December witnessed a premier event at MNN’s East Harlem/El Barrio site, located at 1699 Lexington Avenue. Community-based organizations, including the Center for Immigrant Families, the LGBT Community Center, the New York Solidarity Coalition of Katrina/Rita Survivors, Art for Change, and East Harlem Preservation took part in a Digital Storytelling workshop.
A joint project of MNN's Production and Community Outreach & Media departments, the Digital Storytelling Workshop was developed by Devorah Hill along with Jennifer Wager as a tool to enable people who don’t think of themselves as technically inclined. It is a low tech, multi-media, short-term process that gives people a positive hands-on experience.
“I enjoy teaching Digital Storytelling because it’s a great way to get the public involved," Jennifer said. "Since the projects are short people can complete them within one to four sessions.”
In the Workshop, participants wrote a short narrative (no more than 250 words), selected a piece of instrumental music and several scanned still images. These components were then put together to tell a short story of no more than five minutes. To view their finished pieces go to this link on MNN's website: