Planning



“Fail to plan and plan to fail!” And planning are critical to success in developing a digital story. Below are some key elements of a digital story and resources available for planning.

Step 1: Carefully think through the elements of your digital story! Adapted from the Center for Digital Storytelling
 * Audience: stories have a particular audience in mind.
 * Purpose: stories are trying to accomplish a task (inform, educate, entertain, scare, etc.)
 * Content: content must be meaningful. Digital content adds to the story.
 * Voice: stories are told from a specific perspective(s) and uses the teller’s voice to enrich the story.
 * Technology: technology is used to extend the story.
 * Connections: good stories connect with the participants.
 * Economy: stories tell enough to get the point across and no more.

Step 2: Digitally plan your digital story! Need Some Resources?
 * Acting with a Pencil : Storyboarding your Movie
 * Tips for Storytelling
 * Storyboarding "A recipe"
 * You Oughta Be in Pictures: An Introduction to Making Videos
 * What is a Storyboard and Ways to Make It
 * Storyboarding Your Movie Scene Template (PDF)
 * Blank Storyboard (PDF)

Step 3: Know your copyright laws! There are a wide range of resources available to gather and prepare media elements: scanners, Internet sites, digital still cameras, software that allows translating video/music/sound from analog to digital, capturing digital movies, and digitizing voice or music. Before using any resource, check out copyright and fair use laws, and guidelines for citation of resources. There are ethical considerations as well as legal liabilities in using intellectual property that belongs to someone else. Just because it is on the web and CAN be downloaded doesn't make it yours any more than scanning or digitizing images or music gives you usage rights. Need Some Resources?
 * Copyright and Fair Use Guidelines for Teachers Chart
 * (PDF) from Technology & Learning Magazine
 * To Copy or Not to Copy...That is the Question - Article from AEA 267
 * The Educator's Guide to Copyright and Fair Use - Article from Education World
 * Copyright for Teachers - web site by Blaine Fergerstrom, KS Education Webmaster
 * [|Copyright Quiz] - For fun you might want to take Hall Davidson's copyright quiz
 * [|Hall Davidson's Educator’s Fair Use website]
 * [|Stanford's University Libraries Fair Use Review] - where you will find an extensive web resource of copyright, fair use and intellectual property topics related to text and digital media.
 * [|Tech4Learning's Citation Maker]
 * [|Warlick's Copyright Guidelines]