I would echo this by saying that in our 11 years of operating the YWP online community, we see that the most powerful connections that youths make are with each other and, within that "relationship" they are open, learning and willing to take risk -- when the environment is civil and respectful. The audience, in effect, has also become the teacher.

primary online community

OK, so did you see our Storytelling 1 workshop on YWP Academy on youngwritersproject.org? Alan, Mia... you can log in and check out the responses... kids made drawings of their story arcs.

One really simple thought is a "sprout" or "seed" concept which we do on youngwritersproject.org. I call it the fifth level of story response, the others being 1>>Read and say nothing. 2>>Read and "love" or "like" or, gulp, a FB emoticon. 3>> Comment to acknowledge that you have read/experienced the piece. 4>>Given Feedback, as in "articulate what you notice in a way that is well received so as to help the creator improve the piece." (my quote, or as Alan would say, this is a quote from Geoffrey Gevalt) and 5>>The Sprout -- as in "I felt/experienced your piece so deeply it provoked me to share this..." ... #5 to me is the way digital storytelling can replicate the conversational storytelling experience but, in fact, in a much deeper way; the "listening" online is uninterrupted AND the listener can't interrupt the teller; the telling of the new story is far more focused than the oral tradition, because the act of writing/creating in the digital space requires a much more thoughtful approach.

crap