This document discusses best practices for digital storytelling, including engaging the community through social media, using multimedia like photos and videos, and interactive elements like maps, live coverage, and databases. It recommends asking questions of each story to determine how to tell it using these techniques, such as whether a map could help, how to engage the community, what social media to curate, and considering alternate story forms. The goal is to generate traffic and boost search engine optimization by linking to additional content.

1. Digital storytelling Steve Buttry Troy Record July 5, 2011 sbuttry@journalregister.com,@stevebuttry

2. Read more stevebuttry.wordpress.com Slideshare.net/stevebuttry

3. Ask about each story Can you cover the story live? What are the multimedia elements of your story? How can a map help tell your story? How can you engage the community? What links will provide greater depth? Can data provide depth, personal info? Should you tell this story in an alternate form? What social media content should you curate?

4. Live coverage Liveblog as the story happens (CoverItLive, ScribbleLive, update story/blog) Live-tweet (feed into liveblog) Livestream with webcasts, webcams, dashboard cam Feed tweets from community into blog/story Live data Text alerts

5. Multimedia elements Photos (individual photos, galleries, time lapse, audio slide shows, submitted, social, media, panoramic) Videos (raw, edited, in story, webcam, webcast, security cameras, user-submitted, social media, link to video) Animation (Flash, HTML5) Maps Bring it all together

6. Maps Invite users to tell their stories Story unfolds live on the map Map as database Map in motion Crowdmap

7. Engage the community Crowdsource (investigations, features, events) Blogs Polls Maps Contests Hashtags Sharing tools, ratings Ask for photos, videos

8. Links Editorial reason: Context Ethical reason: Attribution Business benefits: Generate traffic Boost SEO Sending users away works for Google; it will work for you, too.

10. Databases

11. Alternate story form List Graphic novel Timeline Map Graphic Self-directed, not linear

12. Why you need to connect with community on Twitter