 Digital storytelling. What is digital storytelling? Let's break down the phrase. Storytelling is something we are all familiar with. It is the sharing and passing down of narratives and experiences with others, often through traditional media such as films and novels. Now, when you incorporate the word digital, you bring in the use of multimedia tools and social media. Digital stories are typically videos that combine audio, images, and video clips to tell a story. But the possibilities of digital stories are almost endless. They can also be narration on a podcast, text on a website, a blog, or a social media platform. Yes, even a tweet can be a digital story. At a basic level, digital storytelling just means using technology to tell stories. So why is this form of storytelling important? Digital storytelling allows us to better connect with the content that we create. Designing and communicating information requires us to deepen our understanding of content while increasing visual, sound, oral language, creativity, and thinking skills. Making meaning out of an experience deepens the communication for both the author and the viewers. Digital storytelling is an engaging way to share information that requires creativity, self-direction, and experimentation with new technology. The process really puts you in the driver's seat, allowing you to create a story that is of interest to you. This can help to flex your creative muscles in new ways. You get experience with writing, creating projects, critical thinking, and decision-making. Not to mention the exposure to digital tools that you may not have a reason to explore otherwise. Digital storytelling also allows you to easily share your story with a larger group of people. Digital stories are not just facts presented with accompanying images. They are narratives crafted to take the listener or reader on a journey. Just like a novel or a documentary, digital stories have a plot, character, and themes. The first step in the digital storytelling process is brainstorming. Gather your ideas and determine what you want to get across. Use this time to do any research that may be needed to accurately tell your story. Then take this idea and flush it out by creating a script and a storyboard. This is the backbone of your story, even if it has no words. You'll need to ask yourself, what do you want your story to accomplish? What does your story arc look like? Use the script and storyboard to visualize exactly how the digital story will unfold. The next step is to get organized. Create, record, and gather all the images, video, audio, and any other digital media you'll need to support your script. Once you have all the elements of your digital story, it's time to put it all together. Choose what software you will use to tell your story and begin to build it. It might be helpful to test your chosen software before you begin to make sure that you know how to use it, and it will do what you want it to. There are many helpful tutorials on the Learning Portal that can help you along the way, with anything from writing a script to using various software. When your digital story is complete, go back and revise it. You may want to share it with others to get feedback, or just read, watch, or listen to it all the way through to make sure there are no changes you want to make, or mistakes to correct. Remember to make sure that any content you use that you did not create is properly cited. This includes things like images and music. Finally, it's time to share your finished digital story with the world. To summarize, digital storytelling uses multimedia tools to bring narratives to life. It is an accessible way to share our stories that has various applications in many fields. The use of digital storytelling is being practiced in community centers, schools, libraries, and businesses by everyone from novice technology users to those with advanced skills. So, what will your story be?