PROJECT PARTNERS
- Alameda Free Library
- Alameda Museum
- USS Hornet Museum
- Alameda Naval Air Museum
- Buena Vista United Methodist Church
Oral History Links
- Veterans History Project: Voices of WWII
- Sansei Legacy Project
- The Densho Project: Japanese Internment
- Children of the Camps: Japanese Internment
- Library of Congress: Preserving Digital Material
- KQED Digital Story Initiative
- Storycorps
- Digital Storytelling Institute
- TechSoup Training
- Center for Digital Storytelling
- American Folklife Center
More Questions?
Contact
David Hall or Claire Coustier at
Alameda Free Library 1550 Oak Street Alameda, California 94501
(510) 747-7730
Why Tell My Story?
The Digital Story Project is an opportunity to spotlight something important to your life in the context of California history; it will be available for future generations to see and hear local history as it happened to you.
Your story will be part of an ever-expanding collection that will help us better understand ourselves and one another, and connect our lives to the people and places that make up our community.
THE PROCESS
If you are not sure what story you want to tell, we have tools to help you get started. (If you already know the story you'd like to tell, then the tools and techniques found here may shed new light on that story!)
WATCH
Watch examples of other people's digital stories. Use these to help you decide what kind of story you'd like to tell, and how you want to tell it.
TELL
You can use our Story Starter Forms to create the building blocks for your story. The forms can be used as the basis for your script, or just to help you brainstorm ideas. Writing down your story first - or just the main points - will make it much easier when it's time for you to record.
Some storytellers are comfortable reading from a script; others prefer to be more spontaneous and unstructured, referring to their main points. Please try to keep your story to around 3-5 minutes though! (You can always do more than one.)
CREATE
When you've written your story, you're ready for the next step. You will record your story on video by sitting in front of a computer webcam, then scan your photos and documents. Help will be available at all times, and the recording process usually takes two or three hours.
SHOW
Once you have completed your digital story, your video will be edited and uploaded to our website and we'll put it on a DVD for you to keep!
WHAT CAN I BRING TO THE DIGITAL STORY STATION?
MUSIC/VOICE RECORDING
CDs, Records, Audio Cassettes, etc. - must be copyright-free!
PHOTOS
Printed, on disc, or on your digital camera's memory card
HOME MOVIES
DVD or VHS Cassette format - or we can direct you to a media facility to have your older film digitized for viewing and editing on a computer.
