Guideline 7: Use visually interesting images that support and strengthen the story
While they are writing the script, creators of digital stories should think about what kinds of images
they will use to add meaning and interest. Students generally search for online images early in the
design process, but they often select low quality, low-resolution images that appear first in their
search query. A low-resolution image can often ruin a digital story because of the blurry quality
and difficulty in viewing the details in an image. Often students do not realize that they can limit
their search to high-resolution, large-size images in the search engine.
Many students who ask for advice about how to find high quality images for their stories do not
appreciate that the choice of topic plays a large role in this process. For example, if a student
chooses a topic about space exploration, there is an abundance of high quality images courtesy of
NASA (http://www.nasa.gov). However, if a student chooses the history of World War I as the
topic of their digital story, there is a significantly smaller selection of high quality photographs
available on this subject.