Part of the work that I have been getting into over the past few years is in the realm of digital stories. Digital storytelling allows us a way to preserve our heritage through the medium of computers and digital recorders.
If you go to http://storycorps.net/listen/, you can hear audio stories done in the form of interviews of families.
More creative artists combine the audio stories with pictures and movies of the real person. I’ve tried this with my own family. You can listen to my sister’s interview about my mother at: http://hdhstory.net/digitalstories_files/Digital Story – Mom.mov. You’ll need to have Quicktime on your computer for it to run. It may take a little while to load.
New York City used to have a Storybooth (through Storycorps) in Grand Central Station where individuals could make a professionally recorded interview of a family member and/or friends. I’m not sure if the booth is still there. You got to keep these recordings and a copy was also kept as an archive at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. These recordings were all audio only.
If you want to look at more digital storytelling that combines pictures and movies in personal narratives. Check out the site: http://www.storycenter.org/whatis.html and view MOMNOTMOM -A Story, which tells a story of Thenmozhi Soundarajan?s mother.
I wish more people would share their family stories. It is all our history. I would like to do more with digital stories. Anyone interested in doing more with it can let me know through my webpage: http://hdhstory.net/digitalstorytelling.htm
