The Fundamentals of Digital Storytelling

I'm working on a presentation that I will be giving at Texas Tech next week, as an introduction to digital storytelling workshop that I will be leading for three days. We'll go on from there to take participants through the entire process, where they will use iMovie to create their own digital story. With this intro presentation, I'll be setting the stage for the remaining three days. I've got examples of digital stories interjected throughout that illustrate my points, but here are the 6 fundamentals I'll be illustrating:

1. DST Fundamental 1: Visual messages are extremely powerful. Humans are hardwired for visuals-the optic nerve is a T1, the auditory nerve dial-up.
2. DST Fundamental 2: Digital stories have a universal theme such as loss, accomplishment, challenge overcome, etc. Because of this, every viewer can relate, it's not my story, but I've experienced that.
3. DST Fundamental 3: Great digital stories have their genesis in high-quality writing.
4. DST Fundamental 4: Digital stories are personal and give students a competitive voice in a mediacentric, information-rich environment.
5. DST Fundamental 5: Digital storytelling is a value-added learning experience, and takes writing to a place it couldn't go alone.
6. DST Fundamental 6: Kids have stories. Important ones. How will you help them tell the stories of their lives?