Forty-plus years of story work, gathered here imperfectly.

I've originated methodologies, led projects on five continents, made films, written books, designed curricula, and given more talks than I can count. Not all of it lives on the internet. Some of it probably shouldn't. What I've gathered below is what I'd want a thoughtful collaborator to encounter first — a portrait of the territory, not an inventory of files. If something here sparks a conversation, reach out to me.

The Methodology

The digital storytelling workshop model I helped develop at StoryCenter in the 1990s has by now been practiced in dozens of countries, translated into scores of languages, and adapted into fields as far apart as palliative care, indigenous land rights, and K-12 education. At its core it remains stubbornly simple: give people a short, safe container in which to craft a two-to-three minute story in their own voice, about something that actually matters to them, and then bear witness to what emerges. You

The foundational framework — what became known as the Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling — is documented in Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community, now in its sixth edition. This in turn grew out of the Digital Storytelling Cookbook, which goes back to 1996. Both are available at the StoryCenter website.

StoryCenter’s Youtube site remains the most complete collection of digital stories based on themes, but my four year project California Listens, also has a searchable collection of some 570 stories, find those here on archive.org.

Selected Projects & Initiatives

Over the decades, the methodology became a laboratory. Each project below was an experiment in what story-based practice could do when placed inside a specific community, institution, or social challenge. I offer them here as a map of the territory I've worked in — not a comprehensive archive, but a honest account of where I've put my energy.

100 Years Ed Tech Design Project — This project initiated by Arizona State University CIO Lev Gonick, and led by a core team of Samantha Becker and Angela Gunder, are working to bring a international gathering of professionals to reflect meaningfully on the past 50 years to create a vibrant vision for the future of education. After a gathering I hosted at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico in 2023, This has led to three conferences, 2024 at ASU, 2025 and 2026 in UT San Antonio,. Here are the sample future scenarios digital stories I’ve collaborated to create with members of the community. 2024 - 2025 - 2026.

California Listens with Libraries — A partnership with the State Library of California that took StoryCenter and I to some 70 libraries across the state. Our goal was to to bring digital storytelling and community story-gathering (using the Listening Station portable oral history kits) into library programming statewide, making the library a site of democratic narrative practice rather than just information delivery. Learn more at the project legacy site, CaliforniaListens.org.

Place and Mobile Storytelling — Work exploring how digital storytelling methodology can be untethered from the workshop room and embedded in specific landscapes, neighborhoods, and walking routes — stories activated by place rather than told about it. This is currently part of my Stories in Motion workshop process, you can see examples, including ones from my past work at wp.story-mapping.org.

National Digital Storytelling Festivals and International Digital Storytelling Conferences — I was either a co-chair or committee leader for the 8 digital storytelling festivals here in the US, and the 12 International Digital Storytelling Conference, including the most recent conference Lives, Voices, and Knowledge in a World on Fire, held in São Paulo in partnership with Museu da Pessoa and SESC — the first such conference convened in Latin America. You can read a working document about these events and other international digital storytelling gatherings here.

Life Span and Aging — As with my current Elderware project (podcast/ghost articles), I’ve been working with older adults for the last decade informed by my 2013 book, Seven Stages: Story and The Human Experience (free ebook copy here).

Additional projects in civic media, journalism, health storytelling, and aging are documented in some of the writings section below. Materials from earlier initiatives are being gathered and will appear here over time.

Talks & Teaching

I have been on stages and in circles I did not expect to find myself in — university lecture halls, Indigenous community centers, public health conferences, library systems, arts festivals, government ministries. What I've carried into all of them is roughly the same thing: a conviction that story is not decoration, and that the capacity to tell and receive stories with care is a genuine civic skill that can be taught, practiced, and spread.

Keynote and workshop themes available for booking:

  • The History and Future of the Digital Storytelling Movement

  • Story as Democratic Practice: Community Voice and Civic Life

  • Aging, Narrative, and What We Owe Each Other's Stories

  • AI, Technology, and the Preservation of Human Voice

  • Story-Based Facilitation: Designing Containers for Authentic Sharing

Writings & Conversations

My thinking tends to happen out loud — in essays, interviews, and the slow accumulation of a podcast. The most active venue right now is Elderware, a publication and podcast exploring story, aging, and technology in the mid-21st century. If you want to understand where my head is at the moment, that's the place to start.

Elderware on Ghost •. Elderware Podcast on Spotify •. Elderware on Apple Podcasts

Books and Publications:

Additional selected articles and essays on digital storytelling methodology, community practice, and the politics of narrative are available on request and will be gathered here over time. If you're looking for something specific, ask.

Here are some sample talks I’ve given over the years that are out in the world.

Concept Map
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWQ9rxkBCqU

Future Histories Lab
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CshHKDHAjO8

Storytelling: History, Practices Values and Principles HKUST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YazP0ORjmvs

History of CDS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hcf1WwVJPc

Thirty Year Celebration - DST2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op05qiIEDdo

2015 Conference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBYcFgXG2S8

Courses I've originated include:Stories in Motion (StoryCenter), Signpost Stories (Storycenter)along with dozens of online and in-person intensive workshops in digital storytelling methodology delivered across North America, Europe, Latin America, and beyond. For my digital storytelling workshops, visit storycenter.org, if you would like me to design, produce, teach or collaborate a custom story-based workshop for your institution or organization, just let me know.

I am available for keynotes, workshop facilitation, curriculum consultation, and conference design. Email me: joe at storyhost dot net

Films & Stories

I have made more short films than I can accurately count, and fewer of them are easily findable than I would like. Such is the archaeology of forty years of digital work. What I can offer here is a starting point.

The 31 Days of Digital Stories collection remains the most concentrated public gathering of work produced through the StoryCenter workshop model — stories from around the world, made by ordinary people doing extraordinary remembering. Browse at storycenter.org/31days.

Additional films and story projects are scattered across YouTube and will be gathered here as I find them. If you're a researcher or program director looking for specific examples of the work — community health stories, elder narratives, place-based projects — reach out. I can likely point you somewhere useful even when the internet can't.