Historic Macon Foundation

Historic Macon Foundation is a non-profit organization which aims to revitalize their community through the preservation of architecture and sharing of history. Recently, they have used their connections to better a specific area in Macon, Georgia known as the Beall’s Hill neighborhood. Historic Macon needed the help of our class to find the best digital storytelling application to convey the work they have accomplished thus far in Beall’s Hill. This task involved researching various digital storytelling applications.

 

There is an abundance of storytelling programs both online and in application form. My group and I researched six major softwares: Omeka, Story Maps JS, Tour Builder, Microsoft Sway, Shorthand, and Story Maps. After further research we narrowed the six down to three of the best programs: Story Maps, Shorthand and Tour Builder. The applications had to allow for the addition and manipulation of maps. These maps would depict the Beall’s Hill areas of improvement, new construction, restoration properties, areas still in need of improvement, etc.

Obviously, aesthetic appeal was also important.  We insured that there was various templates and customizable options to make a story visually intriguing. Such programs can be extremely beneficial to convey a story in a way which the audience will find engaging. Even though our final recommendation was to use Story Maps to create their presentation, all our research made me realized how beneficial these sites can be. When utilized correctly, they can implement all forms of media to make a story come to life and entertain multiple senses of the audience. Viewers can read the story while watching videos, or viewing images, listening to audio or even clicking on animated areas. Hopefully, sites like these will be more readily used in the future to bring storytelling alive!