Exploring
new forms
& functions of storytelling

We believe that storytelling can change the world. Columbia University School of the Arts’ Digital Storytelling Lab (aka Columbia DSL) is a next generation media lab harnessing the arts, humanities and emergent technology to tackle some of the world’s impossible problems through…

+ Collaboration
+ Creativity
+ Exploration
+ Experimentation
+ Reflection
+ Design Research

The Columbia DSL designs stories for the 21st Century. We build on a diverse range of creative and research practices originating in fields from the arts, humanities and technology. But we never lose sight of the power of a good story. Technology, as a creative partner, has always shaped the ways in which stories are found and told. In the 21st Century, for example, the mass democratization of creative tools — code, data and algorithms — have changed the relationship between creator and audience. The Columbia DSL, therefore, is a place of speculation, of creativity, and of collaboration between students and faculty from across the University. New stories are told here in new and unexpected ways.

Join Columbia faculty and industry innovators as we explore the current and future landscape of digital storytelling.

 

Opportunities

 

In 2023 students can explore new forms and functions of storytelling within the following courses

– Digital Storytelling I
– Digital Storytelling II
– Digital Storytelling III
– New Media Art

For more details please reference School of the Arts course listings.

 

COLLABORATORS WANTED: Become part of the Columbia DSL prototyping community

We host a monthly Columbia DSL Meetup at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in NYC

Come explore new forms and functions of storytelling with creatives from around the world. Columbia DSL invites you join our new global prototyping community



 

 

 

NEWS

COLUMBIA DSL’s SANDBOX is a podcast that highlights the people and projects that are exploring new forms and functions of storytelling. We often record the podcast in front of a live audience at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center at Film at Lincoln Center.

Subscribe – iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Play

Episode 006

To see the archive of shows click here.

PROTOTYPE UPDATE: Frankenstein AI kicks off global tour with a world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival

The “Digital Dozen” and its Breakthroughs in Storytelling Awards honor the year’s most innovative approaches to narrative – digitaldozen.io

EXECUTIVE EDUCATION COURSE: STRATEGIC STORYTELLING MAXIMUM IMPACT IN A DIGITAL WORLD with best-selling author and lab member Frank Rose is held each Spring and Fall.

Storytelling has always been central to human experience – it’s how we explain and make sense of the world. But today, as media-savvy audiences begin to tune out advertising messages while searching for ever-more-immersive entertainment experiences, the way businesses and professionals need to communicate is changing. Led by best-selling author Frank Rose and offered in partnership with Columbia University School of the Arts, Strategic Storytelling introduces the concept of “story thinking” and shows how it can be used to achieve maximum impact in a digital world. Read More

LAB PROTOTYPES