Outline

How Do I Come Up With a Story Idea?

 * For the purposes of this workshop, you need to think of a rather short concept that can use perhaps 4-8 images, text, maybe audio or music to bring a story to life on the web**.

A story can be broader than a personal tale of a child's trip -- it can be a presentation, a project report, an idea pitch, a teaser for a class topic. The purpose here is to experience the creative aspects provided by the web tools. And remember that you will need to find images and other media from public collections that can represent the characters, places, or metaphors in your story- so try to think of ideas that lend themselves to visuals and media

Try a Story Idea Prompt
If you are stuck for ideas, here are some prompts:
 * What was your favorite childhood pet?
 * Where was your most memorable vacation?
 * What topic most inspired you in grade school?
 * Where is a place in the world you'd like to visit?
 * What is the most adventurous thing you have done?
 * Who was an influential authority in your subject discipline?
 * Or just describe a collection of things such as
 * Five attributes of a great writer
 * The top technology gadgets of the future
 * Most important discoveries in your field
 * Favorite cars, vegetables, flowers, tools
 * Collection of things that don't belong

It need not be an epic or a best seller! Think short, and think of something that is going to have media, especially images that can describe your elements, especially if they have metaphors.

Or Start with a Visual
Some people are more creative in a visual mode, so another way is to find an image that moves, inspires, disturbs, or affects you, and build a story around the image. For example, searching on the [|flickr creative commons collection]: Not only will this jog perhaps an idea for you, now you have at least one peace of media you can use!
 * [|Sunrise]- a time to re-energize, start over...
 * [|Road] - a theme of travel, movement, going somewhere
 * [|Despair] - devastation, loss of hope, travesty
 * [|Grandmother]- someone special in your life

Stretch Your Imagination Muscles
Are you spinning your wheels? How about some activities you can try to stimulate your creative juices.
 * Explore some [|mystery places] in a VoiceThread
 * Play [|Five Card Nancy] or [|Five Card Flickr]
 * [|Generate a phrasr]
 * Join the writing of [|One Million Monkeys]
 * Explore a [|blueful] world

More Storytelling Resources
Here are some other references that may help with the story creating process.
 * [|The Elements of Digital Storytelling] (University of Minnesota) //What is unique about the digitial environment? How do users respond to it? How can its potential be maximized? The Institute for New Media Studies and New Directions for News are investigating these questions.//
 * [|Digital Storytelling Cookbook] (Center for Digital Storytelling) //In all communities, in all cultures, stories evolve from the culinary experience. Making media, like making a meal, requires guidance, learning from our friends through the sharing of recipes and from those who spend their professional lives in the kitchen. We have helped over 10,000 people mine stories from their lives and personal media archives. Our cookbook shares our experience, some recipes and some humour to help you get started with your own storytelling experience.//
 * [|The Art of Storytelling] (We Are Media) //This module will cover why storytelling is an essential component of your strategy, how to compose effective stories, and look at excellent examples of nonprofit storytelling in a social media strategy.//
 * [|The DAOW of Storytelling] (Jason Ohler) //Digital, Art, Oral and Written literacies- the DAOW of literacy - are crucial for personal, academic and workplace success in the Digital Age and blend very well in a digital storytelling environment. In my digital storytelling workshops we address how oral and written storytelling, as well as storytelling using digital and art skills, are involved in the creation of digital stories, and how all these literacies and forms of storytelling can reinforce each other. This improves literacy and expression in all areas.//
 * [|Master Storytellers] (TED videos) Less a "how to" these videos should unlock some ideas for creative communication
 * [|DigitStories] a resource site by the creator of the BBC's [|Capture Wales] project
 * Web 2.0 Storytelling resource and open discussion of our article from [|EDUCAUSE Review]