“Stories from Goddard” Podcast Goes Live

Will Boyd Develops “Storiesfromgoddard.com” Podcast Series

Plainfield, Vermont…February 26, 2008…Will Boyd is a Goddard student pursuing his bachelor’s degree under the individualized studies program. His passion and focus of study is digital storytelling. It is this passion for new media and a desire to help organizations doing good in the world that spurred Will to create his own new media company, Will Boyd Media Solutions. Will has partnered with Goddard College and will create a monthly podcast series.

“Stories From Goddard” would love to hear your story.  Comments, anecdotes, triumphs and tribulations from students, alumni, faculty or anyone associated with Goddard are welcome. Whether it is why you came to Goddard, what you are studying, or how low-residency education fits your life, your story is vital to the Goddard College community.

To share your story, call (206) 222-2263 and leave your story as a voice mail. You can call anytime. To sign up for a free podcast subscription go to http://www.storiesfromgoddard.com or checkout  “Stories from Goddard” in MySpace.

Goddard College specializes in low residency, progressive education for adults. The Goddard campus currently hosts 14 eight-day residencies on the Goddard campus in Plainfield and four residencies in Port Townsend, Washington. Information about Goddard can be found at http://www.goddard.edu.

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Goddard College is a leader in low-residency education. Students from all over the United States come to the Goddard campus in Plainfield, Vermont or to Port Townsend, Washington, to attend eight-day residencies and create plans for individualized learning experiences. When students return home, they remain in contact with their respective faculty advisor and work independently to complete a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, and Master of Arts or Master of Fine Arts degree. More information can be found at http://www.goddard.edu or 1-800-906-8312.

Will Boyd Media Solutions specializes in organizational podcasting and digital storytelling for organizations such as colleges and universities, non-profits, and faith groups. To find out more, go to www.willboydmediasolutions.com.

While at Podcamp Nashville, I was struck by the apparent impending demise of traditional marketing.  With the Super Bowl barely behind us, the advertising world provided great conversation among the podcasters.  To make a long story short, it is becoming more and more obvious that the future of marketing is in creating good content and not in creating advertisements.  

There are staggering statistics about how many ads the average American sees on a daily basis.  These advertisements are generally blocked out by us.  What was the last ad you saw?  

Content, on the other hand, adds value to people’s lives.  Content, unlike advertisements, doesn’t have to trick or entice consumers.  Content bypasses those filters that we use to shield ourselves from the barrage of advertisements.

New media, like podcasting and digital storytelling, is uniquely positioned to tell the stories of our organizations and communities that Madison Ave. is incapable of telling. 

Podcamp Nashville

Tomorrow is here.  Print media is declining and radio is dying.  Who’s next?  Television and film.  Will they all go away?  No.  They will be forced to change, though.

Podcasting is not for the future…it is for today.  USA Today has started a new publication geared at podcasters and bloggers.  CBS recently paid $5 million dollars to acquire a daily financial podcast called Wallstrip.  NBC is making a huge chunk of their programming available free on the internet. Major corporations are realizing that the internet is the distribution channel for communications and entertainment today.

What does this mean for your organization?  It means that the playing field is beginning to level.  Now, you have the same ability to reach masses of people with your message as CBS does.  You no longer have to have access to a studio to be able to have a professional quality radio show.  You no longer need to spend $30,000 on a camera to be able to produce an entertaining video show.  The technology has come to the people.

Of course, it is always impossible to predict what tomorrow holds for these technologies.  But, as for today, organizations of all sizes and budgets have the opportunity to tell their stories to the world.  And that is exciting! 

Digital Storytelling is the modern expression of the ancient art of storytelling. Digital stories derive their power by weaving images, music, narrative and voice together, thereby giving deep dimension and vivid color to characters, situations, experiences, and insights. Tell your story now digitally.– Leslie Rule, Digital Storytelling Association

I fell in love with digital storytelling when I took a class in it at my local college, Macon State College.  When you look at what digital storytelling involves, it seems so simple.  The end effect, however, is really powerful.  Combining images that punctuate your story with voice and music connects your listener with your story in ways that the written word alone can’t.  For an example, here is one of my first digital stories for my class:

As you can tell, even though the video quality is not the greatest, the story still comes through.  That is the important part.  Big production value is no longer needed to capture your audience.  What is really needed is a good story–and everyone has a good story.  Whether or not you realize it, you (or your organization) have wonderful stories to tell and people need to hear them. 

For more information on what digital storytelling is, visit the Center for Digital Storytelling. 

Story is a powerful thing.  Especially for organizations.  Unfortunately, organizations seem to have a really hard time telling their stories.  All too much money is spent every year by corporations, non-profits, colleges and universities, churches, etc., hiring ad agencies and PR firms to come in and tell them what their image should be. Instead, what those communities need to be communicating is their unique story.

When told this, most organizations respond as if their story isn’t sufficient.  In almost every case, however, those organizations couldn’t be farther from the truth.  Our stories (who we are, why we are who we are, and what we do) transmit more than just image and information to the world.  When told, our stories carry our very essence.  

The greatest benefit from telling our stories instead of trying to project an image is that our stories connect us with people on a level that is much deeper and much more substantial than marketing.  With podcasting and digital storytelling, organizations and communities are presented with new opportunities to tell their stories to the world.  Whereas traditional media like radio and TV are cost-prohibitive when it comes to true storytelling, the internet gives us ample room to tell stories for a fraction of the cost of those older communication channels.

Businesses are already beginning to use these new communications channels.  From Disney  to CBS News, podcasts are popping up in every sector of our world.  The New York Times is beginning to use digital storytelling techniques in presenting the news.  It is time for the non-profit, education, and faith sectors to join in.  From intra-organizational communication to outreach and marketing, organizational podcasting and digital storytelling  provide a cheap and efficient tool to reach the audience you want to reach.