Technology...How does it blend with storytelling?

[StoryMasters • Linda Day & MyLinda Butterworth]

How do you use technology in your storytelling business? The face of storytelling is changing and as we try to make storytelling more well known I believe technology will be part of that change. Aside from creating CDs of your stories. What other forms of technology do you use like YouTube, podcasts, digital storytelling, iTunes, online workshops...? I've been asked to be guest editor of StoryTimes Journal for the summer edition and our focus is where will technology take storytelling. I want to know what works for you, what new types of technology you are interested in trying to promote your business and does technology frighten you.

Always a tale to tell ... MyLinda

[Lois Sprengnether Keel (LoiS)]

You said to drop you a line & you'd see I get a PDF of the summer issue on Tech & storytelling.
I'm looking at the PS clothes line; then there's the storyline; line of demarcation; line drawings; party lines don't exist anymore on phones; punch line; lunch line; dotted line; the Li'ne in the zoo; line in the sand; line of products; pickup line; byline; bus line; hemline; roof line; tree line; hairline; pencil line; line of fire; unemployment line; fishing line; line item veto. . .
Does that qualify?

[Dianne de Las Casas, Author, Award-Winning Storyteller]

MyLinda:

As you know, I am a HUGE believer in the integration of storytelling and technology. After all, I started this site! LOL Here are the many ways I use technology to further my storytelling:

* Website (expansive, I might add) - On my website I have a blog, store, audio files, videos, email newsletter sign-up form, online booking request form, and online press kit with downloadable photos, bios, press releases, etc. I utilize my website to the max in marketing my work.

* Email Newsletter that reaches nearly 11,000 monthly

* Member of several social networking sites: Professional Storyteller, MySpace, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Twitter

* Videos uploaded to YouTube

* Storytelling Audios available on iTunes

* Have participated in a number of online workshops and tele-online-conferences

* A member of several online directories including Storyteller.net, Schoolshows.com, NSN directory, Southern Artistry

* I do 95% of my booking online. Most of my clients I talk to through email and file sharing! That is how I secured my tours in Guam and the Philippines!

The only thing I have not yet tackled is podcasting although I have been on several podcasts. I do not have a podcast of my own. Right now, I am too busy to tackle podcasting. My blog takes up a lot of my time and has a lot of readers as does my email newsletter, Story Connection Express.

Here's my website if you want to take a look: The Story Connection

Telling and technology go hand in hand! Let's embrace all the ways technology can help tellers!

Warmly,
Dianne de Las Casas
Founder of Professional Storyteller

[StoryMasters • Linda Day & MyLinda Butterworth]

Wow! Let me stop and take a breath. I don't know how you do what you do my friend. Between my publishing business, storytelling business and my family I frequently find my quiet time to get things done is between 10 PM and 1 in the morning. That seems to be when the muses seem to speak to me as it were.

I also find that this network of yours is addictive and I can't imagine belonging to several. How do you find time for it all and keep your sanity? You are amazing.

always a tale to tell,
MyLinda

[Lois Sprengnether Keel (LoiS)]

VEA & YERILY!
Dianne has been a real leader in this & the amount she does is amazing. Sometime she needs to show us how she manages it all -- that would be a true lesson in time management & organization.
While talking about scheduling, is there a calendar or notification system that lets us know when ning will take us down for maintenance? Last night I was barely started & it went down. It was tempting to think this Newbie broke it!

[Dianne de Las Casas, Author, Award-Winning Storyteller]

Did I mention I also write books,record CDs, and tour too? Plus, I am a mom and a wife. LOL I have four more books under contract and a new CD in the works. I am also a busy touring performer and instructor. AND I do all of this without an assistant! (Although I am looking to hire one soon).

I really don't have time to teach time management. hahaha

LoiS - To answer the question about maintenance, it usually happens between 1am and 5am in the morn. No warning. Sigh.

My new version of The Story Biz Handbook addresses a lot of technology issues. I hope it will be out in the Fall of this year. It's with my editor now.

Warmly,
Dianne

[StoryMasters • Linda Day & MyLinda Butterworth]

If you looking for someone to endorse your new book. As one award winning writer to another- nudge, nudge, wink, wink. I would be happy to give you an endorsement after I have a chance to read the new book. ;-o)

I still have high hopes that you will have some advanced copies for school in July. FYI Elizabeth Ellis has it on her recommended reading list for advanced storytelling at ETSU.

StoryHugs,
MyLinda

[Lynne Pope]

for one....tip take your headline and move it over and it wont be hidden by your photo
I am researching the same thing and have invited people to join our group that know more than I do on this. I love you tube. One I especially like is Matthew Ferry the 8 laws of attraction.
as you can see it is coming to be a place to have a place to announce who you are. I haven't done it but I will. It is a must. My son is a musician and he won't even look at a band member till he reviews them on youtube. It's become a living resume'

[Mary Lee & Frank Sweet]

As MyLinda already knows, Backintyme - Frank and Mary Lee Sweet - are participating in online storytelling in Second Life. It is an online world with an international audience. Create your avatar, learn to maneuver, learn to deal with voice and streaming sound systems, and teleport to anywhere in the world to participate in role playing, lectures, discussions, and storytelling or music. For those who are unable to travel in Real Life because of expense or physical limitations, it is a whole new world! Some "tell" their stories by typing. Others tell through voice or streaming systems.

You can be anything and anyone you want to be. My favorite so far, is the huge red dragon who came to one of Frank's lectures, which he gives every Wednesday night. We have met three professional storytellers in Second Life. No one uses their real names, so I don't know who they really are. There are two gentlemen, one from Canada and the other (I think) from England, though I don't recall him saying so. However, he looks like a hedgehog dressed in an historical British uniform. The third is a lovely lady from Hawaii who tells the old legends and stories of Hawaii complete with the ancient chants. Then there is the only tandem storytelling team, that I know of, in Second Life - Backintyme. ;-)

Read all about it in the Summer 2008 Florida StoryTimes.

[Dale Jarvis]

Hello Mr. and Mrs. Frog! I'm going to be having a book launch mid May in Brythony, I'll be sure to send you an invite!

[Rachel Hedman]

I recently joined Second Life (free) under the name Rachel Pevensey. I could choose my own first name, but I had to choose from a list of last names. Since Hedman wasn't on the list, I chose Pevensey due to my love of the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.

The Hawaiian storyteller, Lehua Lamington, is a wonderful one to know in Second Life. There is also Gilbert Sapwood (aka Dale Gilbert Jarvis who is on the Storytellers of Canada Board in real life).

I picked up a microphone/headset so I can perform in this virtual world soon. Though I could write the stories, I prefer to tell them aloud.

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

[Dale Jarvis]

Well, being as close to a complete technoweenie as possible, while also being a folklorist and a lover of traditional storytelling, I love incorporating technology and storytelling when I can. How do I do this?

- I archive a lot of my stories in audio format at http://www.archive.org (and it is free!) Just search for "storytelling" or "Dale Jarvis" for an example

- I podcast some of these stories at http://dalejarvis.blogspot.com

- I tell stories online, in a three-dimensional virtual world called "Second Life" (http://www.secondlife.com) where I've founded the Storytelling Guild of Second Life, and I'm meeting other storytellers and lovers of story in a virtual setting.

- This year, I'll be working with grades 4-6 students as part of a local ArtsSmarts project I run in a local elementary school to record their stories in MP3 format and podcast them for the world to listen to!

- I use digital video to share stories on http://www.teachertube.com, a school-friendly site similar to YouTube.

I'll keep the list posted as I figure out new ways to blend technology and storytelling!

[Kenneth Foster]

I just tried for the first time last week using a digital projector connected to my computer. I was telling tsunami stories, the students needed to understand a little bit about tsunamis before I got into the stories. I thought it went well. The students loved it, the teachers on the other hand, did not like that I was doing more teaching than they were. The evaluation sheets I got back from this group of teachers did not like the program. The same program without the projector presented at another school got high marks from teachers, but low marks from students. So, who do you want to reach. Personally when I see the students' eyes open and understanding enter and the stories then come alive I like that. Teachers guard their territory too closely and then fail to do what they should do. Sorry that steps on toes and is off subject. Point is I will try to use the projector in other story settings.