New media technologies are enabling users to develop a new generation of applications which move in the centre of gravitation between Theatre, Cinema, Literature, Games, and the Arts. These new type of applications have in common that they employ digital media material to tell stories in an interactive way. The range of applications is wide, with storytelling employed to different degrees and with various tasks. Digital Storytelling finds employment in the transfer of knowledge, for edutainment purposes, product marketing, awareness support, or simply for play and entertainment. However, there is still no clear definition of Digital Storytelling, its components and the dimensions, which permit an assessment of an application and its comparison with others. This would be of advantage for the development and improvement of applications for targeted audiences. With this work I introduce Digital Storytelling as a thematic area in its own right. I aim to offer a Beginners Guide to Digital Storytelling, to derive a framework and general guidelines for the development of applications and to provide a foundation for benchmarking of Digital Storytelling applications.