by Greg Muller, Managing Director, Digital Technology

By the time a child in Australia is between 12 and 14 years old, he or she will be spending an average of an hour and a half a day on the computer or Internet[1]. Our 'Digital Youth' are playing games, socialising and extending friendships, and engaging in self-directed learning online everyday. Undoubtedly, there are many more information and entertainment options available to kids. In this article, I'm going to focus on the impact this trend is having on traditional storytelling, and focus on a few sites that are successfully leveraging the benefits of the digital medium to add a new dimension to traditional storytelling. There is little doubt that storytelling is crucial to early childhood education, in fact, studies show that activities like reading and sharing stories within the first few years of life are crucial in stimulating early brain development[2]. Children love to be told tales; of that there is little doubt. They make them up, they listen to them and they share them with their friends. As an art form however, storytelling is transforming. In her book, 'Stories, Pictures and Realities', Dr Virginia Lowe, a lecturer of  children's literature and literary critic, journals the interactions and relationships children have with books from as young as one week old, right through to adolescence. She says, "By sitting on a parent's lap listening to a story, the child is getting the adults full attention. This is one very major difference with television and the internet. Parents do not have to be involved. Because of this, the media have to try harder to keep the attention of the child, so they do quick changes, (they) don't stay on one scene or idea for long. This has made for a generation of kids that have to be multi-tasking, or changing rapidly from idea to idea..."

In this hypermedia environment, content is presented in chunks; divided into small bites and short messages, and a lot of these messages are delivered through rich media - video, sound, animation. So, how can stories be told effectively in this new media landscape? Marketers who are focusing on delivering engaging content, safety and guidance within a gaming or exploration-based framework, are those that are currently winning the kids' hearts. Current players in the market that are achieving this success are like 'The39Clues.com'. This is the latest craze that has 'Tweens' flinging their Nintendo DS behind the couch. It is the story of Amy and Dan Cahill, and the secret of their strange family's power. The publisher and website owner is the Scholastic Corporation (interestingly, they were also the publishers of the Harry Potter series. These guys seem to know how to spot a good story!). Their approach to digital storytelling has been to integrate the series of books with a website that enhances the entertainment experience. Visitors to the site can collect clues, play an online game and compete to win prizes.

Another engaging site is Disney's 'Club Penguin', a secure, virtual 'snow-covered' island where children from 6 to 14 years old can create avatars (penguins), play games and engage in fun activities like colouring in, while also meeting new friends. The site contains comics about the penguins and a blog that keeps the community informed about what is happening on the island. Club Penguin also hosts stage plays and parties that members can participate in. The result is a living and evolving story based on the characters the children create. The digital platform gives them the opportunity to interactively play out their story in the online world. These sites achieve success because they stimulate the mind by providing challenges that develop discovery skills, comprehension, numeracy and literacy, whilst also providing much needed structure and security for the child (and the parent). The Internet can be a wonderful place to tell stories; as well as a place to discover and learn core skills, hone and extend existing capabilities, and develop interpersonal skills. Marketers who find new and exciting ways to work with traditional concepts of childhood education and communication by leveraging the capabilities of the online medium will be the ones that have a real impact on today's youth. They will be giving kids the best of both worlds.

[1] CCCH 2008a; Ravi 2007 (cited from pg 56 research paper http://aihw.gov.au/publications/phe/phe-112-10704/phe-112-10704.pdf) [2] Australian Communications and Media Authority: Use of electronic media and communications: Early childhood to teenage years June 2009 Related links Stories, Pictures and Realities by Dr Virginia Lowe