A Brief History of Storytelling

The aim of this chapter is to examine the history of storytelling. This brief history includes the concept of storytelling from myths to the digital era. In the first part of the chapter, the origins of storytelling in primitive communities and its development in later periods are examined. In the second part of the chapter, the development process of digital storytelling is explained. According to this, traditional storytelling has gained a new form called digital storytelling which started with a workshop in 1993 by Dana Atchley. One year later, the Center for Digital Storytelling (CDS) was established in Berkley, CA. The Center for Digital Storytelling has organized workshops and partnered with organizations around the world to hold projects on story facilitation, digital storytelling and other forms of digital media production and since 1993, it has helped more than 20,000 people to share their own stories. Though the digital storytelling movement started in North America, it has also spread in Europe, Australia, Asia, Africa and South America. The movement has found a place in the world of today.