Multimedia stories or digital storytelling is a way in which one can report news or inform others about a topic in a nonconventional way. It is set up differently so that they viewer can jump around and see different stories that all pertain to that on topic. Multimedia stories should be able to be read out of order and not necessarily from start to finish or in a linear format. Multimedia stories give the reader the option to choose which order they read it in and to navigate through the story on their own. These stories are usually wrapped in a “shell” meaning that the basic information and background information is given to the reader at first glance before they can navigate through the rest in whichever order they choose. This “shell” just sets the groundwork for the story giving the reader the general context.
As our society becomes more and more engaged in technology and social media multimedia stories become more prominent. There are many more ways to present a story nowadays than in the basic linear format we have seen for so many years. The most visited news websites such as CNN or Washington Post even still use mostly linear format to compose their stories. Digital storytelling and multimedia stories are a fairly new trend in journalism however it is becoming more and more popular. This trend I believe will become more popular in the future because it is part of the revolution of social media and technology.
Digital storytelling is in my opinion a more creative way to explain a story and can sometimes have more of an effect due the to amount of details and examples that are included.
Here is an example of a multimedia story. It is called “The Isle of Sylt” and it is about traveling to Sansibar along the North Sea. The story is filled with interactive video clips, images, and maps. This would be a very useful tool to someone looking into a trip like this. The images both still and moving are very interesting and of great quality. The format is somewhat linear however it is nonlinear in that one could start reading at any point and not be confused. it is more like captions and notes instead of a flowing story. Overall, I think this is a good example of digital storytelling in a multimedia story and there are many more out there on the web today as well.
sammydavidoff 