Digital storytelling began in the early 1990s when a group of media artists in San Francisco explored how personal narratives could be incorporated into technology. It involves combining recorded voice, images, and music to tell short, first-person stories. Digital storytelling gained popularity and its use expanded to education. By the late 1990s, it had reached "critical mass" as the annual workshops were in high demand nationally and internationally. While it is still a relatively new innovation, digital storytelling has the potential to engage students and help them learn if adopted widely by teachers.