Creating Effective Digital Stories

Whereas the previous blog advocates the use of digital storytelling, this blog identifies the components of effective digital stories. These are based on Lambert’s (2002) model (Lambert, 2002 as cited in Greenidge & Sylvester. 2009-2010, p.287) which is made up of a combination of the seven elements listed below.
1. Point of View: This refers to the perspective that the author is trying to convey to the reader. The personal nature via the first-person narration of the digital story conveys more strongly the realization of the author.
2. Dramatic Question: This refers to that characteristic of the plot that grabs the readers’ attention until the end. In the digital story the pictures are arranged and designed in such a way that it allows the plot to develop in the same dramatic fashion of a traditional story.
3. Emotional Content: This refers to all the paradigms of emotions that are evoked by the story. Effective digital stories have strong emotional content mainly because of the audible recount of the storytellers’ experiences. The emotive elements are threaded within the voice of the storyteller.
4. Economy: This refers to making the best use of the language to tell the story. Taking this into consideration, creators of digital stories must be “sensitive to the attentiveness of the viewing audience” (p.287).
5. Pacing: This refers to the selecting a rhythm for the story so that it holds the audience’s interest. This element is crucial when creating digital stories as the timing of the pictures’ appearance should be in tandem with the rhythm of the story.
6. The gift of voice: This is the pitch, inflection, tone and timbre of one’s voice in narrating a story. Undoubtedly. the gift of voice is an essential element in making digital stories effective.
7. Soundtrack: This is the use of music to augment the story and increase the emotional response.
Reference:
Sylvester, R., & Greenidge, W.,(2009-10). Digital storytelling: Extending the potential for struggling writers. The Reading Teacher, 63(4),p.284-297