These are slides for a workshop on digital storytelling for Everyday Health.

1. Digital storytelling
Steve Buttry
Everyday Health
June 8, 2012

2. Read more
• stevebuttry.wordpress.com
• Slideshare.net/stevebuttry
• stephenbuttry@gmail.com
• @stevebuttry

3. Ask about each story
• What are potential multimedia elements of
your story?
• How can you engage the community?
• Can you tell the story live?
• Can data provide depth, personal info?
• What form will tell this story best?
• What content should you curate?

4. Multimedia elements
• Photos (individual photos, galleries, time
lapse, audio slide shows, submitted, social,
media, panoramic)
• Videos (raw, edited, in story, webcam,
webcast, security cameras, user-submitted,
social media, link to video)
• Animation (Flash, HTML5)
• Audio (alone, w/ photos or videos)
• Maps (database, interactive, story vehicle)

5. Engage the community
• Crowdsource (investigations, features, events)
• Collaborate w/ or curate blogs
• Conversation on Twitter, Facebook
• Polls
• Contests
• Hashtags
• Sharing tools, ratings
• Ask for photos, videos

6. Live reporting

7. Databases
• Help users personalize story
• Answer questions
• Provide depth
• Provide detail
• Interactive
• Data visualization

8. Alternate story form
• List
• Graphic novel
• Timeline
• Map
• Graphic
• Self-directed, not linear
• Quiz

9. What is curation?
Museum curator: Journalism curator:
• Studies topic • Studies topic
• Chooses relevant • Chooses relevant
content (other content (social
sources & museum media, blogs, staff)
collection) • Authenticates
• Authenticates • Groups related items
• Groups related items • Provides context
• Provides context • Presents collected
• Presents exhibit content

10. NPR’s Andy Carvin
“I think curation has always been a
part of journalism; we just didn't call it
that.” – quoted in The Atlantic by
Phoebe Connelly

11. Why to liveblog
• Immediacy
• News value
• Storytelling
• Traffic
• Community engagement, loyalty
• Interactivity
• Saving time

12. Liveblogging tips
• Short, frequent takes
• Don’t transcribe; observe & report
• Liveblog becomes notebook for story (or
becomes the story)
• Consider links, polls, photos, audio, video
• Tweet links to liveblog & replay
• OK to step away for question, video, etc.

13. Gathering content
• Reporting notes • Web search
• Shoot video • Social search (can
• Shoot photos localize)
• Record audio • Blog search
• Acquire video, audio • Archival search
• Acquire database • Invite submissions
• Scrape data • What else?

14. Presenting story
• Text • Timeline
• Video • Graphic
• Slideshow • Embed(s)
• Photo gallery • Combination
• Animation • What else?
• Map(s)

15. Storytelling exercise
• What are the elements used?
• How was content gathered?
• How was the story presented?
• What skills were needed?
• What could make the story better?
• How might you use these tools,
techniques on an upcoming story?

16. Some storytelling tools
• Storify (curate social & Web content)
• Intersect (time & place)
• Maps (Google & Crowdmap)
• Timelines (Timetoast & Dipity)
• Visual.ly & Dataviz
• What else?

17. Follow up
• Send links of your digital stories to:
sbuttry@journalregister.com
• These tips, tools & examples:
stevebuttry.wordpress.com
• slideshare.net/stevebuttry
• @stevebuttry