the participants spending hours in front of a screen editing. Even the act of script writing changes the process. But starting with a story circle really can make all the difference. So the story circle and getting the collaborative process going at the beginning is very important because participants need to feel confident in their story and the process if they’re also going to share it later. Participants to know that others are interested in their story; that they’re listening and their stories are relevant and important.

    This short video about how to be a good listener can be helpful if the group your working needs support in this area. Workshops run best when you’ve created an environment where active listening can occur.

  • Publishing Content

    So here’s the current challenge I have with my work: I don’t have any examples of what I’m doing. In a digital storytelling workshop, I get people to tell their stories and show them the tools necessary to do. Oftentimes, participants only want to share these stories with family and neighbours. The idea of putting it on the Internet usually doesn’t cross their minds, or does, and they don’t want to do that. These stories can be very personal, and it makes sense that they don’t want to share them with everyone. I don’t push the online publishing option because my goal is to get the story done, teach the skills, and build confidence.

    The last thing I want to do is use other people’s stories for my own gain. So I’m working on a strategy where, during the normal course of the digital storytelling workshop, I can suggest putting the content online organically, without being pushy and while respecting all points of view. These stories aren’t about it.

    Another option is to create my own story about facilitating a digital storytelling workshop, which is probably what I’ll do.

  • Developing Workshops

    I just finished a four-day digital storytelling working. These workshops take a lot out of me because it’s short days (six hours) but it seems like i’m consistently being pulled in every direction. I’ve been slowly coming up with a couple of guidelines to help me keep things under control.

    Set a maximum number of participants.

    This is very important. After several workshops, I think the maximum number of participants I can handle is 7-8. Anymore than that and I can’t help everyone create a quality product / experience. With any additional volunteers/facilitators, I can easily add more people, even if the other facilitators only work one or two people.

    Prepare, Prepare, Prepare (then be ready to scrap it all)

    So even after doing this several times, I’m always finding myself taking time before I start to revise the schedule, re-write presentations and handouts, and visualize the best possible program. Some times these changes work well, other times I return to the old ways. Several times this week I changed my plans midstream. I hadn’t counted on starting the week being sick or that additional time would be necessary during the script writing process. Both of these things put us a half day behind schedule, but the participants were eager so we were able to finish the stories on time.

    Reflection

    I’m trying to get better at accepting outside advice, but it’s difficult mid-session. After I’m done, however, I spend some time writing up a reflection of the workshop; what worked and what didn’t. It lets me refine my style and schedule. It also lets me see what skills/knowledge I need to upgrade.