The core of Shahrazad is stories: the narrative impulse that touches us all; that reaches across cultures and generations and millennia; for better or worse, the impulse that lies at the heart of human existence.
The overall purpose of Shahrazad is to bring original and challenging stories to Europe from all over the world – and to help new stories come to life. Digital storytelling is a key tool for Shahrazad because it combines personal narration with a new and open technology.
During the five-year Shahrazad project, 1001 digital stories will be made and collected across Europe.
WHAT IS DIGITAL STORYTELLING?
Digital Storytelling refers to the use of new digital tools to help people to tell their personal stories. Typically, digital stories are produced in intensive workshops with the help of trained instructors, on a specific theme/subject. The result is a 1-2 minute film that combines a narrated piece of personal writing, photographic and other still images, animations, videos and soundtrack.
WHY DIGITAL STORIES?
The world is changing fast. New technology is transforming every aspect of our lives and cultures. The way we communicate is undergoing a fundamental and dramatic change – but the need for communi¬cation, narrative and storytelling, remains as strong and essential as ever.
Digital storytelling is a method that uses technical advances to facilitate this need. And while the creation of new stories is central, these technical tools can be used to stimulate creativity, inspire and enable new forms of expression.
New technology is cheap, accessible and easy to use. The digital format makes it possible to copy files and programs an infinite number of times. These features represent the beauty of digital storytelling: the stories can be created by people everywhere, on any subject – and they can be shared electronically all over the world.
Thus, digital storytelling epitomises the Shahrazad project itself: a spinner of tales, cross-cultural dialogue and new and free narratives for Europe.
ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS AND MORE
The aim of the Shahrazad project to create 1001 digital stories refers, of course, to the archetypal storyteller and her stories for life. But it’s also something else.
While Shahrazad seeks to emphasize the power of stories and to bring new narratives to a broader audience, the production of digital stories has a value in itself. If more than one thousand people get to tell their stories, the Shahrazad project will not only bring these stories to life – it will give a voice to the many people whose lives have never been heard.
