 Storybird logo
Storybird was created in 2010 and was simply a start-up. It began with Michael Ury and his son wanting to make a picture-book for his wife. (Owens, 2013) This sparked in him an idea that would revolutionize story writing and publishing. He and co-founder Kaye Puhlmann, created their start up out of Toronto, but soon gained social media backing from Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and other sites. This spark of genius, kindled by social media support, began to engulf teachers, parents, and students with a fiery passion for writing and illustrating. The purpose of Storybird is to promote writing and give potential writers a place to create and channel ideas. (About Storybird, 2012) Their target audience, on the surface, seems to be young students, elementary-aged and pre-teens. However, by becoming more familiar with the site, you find yourself, a full-fledged adult, finding ideas for stories and given the option of writing poetry and long stories.
Video here: http://www.screencast.com/t/8hh7Rjrm
This site is built around the theory of connecting writers with artists (and sometimes other writers) to create visual and engaging stories and literature. It’s framework would best be described as a buffet style approach. Here you have a fully-online (Fully-Online) platform where writers and artists can write and upload at their ease (Emporium) and interact with one another (Replacement) to find what they need from a plethora of ideas and artwork (Supplemental). Hence, a Buffet-style model seems like their approach—which is smart, because Storybird attracts people from all around the world and this provides them with whatever they need to engage in learning and content creation.
Since this is mostly a “content creation” site, instructional material is not obvious. However, by accessing the “Help” tab, a series of articles with tips and facts is accessible to novices.
 This goes beyond a simple FAQs page, and offers strategies to novices users to help them feel more comfortable and “expert” at using this site. One of the main strengths of this site is its strength of community. Material is available to read, people are available to connect with, and help is available when needed. That is just for writers. For educators, using Storybird as an educational platform, there are how-to videos, slides and images for educators to use (to educate other educators) and testimonials from teachers, parents, students and writers. There is no danger of monotony, either. A blog can be accessed (another form of community) with tips and tricks on how to use Storybird.
Teachers interested in Storybird are able to create and manage classes comprised of students who are invited into virtual classrooms. Assignments can be made, managed and mulled over by instructors.
As mentioned earlier, community is a reoccurring factor in Storybird. Not only are writers all part of a community—which can be accessed by reading their material and “following” them or their accompanying artists. By following an artist you can collaborate with them and request illustrations or gain access to more works. By following an author, you can collaborate on books, poetry and write together. Each book, once published online, can be reviewed—much like a blog is commented on.
Technology requirements for this site are really very low. As mentioned earlier, Michael Ury believes in “the power of the link” (Owens 2013), and although no app is yet available, the website is very compatible across different mediums: ipads, tablets, laptops, mobile phones. There are very low technical skills needed to navigate and use Storybird.
 As long as a person can “click and drag” images, and type words on a computer, they will master this eLearning site.
References:
Owen, L. (2013, January 24). With 2 million members, Storybird is ‘reverse-engineering’ the picture book. Retrieved April 26, 2017, from https://gigaom.com/2013/01/24/with-2-million-members-storybird-is-reverse-engineering-the-picture-book/
What is Storybird? (2012, November 11). Retrieved April 25, 2017, from http://help.storybird.com/customer/portal/articles/827771-what-is-storybird-
Images:
Storybird logo
[Storybird logo]. (n.d.). Retrieved April 26, 2017, from https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/552115156503646208/YSbBGAeR.png
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Tuesday, May 2, 2017
Storybird Platform Review
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Storybird logo Storybird was created in 2010 and was simply a start-up. It began with Michael Ury and his son wanting to make a pi...
Nice work. This is a good, comprehensive review of the site. I feel like I know all about Storybird now after reading your post. I like that the community can be controlled by a teacher so that getting students signed up does not expose them to the entire Storybird user base. Instead, the teacher can moderate the students and they can read only each others' work. It's also cool how writers and artists collaborate to make the products. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI've heard about Storyboard before, but that's about it. It sounds very versatile and has me thinking how I could use it in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteI wonder- is the community aspect of Storyboard strong enough that there is a visible culture? If so- what constructivist principles are present? This makes me wonder if there's some sort of shared meaning, or whether its just a gathering place for writers? Food for thought.
Jake, as an instructor, you can open a "classroom" for your kids and build instruction around your own principles. So, there is an overall culture, but you can create your own microcosm as well, and close it for the public, which is cool.
DeleteWhen I was a kid and at the peak of interest in reading, I loved to write stories. I would print off my "works." My dot matrix printer was my best friend at that time and I would bring copies of my writing to all of my friends. To make them want to read my writings, I would include them as characters. Had something like Storybird been available nearly 30 years ago, I would probably be rich and famous by now! I kid, my writing was that of an 8 year old, but I would have loved to share my stories with more than just my close friends. Getting feedback from others, who aren't close friends, is a good way to refine writing. I hope to instill the love of reading/writing into my kids' lifestyles, so I will definitely remember this website and hope that it is still around in years to come. Thank you for the review!
ReplyDeleteScott, they actually used "reverse engineering" for their framework. But,I appreciate your attempt to explain it with those theories and models you are familiar with.
ReplyDelete