Effective Digital Stories

Effective Digital Stories Marva Bolden TECH 539 June 29, 2011 John Brown

Effective Digital Stories Effective Digital Stories

In the digital story, New Orleans, Gina Allen combines all of the six of the seven elements to tell the journey of her African American family from inner-city New Orleans to a predominantly white suburb that shapes Gina's description of her own identity, and her fears for that of her young son. Gina did not begin or end her digital story with a dramatic question, her digital story was initially to share the story of how her parents met but that concept changed, and the meaning of the project was redirected into something more meaningful with greater purpose. The story was shared her in first person, the joy and love in her voice can be heard as she speaks about her family and the times she went back to visit New Orleans. She speaks of family gathering where meals and stories that were shared. Although, some of the stories had racial overtones they always ended in lightheartedly. The elation in her voice paints the picture of someone, who could be your aunt, frying oysters on the stove. She also shares the sadness that she carried as she describes how she felt when they moved to the boring suburbs; growing up being the only one or one of two minorities in school. The pain lingers in her thought as it is conveyed through her words. Gina personalizes the story by sharing her life; her feeling, the stories of her family members, and the story of her son. The moment that her son shared his two wished changed the focus of her story line. In that moment, she gathered her family photos and shared them with her children and she probably shared the stories that were shared with her. She embraced the moment to communicate and engage her family in her reasons for moving back to New Orleans through history.

Effective Digital Stories

In 3 minutes and 40 seconds, Gina Allen was able to share her life and her love for her family and the city of New Orleans. She was able to captivate her audience and draw them into her life with the slow rhythm of her voice and soft jazz music playing in the background supported the theme of the story. As a Louisiana native the musical backdrop was appropriate to set the tone of her life.