*2.1.1 History of digital storytelling*

The storytelling method was first complemented by visuality. In the 1970s and 1980s, several visual storytelling works were born in the United States that combined traditional, personal narration with visual elements Visual storytelling was able to reach a wider audience with its personal tone and the stories of everyday people, so it became popular.

The public could easily identify with the personal messages, "video postcards," that were introduced first in traveling theater performances, and later even on television. The stories made the audience recall their own experiences and the video postcards soon became very popular. At the same time, the method became more widely used in various fields of education [3].

With the explosive spread of digital technology, it has become easier to create personal messages and short films that were previously created only by mobilizing large technical equipment. The first workshop about "personal narrative short film" making was held in 1993 at the American Film Institute in San Francisco. The Center for Digital Storytelling (known as StoryCenter since 2015), led by Joe Lambert, was established at

#### *Innovative Methods in Computer Science Education DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109708*

the same place a year later, and its members developed a digital storytelling methodology that combines classical storytelling with the multimedia possibilities of digital technology. The nonprofit organization's objectives included empowering people who are not professionals to display their life stories in a self-contained, individual character, cinematic way. They saw themselves as a movement, the focus of their workshops was on capturing individual life paths, they wanted to create a community with the participation of people in a similar situation. The StoryCenter has collaborated with nearly 100 US universities and colleges to incorporate digital storytelling into a range of courses [4].

In Europe, the method was formally introduced in 2003, when the regional service BBC Wales, based on the experiences of other digital storytelling courses held in various locations, started its own program and center, called Capture Wales, under the leadership of Daniel Meadows. At the same time, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne also began to work extensively with the Centre for Digital Storytelling.

BBC Wales reached a wide audience with its grand project where every night the audience could see a personal digital story related to the region. Due to the success of the show similar projects have been initiated in many educational, health development, and community areas. As a result, Wales had become the European Centre of digital storytelling.

Digital storytelling is interpreted and used differently in different countries and institutions. To present and discuss these, festivals are held annually in Wales and international conferences in different countries every few years.

### *2.1.2 Definitions of digital storytelling*

There are many different definitions of "digital storytelling" (DST). Daniel Meadows defines digital stories as "short, personal multimedia tales told from the heart" or "multimedia sonnets from the people" [5].

Digital storytelling can be defined by Leslie Rule as "the modern expression of the ancient art of storytelling. Digital stories derive their power by weaving images, music, narrative, and voice together, thereby giving deep dimension and vivid colour to characters, situations, experiences, and insights" [6].

According to the most common definitions, DST is a new learning organization process that combines traditional storytelling with the use of digital tools [7]. The idea is that students do not use digital tools for their ends, but create unique narratives, specific multimedia creations that capture the attention and enthusiasm of their peers and generate communication on the topic within the learning community.

Some researchers (e.g., Lanszki [4] and Ohler [8]) move away from a tool-using approach to focus on the process, that is, the emphasis is not on digital but on storytelling. In their opinion, good digital storytelling is based on well-written text, and the use of technology is only for expressing content. "Medium and technology provide a supportive background for the creation of a fragmented world based on individual perception, summarized in a narrative framework, and thus based on causality" [9].

In the case of science subjects, it can be assumed that—due to the age of the students—few digital stories exploring individual life situations are produced. It is, therefore, necessary to interpret the definition of digital storytelling widely: not only individual life stories are included in the class of digital stories but also narrated audio-visual presentations created using the steps of the method. This is how DST has been interpreted by the professors at the University of Houston [10] and this is the interpretation I have used in my classes.
