Future Stories

We know by now how the digital revolution is becoming an increasingly important part of the media and storytelling. But the whole concept of ‘digital stories’ is something that is, again, fairly new to me.

Daniel Meadows’ lecture gave a fascinating insight into how digital multimedia is being used to tell the stories of the people, who’ve lived them, by the people who’ve experienced them. And it all seems, rather simple. A few pictures, and well written words and the story soon falls neatly into place.

It’s still all wrapped up with the fundamental principles of storytelling though; if the story and the scripting is strong enough then, the production will come together to tell the tale.

And it seems to be a great step ahead in journalism. By allowing the subject to tell their story, in their own way, you’re empowering them and giving them a voice, and subsequently gaining their trust, an important part of journalism. It’s also giving an audience a different way to connect with a story and making it far more personal than a reporter or journalist simply telling them what’s happened. The audience are almost directly engaging with the story in front of them.

However, I’m slightly wary about how often this type of storytelling should be used and how it should be used. It’s very niche and creative and too much of this type of video could be overwhelming and I’m not sure if it would ever have a place in a modern news programme. But certainly for a documentary style programme, it’s a brilliant way to allow someone’s message to come through and it paints a very real picture.

Without a doubt though, it’s another medium through which journalists can say what they have to say and as young people starting out in the media, another digital platform that we must be aware of and can use as another tool of our trade (or profession, depending on your viewpoint).