@ Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh, Mon 26 October 2015

If you thought that August was the only month that Edinburgh has top quality international festivals then you would be wrong. From Friday 23 October until Sunday 1 November the Scottish International Storytelling Festival looks at Stories without Borders and has events throughout the city and beyond. The Scottish Storytelling Centre is the venue for the early evening discussion and lecture Stories without Borders in a Digital World. Dr Michael Williams is our host as he looks at how social media and the online world has changed the way we tell and experience stories.

The talk goes back to the age when stories were first told. We look at cave paintings, the birth of the printing press, photography, film and the advent of the personal computer. Dr Williams presents his informative talk with a series of PowerPoint slides that show engaging images, evocative illustrations and quotes from various storytellers and academics in the field. Williams is a storyteller himself and this is obvious. The crowd is in safe hands as we hear an individual who understands and celebrates the craft of storytelling. Williams talks passionately about how social media has allowed anyone with Internet access to tell there own personal stories.

The event concludes with a lively discussion which expresses how social media and technology can also be disruptive and can have a negative impact on the stories we tell. This however highlights the power of storytelling and underlines the fact that digital media has allowed people of various walks of life to communicate and connect with one another.