Digital Think

This is the dawn of the connected epoch in human civilization. We are living, you and I, in the first seconds of a society reshaped by empowered individuals connected by digital networks, of lives shaped by unprecedented volumes of information and shifting notions of knowledge and trust. Institutions like media and governments are bending under the weight of change, of social and economic disruptions to the way people acquire and apply knowledge.

New institutions and conventions are taking shape.

Storytellers are everywhere.

But we are a decade into the visual Web. Digital storytelling is NOT new, is NOT unexplored terrain in the new communications frontier.

Perhaps we are in the Morse Code stage or the silent film era (one camera, no lights); pioneers have already experimented with Flash, with different combinations and permutations of interactivity, with components that hint at a richer, more satisfactory digital future. Forms and storytelling techniques have historically taken time to evolve from the first experiments to stylistic and production conventions, and great artists have long sought to challenge such conventions. Even now, Hollywood production conventions are crumbling as digital editing and rendering create new processes and artistic possibilities for video-based media. Meanwhile, digital games have eclipsed movies as the bellwether of youth culture and experience.

What will news look like in this connected, digital society? Will it occupy its own space, or share personal bandwidth with gaming, blogging and the personal video remix?

DigitalThink is about the art of the possible, and a nod to thinkers around the globe who see in those possibilities a variety of pathways to more enriching forms of communication. There's nothing comprehensive about this little collection of voices we've gathered from here and there to start a story and conversation about stories. Please add your voice, share the experience, try something different and dance like nobody's watching.

Andrew Nachison, Director - www.mediacenter.org

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