Digital storytelling in Iranian children websites: study of the requirements

The present paper studies the requirements of digital storytelling in Iranian children websites. It applied survey method and a checklist including 67 requirements from the literature and observation of children websites. In this study 21 children websites were surveyed. The results showed that the websites are below the average in following requirements. Requirements like using a game for building stories، possibility of directing characters of the stories، possibility of selecting and adding sound effects and visual effects، applying colors and choosing characters were about 26. 86 percent of conditions، however not available in studied websites. The most important factors for storytelling that are seen in Iranian children websites were possibility of using pictures and graphics، possibility of searching stories through bibliographic information and choosing pictures. Stories are used as educational contents in children and school libraries. On the other hand the rate of internet usage by children is increasing. So the mentioned libraries need to adapt their tools including stories to the new environment. This study introduces the concept of digital storytelling and recommends it as a tool to grow reading.