Storytelling as participatory media

I’ve been asked to keynote this year’s Digital Storytelling Festival in beautiful Sedona, Arizona. I owe a debt of gratitude to Salon’s Scott Rosenberg, who keynoted last year and recommended me this time around.

Some quick background: Founded in 1995 by Dana and Denise Atchley, the Digital Storytelling Conference & Festival immerses participants in the principles and practice of digital storytelling, from fundamentals of dramatic structure, voice, and pacing to the latest digital technologies and software tools. In this richly collaborative environment, participants learn from the top instructors and visionaries in the field, and network with peers who have made digital storytelling an essential tool for success.

The Digital Storytelling Association (isn’t that Derek Powazek front and center in the photo?) and the Center for Digital Storytelling are key drivers of the conference/festival. (If you’re interested in the topic, I wrote about digital storytelling here, and Hilary McLellan keeps a list of resources and articles here.)

Attendees are flying in from all over the country, as well as Europe. There are still plenty of openings to this first-rate event. Here’s the speaker page. I’ll be talking about personal filmmaking, participatory media, and copyright law in the digital age.

JD Lasica, founder of Inside Social Media, is also a fiction author and the co-founder of the cruise discovery engine Cruiseable. See his About page, contact JD or follow him on Twitter.