I’ve always enjoyed making presentation shows. I made many using PowerPoint. That was when I had not discovered Digital Story telling (DS) yet.

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. – Leslie Rule, Digital Storytelling Association

It was by accident that I started making videos. I was the official photographer for a community service trip to Thailand which I organised. I took my first few photos on day one of our trip only to realise that the camera had been set at “video” instead of “photo.” I was thrilled looking at the moving picture on my tiny camera screen. It was then that I decided to attempt making a video report of the trip.

I was extremely pleased with the result of my first production. My video received many good comments. In fact, one of my team mates decided to give me her video camera – it was an “old-new” one… she had it for some time but had only used it twice.

A few months after my Thailand production, the organisation that I worked for needed corporate videos to be made. We hired professional video makers. A side benefit they threw into the production package was training me to make my own productions. I learned a lot about script writing, shooting videos, and using the Adobe Premiere software.

In August 2007, I again stumbled on a three-day Digital Storytelling workshop organised by the Book Council. It was fun! My first story tells of the story behind my two-year long pursuit writing, How the Moken Sea Gypsies got their Book. Here’s my first video with narration made at the workshop.

That’s how I got really hooked on DS… It’s wonderful how I keep getting ideas for little video projects. (As usual, more ideas than I have life to live).

This month (April 2009), I met up with the Executive Director of the Book Council and was asked if I would be one of the catalyst to spark off a DS movement in Singapore. WOW… let’s see where we go from here…

Post-Script@2011: It has been almost four years since I attended that first DS workshop under the Book Council. I have since left my job and started my own little Social Enterprise, Digital Storytelling Asia, to empower the man-on-the-street to tell their stories. DS is only at its embryonic stage in Singapore and Asia. I am exciting to be part of this catalyst sparking of a movement not just in Singapore but the regions beyond.