Storytelling for cultural heritage

Digital storytelling is emerging as the most relevant way to deliver content in the digital age. In essence, a digital story combines visual communication (slideshows, videos or animations) with audio. Optional text can be used for additional details. Most people agree today that digital stories are the best way for engaging users across several devices: from tablets to desktops, from smartphones to even phones, for audio only. Different narratives styles can be used and different situations can be envisioned, including immersive storytelling or augmented-reality storytelling. In this chapter, we describe what digital storytelling is about (in general), how it is currently applied to cultural heritage and architecture, how technologies can support it, and how design can be guided by a proper methodology. Specific reference is made to 1001stories, the authoring environment for digital storytelling developed by HOC-LAB at Politecnico di Milano.