StoryCenter

With today's release of the 100 Year Ed Tech Report (see link below), we are excited to encourage folks to check out the Voices of Future Present Workshop that will start in a couple of weeks. Digital Storytelling through Scenarios using a mix of AI supported technologies. https://www.storycenter.org/public-workshops/voices-of-future-present. See the report, https://100yearedtechproject.org/2074-guide/

Voices of the Future Present (Online) — STORYCENTER Scenario Storytelling, placing yourself or an imagined character somewhere in the future, where they are coping with likely new and complex situations, has been an important part of life planning, and organizational planning for decades. View Course Details and Dates REGISTER

Those of us that took Kim Stanley Robinson's Ministry of the Future as a oracle of sorts, we learned about Wet Bulb Temperatures, the the lowest temperature that can be reached by evaporative cooling of a water-wetted surface(i.e.thermometer with a soaked paper towel), think sweat don't work, panting don't work, you dry up. If sustained, most mammals, many plants, expire. So I find myself this summer, noticing those places. The built and natural landscapes of the world, the ways we, all species, can cool off, are not sufficient for so many populations, life is the frog in the water pot. Every summer is another reason we can't afford dictators working for extraction industry executives. Image from https://news.climate.columbia.edu/wp-content/data-viz/heat-humidity-map/

This summer I am exploring a new workshop model for folks interested in the ways AI might be useful as a tool for creative exploration and digital storytelling. I think we dream in technicolor. We can inspire each other through imagining speculative moments of a shared future ... where we persist. Join me.

Voices of the Future Present (Online) — STORYCENTER Scenario Storytelling, placing yourself or an imagined character somewhere in the future, where they are coping with likely new and complex situations, has been an important part of life planning, and organizational planning for decades. View Course Details and Dates REGISTER

StoryCenter announces summer sale! See

Summer Workshop Sale - Two Workshops Added "The creative energy, support for people at all levels of technical ability, and commitment to the value of the human voice made my StoryCenter workshop an unforgettable experience." — Public Workshop Participant

Shared a story tonight. At our open mic. Happy Mother's Day.

Latane 2024

My Mother is a Poem, I will Never Be Able to Write,
Though Everything I Write, Is a Poem to My Mother.
Sharon Dubiago

Over the years, in almost every workshop at StoryCenter, someone tells a story about their mother. Now thousands of digital stories helped someone process this fundamental relationship. You can see several dozen here. https://www.youtube.com//search?query=mother

Hard to pick a favorite, but the one that gets me every time is Denise Gantt's Love Apples. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfinjKHySO0

Maybe it's time you took a StoryCenter workshop. https://www.storycenter.org/workshop

Does your organization need a process for building deep trust and empathy? Do you need a way to capture the unique perspectives of your team members? Is it time for "Bring Your Soul to Work Day" where you share the stories of what makes each of your board members, staff members and stakeholders connect to your vision as an organization. For over 30 years, StoryCenter has helped over 3000 organizations build capacity for story work, facilitating story circles, gathering oral histories, capturing stories as audio, video, and print publication! Bring our two day Story Facilitation workshop to your organization, or come to our summer retreat in Santa Fe, New Mexico in August. Visit https://lnkd.in/dTkwzRRb or email joe at storycenter dot org

The lovely spring weather of Amherst. Happy to be working with the Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledge and Science https://www.umass.edu/gateway/research/indigenous-knowledges

Way to go, Tommy!!!

A Bronx Teacher Asked. Tommy Orange Answered. When the author received an impassioned email, he dropped everything to visit the students who inspired it.

Last week as part of the 100 Years Project Edtech Design Project, we used a group of Digital Stories that I wrote and designed that I referred to as "Postcards from Our Future." See https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOMFplNt-JE-CzzYYgTPrXv85aa3_OZE4 These 2 and 3 minute videos were meant to tease out a discussion about the emerging trends and issues facing educators in the decades to come. We used 8 of the stories at the conference, but 10 were made, and I made an "overview" piece that imagined the ways we are likely to navigate life in the remaining half a century before us. Here they are as a collection, please let me know your thoughts. StoryCenter plans to offer a 6 week course in Scenario Digital Storytelling in the coming months that I'll lead, stay tuned!

In 1990s, Wim Venders made a ok movie with a great soundtrack, Until the End of the World. The film told of a scientist who allowed people to record and replay their dreams. Hollywood special effects and creatives have a reason now to be freaked out about AI. Sora, examples below, can do some amazing things. But what AI taketh, we find a way for it to giveth as well. I immediately imagine a tool for people to manifest dream like stories, about the things most important to them, in ways, even if it is for their private use, might allow them to process what life has given them using these tools.. I don't think it'll be an addiction (anymore than watching movies is an addiction), which is what Wenders film suggested, I think it could be a new tool for the fantastic to be rendered by the rest of us.

Introducing Sora — OpenAI’s text-to-video model Introducing Sora, our text-to-video model.Sora can create videos of up to 60 seconds featuring highly detailed scenes, complex camera motion, and multiple ch...

Great deal on two of our upcoming workshops. Check it out! https://mailchi.mp/storycenter/new-on-our-site-new-workshop-offer-886939?e=0b1ddb1c4c.

We're BAAACK. Announcing a return to in-person digital storytelling workshops in Denver! We have one upcoming this Nov 16-18th at the fabulous new Lighthouse Writers Workshop!
When you do register, you can use the code summer2023 to receive a 10% discount! (we know it's not summer)
https://www.storycenter.org/denver-workshops
Come find your story with us.

A wonderful article about our recent collaborative work with the U.S. Department of State Cultural Heritage Center, in Peru!

Caral: pobladores del valle brindan testimonios de lo que representa la cultura milenaria Como parte del proceso de desarrollo e integración de la comunidad en la zona de influencia de la Civilización Caral, la Zona Arqueológica Caral (ZAC) y la Embajada de los Estados Unidos presentaron una serie de cortos documentales que contiene historias y testimonios de personas identificadas co...

Please join us for an upcoming FREE StoryCenter webinar, "Digital Storytelling for Global Health and Rights," to hear case studies of our recent work on two projects: Voices (with FGM/C survivors and prevention advocates) and Rainbow Stories (with LGBTQIA+ community members in India). Wednesday September 6, 10 am Pacific / 1 pm Eastern / 5 pm GMT. Register now! https://www.storycenter.org/registration-global-health

From our friends at the East Bay Refugee and Immigrant Forum!

And.....not only the stories only you can tell, but even the ones you can't.

Brain Activity Decoder Can Reveal Stories in People’s Minds The work relies in part on a transformer model, similar to the ones that power ChatGPT.

📅Join us next Tuesday May 9th, at 4pm ET for a screening of the newest Voices to End FGM/C videos, developed out of ours, Asian Women's Shelter, and StoryCenter’s Fall 2022 digital storytelling workshop with survivors and advocates against female ge***al mutilation/cutting (FGM/C).

📽️Along with viewing these moving stories, some of which have yet to be released to the public, get the chance to hear from some storytellers, such as Catherine Cox, about their experience.

📲Register: https://bit.ly/Fall2022Screening

Stories from our Community Heritage Exchange Initiative (CHEI) virtual workshop in Kyrgyzstan were highlighted this week at an event at the American Corner in Bishek. Congratulations to the wonderful ACCESS alumni and storytellers who made this project so amazing! View the playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2zMrq22-Y2uBWqlGh7Fze8JCQ3T6OTJi

Ten years on, interesting to look at this article by StoryCenter founder. Our 30th anniversary deserves lots of new reflections.

Stitching Together the Stories of StoryCenter's First 20 Years – by Joe Lambert — STORYCENTER This weekend I found myself writing a quasi-academic article about the 20 years of the work of the Center for Digital Storytelling. The argument was more or less that we have watched four significant phases in the growth of our work, each with a slightly different emphasis in our work, and in each p

Rachel Clarke: A Girl Like Me Rachel shares how important attending college was to her and how it helped her get life back on track, turning a dream into reality.This video was produced f...

Peace Everyone!

We are recruiting for the 2023 Unboxed Intergenerational LGBTQ Digital Storytelling Workshop (all-virtual), and our applications are open! This workshop is free.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
Through six, 2-hour, online facilitated sessions, you will use creative engagement, participatory art-making, and collective editing to discover and shape transformative stories from your lives and share them with your fellow participants. This process will build empathy and connection among the different aged members of the group. Participants will be receiving stipends, and additional workshop materials and gifts!

Over the past two years, StoryCenter has partnered with the Denver Public Library and LinkAGES Colorado to host the Unboxed Intergenerational LGBTQ+ Digital Storytelling Workshop.

In 2021 and 2022, we gathered, we shared, we created, we listened, and we celebrated stories from the LGBTQ community addressing themes of resistance, LGBTQ justice, identity, belonging, q***r love, and refusing silence.

We have had the honor of also collaborating with the incredible Lighthouse Writers Workshop peoples and space to host our 2022 workshop.

The third Unboxed workshop (which will be all-virtual) will begin in late April! Here is the link if you and/or a loved one is interested in applying today:
https://www.denverlibrary.org/event/unboxed-lgbtq-intergenerational-online-digital-storytelling-project

Please note: this workshop is for LGBTQ+ people and people in Colorado only.

Here is a story created in the 2022 workshop, by Holly Hall:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iji8HmdoaNs&list=PL2zMrq22-Y2sLhLFAigX9VCrR3EwfRtDt&index=3

Thank you so much for continuing to support the work, and sending peace to you!

-StoryCenter

Unboxed: An LGBTQ+ Intergenerational Online Digital Storytelling Project Everybody has a story! Learn how to find your story and tell it using digital storytelling techniques during this intergenerational workshop for the LGBTQ+ community.

Rest in Power, Judith Heumann. A heroic figure.

Judith Heumann, ‘Mother of the Disability Rights Movement,’ Has Died She fought for historic legislation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

30 years ago. On a Tuesday night in February. The six films of the very first digital storytelling workshop in Los Angeles were shown. They included this one. One story can change the world. This one launched a movement. Tanya by Monte Hallis.

Tanya - by Monte Hallis A story about finding a real friend, facing death, and a middle name.This story was made at the first digital storytelling workshop facilitated by the Center...

Just Announced. Come to Ghost Ranch in New Mexico this summer!

Join StoryCenter founder Joe Lambert in a special in person retreat using his Stories In Motion curriculum at the beautiful Ghost Ranch Retreat and Education center in Abiquiu, New Mexico. Workshop, and the options of housing (shared or private) and meals on site.

Stories-in-Motion Retreat (In-Person): Ghost Ranch, NM — STORYCENTER StoryCenter returns to in-person workshops with a version of the mobile media workshops led by Lambert from 2011-2015.  The workshops will lead participants through photo and video production on iPhone/Android platforms,  and video editing, against the backdrop of Northern New Mexi

Do you have a story to tell? We’re looking for Japanese and American women to share their stories for the upcoming Women Leading Together: Solidarity in Storytelling Story Jam. The 9-week online program to explore experiences, learn leadership skills, and build community with other women from Japan & the US through digital storytelling is FREE.
This program is funded by アメリカ大使館 U.S. Embassy Tokyo.
Learn more and apply by January 31, 2023!
https://lnkd.in/dx9-Hq_G

Join our next free webinar on Nurstory: Digital Storytelling in Nursing Practice and Education. Sept 13th 2pm EST. Register here: https://www.storycenter.org/public-workshops/dsinnursinged
You can also find out more about the project at: http://www.nurstory.org