Digital Storytelling Workshop Research Articles

Finding Common Ground

Abstract: This article assesses a collaborative digital storytelling project between Chief Leschi Schools, a Puyallup Tribal K-12 school, and University of Washington students, teachers, and institutional leaders. This assessment emphasizes the importance of and examines how to build trust and facilitate co-planning in digital storytelling workshops centering Indigenous voices. Collaboration between Indigenous and non-indigenous students and teachers offered unconventional learning experiences and community celebrations of Indigenous youth. Inductive, qualitative research drawing from personal memos, interviews, focus groups, and surveys revealed the significance of co-planning and trust-building between participants of distinct social and formal education backgrounds. This analysis showcases how these different factors shaped and sustained the project, resulting in what the authors hope will be an enduring commitment. Recommendations include: (1) Emphasis on consistent and ongoing participation to cultivate trust and facilitate continuous communication; (2) purposeful engagement of students’ fundamental skills, presenting digital narratives that align with their interests and competencies; and (3) adopting an approach for non-indigenous academics and academic institutions of prioritizing and actively engaging in collaborative partnerships with Indigenous communities. The article underscores the significance of recognizing and resolving complex power and cultural dynamics between universities and tribes for successful project co-planning and implementation.

The use of digital stories as a health promotion intervention: a scoping review

BackgroundIt is challenging to develop health promotion interventions created in collaboration with communities affected by inequities that focus beyond individual behavior change. One potential solution is interventions that use digital stories (DS).Digital storytelling (DST) is an opportunity for reflection, connection with others, and the elevation of voices often absent from daily discourse. Consequently, public health researchers and practitioners frequently employ the DST workshop process to develop messaging that promotes health and highlights concerns in partnership with historically marginalized communities. With participants’ permission, DS can reach beyond the storytellers through behavior or attitude change interventions for health promotion among communities who share the targeted health concern. Our goal was to synthesize the literature describing interventions that use DS for health promotion to identify gaps.MethodsWe conducted a scoping review. Our inclusion criteria were articles that: 1) described empirical research; 2) used DS that were developed using the StoryCenter DST method; 3) assessed an intervention that used DS to address the health promotion of viewers (individuals, families, community, and/or society) impacted by the targeted health issue 4) were written in English or Spanish.To synthesize the results of the included studies, we mapped them to the health determinants in the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) research framework. We assessed the number of occurrences of each determinant described in the results of each article.ResultsTen articles met the eligibility criteria. All the included articles highlighted health equity issues. Our mapping of the articles with definitive results to the NIMHD research framework indicates that interventions that use DS addressed 17 out of 20 health determinants. All mapped interventions influenced intentions to change health behaviors (NIMHD level/domain: Individual/Behavioral), increased health literacy (Individual/Health Care System), and/or stimulated conversations that addressed community norms (Community/Sociocultural Environment).ConclusionsInterventions that use DS appear to positively affect the health promotion of participants across a range of health issues and determinants. Future research is needed in the Interpersonal, Community, and Societal levels and within the Biological, Physical/Built Environment, and Sociocultural Environment domains.

Promoting EFL learners’ willingness to communicate through transmediation in a digital storytelling workshop

ABSTRACT Technology-mediated communication has become ubiquitous and digital multimodal learning has been increasingly integrated into second language education. Drawing on the concepts of transmediation and interpretant in social semiotic theories, this study explores the potential of digital storytelling (DST) in promoting EFL learners’ willingness to communicate (WTC) through transmediation. A DST workshop was offered to 69 undergraduate students in China, and the workshop was intentionally designed to consist of prescript writing, video making, and postscript writing, which induced transmediation. Data sources included DST videos produced by the participating students, their prescripts and postscripts, and interviews, with a micro-level analysis conducted on two focal students. The results showed that the participants’ L2 WTC significantly increased in the writing of the postscripts than the prescripts. Three interpretants generated through transmediation were identified to be associated with students’ increased L2 WTC: expanded retrospective narratives, deepened perception, and evoked sentiments. Based on these findings, pedagogical implications for implementing DST projects as a fine example of multimodal composing practices in promoting EFL learners’ L2 WTC and multimodal communicative competence are provided.

Evaluation of nurses' experiences with digital storytelling workshop: New way to engage, connect, and empower.

AimThe aim of this work is to evaluate nurses' experiences, barriers, and facilitators in participating in digital storytelling workshopsBackgroundNurses face ever‐increasing demands and work time spent in isolation, leading to burnout. Storytelling—narrative skills of listening and creativity—may encourage meaningful connections with others, especially during the COVID‐19 pandemic. However, evaluation of the user experiences of storytelling among nurses has been limited.MethodThe methods used are semistructured individual interviews with 13 nurses from a public health nursing organization who participated in a 3‐day digital storytelling workshop in 2019. The interviews were audio‐recorded, transcribed verbatim, and thematically analysed using NVivo12.ResultsAll participants were women and half were white. Healing, human connection, and nursing pedagogy were the three main themes. Participants highlighted the organizational support in providing a safe and dedicated “space” for nurses' well‐being. They also expressed desire and willingness to participate in additional workshops outside of work hours.ConclusionFurther studies using a larger sample are needed to examine the scalability and efficacy of storytelling at work.Implications for Nursing ManagementNurses rated storytelling positively and suggested a brief version to be incorporated into nursing practice. Establishing the culture of organizational support and psychological safety was identified as the necessary antecedents.

Exploring Empathy and Compassion Using Digital Narratives (the Learning to Care Project): Protocol for a Multiphase Mixed Methods Study.

BackgroundDigital stories—first-person, self-made, 2- to 3-minute videos—generate awareness, impart knowledge, and promote understanding on topics such as mental illness. Digital stories are a narrative-based art form often created by individuals without formal training in filmmaking to relate personal experiences. Somewhat like digital narratives, video testimonies created within the social marketing or fundraising campaigns of government agencies and private or public corporations aim to reduce the stigma of mental illness while supporting research and services. In video testimonies, personal stories are captured on camera by professional filmmakers. Sharing critical life events greatly benefits tellers and listeners alike, supporting catharsis, healing, connectiveness, and citizenship.ObjectiveThis study explores digital stories and video testimonies featuring mental illness and recovery in their ability to elicit empathy and compassion while reducing stigma among viewers.MethodsUsing mixed methods, phase 1 will involve a search of Canadian social marketing activities and fundraising campaigns concerning mental illness and recovery. Phase 2 will involve the organization of digital storytelling workshops in which participants will create digital stories about their own experiences of mental illness and recovery. In phase 3, a pilot randomized controlled trial will be undertaken to compare marketing and fundraising campaigns with digital stories for their impact on viewers, whereas phase 4 will focus on knowledge dissemination.ResultsEthics approval for this study was received in March 2021. Data on the feasibility of the study design and the results of the controlled trial will be generated. This study will produce new knowledge on effective ways of promoting mental health awareness and decreasing stigma, with practical importance for future social marketing and fundraising campaigns. The anticipated time for completion within the 2-year study period includes 9 months for phase 1 (knowledge synthesis activities identifying social marketing and fundraising campaigns) and phase 2 (storytelling workshops), 11 months for phase 3 (feasibility assessment and data collection: randomized controlled trial), and 2 months for phase 4 (knowledge dissemination).ConclusionsThe knowledge generated will have practical implications for the public and for future social marketing and fundraising campaigns promoted by government agencies as well as nonprofit and for-profit organizations by enhancing our understanding of how individuals and societies respond to stories of mental distress and what prompts citizens to help others.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04881084; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04881084International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)PRR1-10.2196/33525

Rushed Decisions: Ethical Considerations for Digital Storytelling Practitioners.

The American Dreaming project, a community-based participatory research study conducted in collaboration with the nonprofit organization Define American, focuses on bolstering the mental health of immigrant rights advocates between the ages of 25 and 40 years. All participants identify as undocumented or formerly undocumented and have been public with their status since 2012. Seven people were recruited for the pilot program to participate in a digital storytelling (DST) workshop. They created digital stories (videos approximately 3 minutes in duration) from a series of general story prompts about their lives. Participants also completed pre- and posttests with measures assessing change in posttraumatic stress disorder, stress, self-esteem, depression, belonging, social support, and resilience. Follow-up, semistructured workshop evaluations were gathered, and life history interviews were conducted. The project also included a strategic communications component. In this article, I outline ethical challenges faced as the goals and parameters of the project shifted while conducting a multifaceted critical narrative intervention. The key lesson learned was to make space, prior to the DST workshop, for establishing and agreeing on project priorities with all stakeholders. I recommend creating a one-page memorandum of understanding that includes (1) a brief project description outlining the objectives, (2) goals listed in priority order, and (3) a decision tree to help stakeholders navigate competing interests. While DST is a powerful tool for supporting storyteller agency, working within structures of funding, support, and research can create challenges that critically complicate the narrative intervention.

Digital Storytelling as a Patient Engagement and Research Approach With First Nations Women: How the Medicine Wheel Guided Our Debwewin Journey.

When research is conducted from a Western paradigm alone, the findings and resultant policies often ignore Indigenous peoples’ health practices and fail to align with their health care priorities. There is a need for decolonized approaches within qualitative health research to collaboratively identify intersecting reasons behind troubling health inequities and to integrate Indigenous knowledge into current health care services. We engaged with First Nations women to explore to what extent digital storytelling could be a feasible, acceptable, and meaningful research method to inform culturally safe health care services. This novel approach created a culturally safe and ethical space for authentic patient engagement. Our conversations were profound and provided deep insights into First Nations women’s experiences with breast cancer and guidance for our future qualitative study. We found that the digital storytelling workshop facilitated a Debwewin journey, which is an ancient Anishinabe way of knowing that connects one’s heart knowledge and mind knowledge.

Sharing Indigenous Knowledge through intergenerational digital storytelling: Design of a workshop engaging Elders and youth

ABSTRACT Within many First Nations communities, storytelling, led by Elders recognized as knowledge holders, is a deeply valued aspect of teaching and learning history, language, place, culture, and Indigenous Knowledge. The purpose of this study was to design and evaluate the first iteration of an intergenerational digital storytelling workshop that brought Elders and school children from a First Nations community in Canada together to co-create digital stories and share local Indigenous Knowledge. Using a community-based participatory research approach, the research team, school, and community members designed and implemented a ten-session program held during a six-week period. Thirty-one grade six and seven students were paired with thirteen Elders. Elders told a range of stories including personal experiences, legends, and local knowledge of hunting and medicine. Students created a digital version of the stories, adding images, sound, and music. Students learned about local knowledge, built connections with Elders, and increased their digital literacy. Future recommendations included expanding the program over the full year and integrating it with other classes such as having Carrier language as a key component of the digital stories and incorporating art and music created by the students.

Social Work Digital Storytelling Project: Digital Literacy, Digital Storytelling, and the Makerspace

Purpose: The Social Work Digital Storytelling project was a research study undertaken to (1) enhance digital literacy of practitioners and students through digital storytelling training, (2) diversify engagement in a local public library technology hub (the “makerspace”), and (3) understand and enhance social work leadership knowledge among students and practitioners through the creation and sharing of leadership-focused digital stories. Method: Free hands-on digital storytelling workshops where social workers/students created stories about leadership exposed social workers to technologies accessible in the community and provided hands-on experience using hardware (e.g., IMac computers, digital cameras, portable data recorders, and a recording booth) and software (e.g., Adobe Photoshop, I-Movie, and GarageBand) as well as online social media platforms (e.g., Flickr, YouTube, and Facebook). Results: Before and after the workshops, participants completed a brief online qualitative self-evaluation survey through which they reflected on their skills, values, and beliefs about digital technology in practice. Participants gained knowledge of perspectives of online ethical tenants and exposure to Creative Commons Copyright and the NASW Technology Standards of Practice. Discussion: Prior to participation, the social workers reported fear and hesitancy using technology. After workshop completion, workers experienced a greater sense of confidence using digital technology as well as identifying organizational and systemic issues, which hindered field-based technological engagement.

Metacommunication process during a 3-day digital storytelling workshop for patients recovering from hematopoietic cell transplantation

Abstract Purpose: The purpose of this study was to qualitatively analyze metacommunication during the digital storytelling (DST) workshop process for patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). Methods: HCT survivors who had undergone transplant within the past 2 years were recruited at a cancer center in the Phoenix Metropolitan area. Participants (M age = 51.5 years) attended a 3-day DST workshop telling and creating digital stories around their HCT experiences. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, line by line coding and content analysis were conducted with four research team members. Results: Four themes emerged from the data: (1) communal connection; (2) expressing and processing emotions; (3) self-empowerment; and (4) multi-dimensional coping. Participants described telling and sharing their story with other HCT patients as therapeutic. Conclusion: DST shows promise as a potential coping tool and offers multiple dimensions of the role of narrative as a coping technique, in community building, and in patient-centered contexts within HCT.

Challenges and Lessons Learned From Digital Storytelling With Parenting Women in Recovery.

With the national increase in opioid use disorder among pregnant and parenting women, innovative mechanisms are being utilized to engage with mothers to build social support and promote recovery. This is particularly important in rural settings where other support systems may be limited. Digital storytelling is an interactive tool that often facilitates social connectedness among participants and may foster empowerment and community building among mothers in recovery. We conducted one digital storytelling workshop with rural mothers in recovery in 2018 to examine the feasibility of employing this method to engage with mothers in recovery in a community setting and promote social support among participants. In this article, we describe what we learned from working with the mothers to guide others considering using digital storytelling with women with opioid use disorder in future research or public health intervention projects.

Digital story-telling research methods: Supporting the reclamation and retention of indigenous end-of-life care customs in Aotearoa New Zealand

Information about traditional end-of-life care customs was gathered from Māori New Zealanders. How health and palliative care services helped or hindered families to use their customs within different health care settings was also examined. The use of the digital story-telling method to create personalised short videos is reported on in this paper. Kaupapa Māori Research and social constructivist methods were employed to conduct face-to-face interviews with 61 Māori families (including someone with a life limiting illness), plant medicine healers, spiritual practitioners and health and palliative care providers. Of these, sixteen family representatives participated in a digital story telling workshop. A Kaupapa Māori thematic analysis confirmed earlier findings that the digital storytelling method was a useful technique to record Māori traditional caregiving customs. Subject material aligned with four dominant themes; (1) ‘whānau manaaki’, where the mana (value, prestige, authority) of family was given visibility and was celebrated; (2) the ‘importance of wairuatanga’ provided insight into the place of Māori spirituality, (3) the ‘importance of rongoā rākau’ highlighted the role of traditional plant medicines; and (4) the ‘cultural support provided by health professionals’ reflected the care values health and palliative Q3 care professionals should ideally adopt.

Development and Evaluation of Digital Storytelling Workshop that Aims to Promote Reflection Children’s Growth for Parents in Japanese Kindergarten

Development and Evaluation of Digital Storytelling Workshop that Aims to Promote Reflection Children’s Growth for Parents in Japanese Kindergarten

Use of a Digital Storytelling Workshop to Foster Development of Intergenerational Relationships and Preserve Culture with the Nak’azdli First Nation: Findings from the Nak’azdli Lha’hutit’en Project

RÉSUMÉLa communauté autochtone Nak’azdli Whut’en du nord de la Colombie-Britannique a reconnu l’importance de préserver et de partager entre les générations la sagesse, les connaissances culturelles et les traditions orales des aînés. Nous présentons les résultats d’un atelier intergénérationnel portant sur les récits numériques, dirigé par le Nak’azdli Health Centre, en collaboration avec des organismes communautaires et des partenaires universitaires. Dans le cadre d’un plan d’action participatif conçu conformément aux principes PCAP®, un atelier de 10 séances a été créé et mis à l’essai. La technologie WeVideo a été utilisée pour faciliter le partage des connaissances entre des élèves du primaire et des aînés. Les aînés ont partagé leur expérience et leurs connaissances à travers leurs récits. Les élèves ont enregistré les récits des aînés et y ont ajouté des images et des sons pour transposer la vision des aînés sous une forme numérique. Ainsi, les aînés et les élèves ont œuvré en partenariat pour co-créer des récits numériques constituant un héritage culturel pour les générations futures. Cet atelier était en accord avec le programme scolaire de la Colombie-Britannique. Il a favorisé les relations intergénérationnelles entre les aînés et les jeunes, a contribué à la préservation de l’identité culturelle et à la valorisation du rôle des aînés et des jeunes dans leur communauté.

Digital Storytelling with Refugees: Analysis of Communication Setting from the Capability Approach Perspective

This research investigates the communication setting of the Digital Storytelling Workshop through the analysis of a case study carried out with a group of refugees and asylum seekers within the European project “IntegrArt”. By analysing this communicative process, we will reflect on the relationship between Media Studies and the concept of Human Development as theorised in Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum’s Capability Approach. In so doing, it will be possible to understand how communicative processes act in a performative way on the capacity that individuals have to imagine themselves and act as active and responsible subjects. What will emerge from this study is therefore the importance of deepening our understanding of the concept of Human Development within Media Studies dealing with migration.

Participant Engagement and Ethical Digital Storytelling: The MOCHA Moving Forward Study.

African-American men continue to bear a disproportionate share of the burden of health disparities, in general, and chronic diseases, in particular. The Men of Color Health Awareness (MOCHA) Moving Forward study seeks to determine the effectiveness of an innovative, community-driven program to improve the health and quality of life of low-income African-American men between the ages of 35 to 70 years by reducing identified social risk factors for chronic disease for these men. The project uses digital storytelling (DST) to encourage African-American men to tell their stories, especially related to stress, gender role stereotypes, and mental and physical health and well-being. Thirty-six men were recruited to participate in one of four DST workshops, which resulted in each participant creating a 2- to 3-minute digital story. In this article, we describe and analyze three salient ethical dilemmas that arose in conducting the Men of Color Health Awareness Moving Forward study DST workshops with African-American men. The dilemmas can be traced to the distinct purposes for which DST can be used, data collection or intervention development, and the trade-offs between protecting and patronizing participants. We discuss potential ways to resolve or circumvent the identified issues.

Neoliberal Burdens for Women in Academy: ‘How Dare We Not Work’

In this article, I discuss the potential of digital storytelling as a site where feminist scholars in academia can get together to reflect upon their concerns about neoliberal burdens in academia. I rely on the recent literature about the feminist interventions in higher education in addition to giving an account of the grass-roots digital storytelling movement around the world and its feminism oriented journey in Turkey. Focusing on the digital stories told at the pre-conference digital storytelling workshop in EMU (Eastern Mediterranean University) immediately before the 5th International Conference on Gender Studies in March 2015, the aim of that digital storytelling workshop was not only to facilitate the creation of digital stories told by feminist academics but also to carry these digital stories into the program of the conference in a special session that hosted both the screening of these digital stories and an open discussion about our neoliberal concerns in academia and everyday life. This article also provides an account of the main discussions and attempts to suggest the digital storytelling workshop as a tool for broadening the interactions between academic and activist feminisms.

Resistance as method: unhappiness, group feeling, and the limits of participation in a digital storytelling workshop

This paper offers a narrative case study of Mirabel, one participant in a digital storytelling workshop for women who were newcomers to Canada, whose experience compelled me to rethink conceptualizations of participation in social justice-oriented, community-based participatory media projects. Drawing on the work of Sara Ahmed, I consider how Mirabel’s resistance to the ‘promise of happiness’ offered by the group was interpreted by others as a failure to participate. Conversely, I suggest that Mirabel’s experience and her digital story are generative for thinking about resistance as a method of participation and a political resource for the group. I argue that conceptualizations of participation should be complicated to include the kinds of agency demonstrated by participants like Mirabel who resist the norms of the digital storytelling workshop and group culture.

This is my story: Latinx learners create digital stories during a summer literacy camp

Educators need to create opportunities to develop English language learners’ (ELLs’) language skills through creative multiliteracy projects, identify ways to avoid summer loss, and harness the potential of parental engagement. The authors propose the use of a creative digital storytelling (DST) project to achieve these goals. The present case study draws upon a new literacy perspective to examine the impact of a DST project on a group of Latinx students in a summer literacy camp. Through examining the process of designing their own family‐inspired digital story, the present study investigates whether a DST workshop, taught within a multiliteracies framework, can (a) serve as a creative space to encourage language use, (b) foster multimodal communicative competence, and (c) engage parents during a summer literacy camp for Latinx students. Specifically, we take multiliteracies as the pedagogical foundation guiding the DST project.

Digital Storytelling With Heroin Users in Vancouver.

As the opioid crisis escalates across North America, photographers are highlighting the gravity of the situation. However, many of their images of people who use drugs are problematic and stigmatizing. This study looks at how digital storytelling (DST) was used in order to assist long-term heroin users taking part in North America's first heroin-assisted treatment program in Vancouver, BC, in amplifying and sharing their personal experiences. DST is a participatory and collaborative process designed to help people share narrative accounts of life events. A total of 10 participants took part in a 3-day DST workshop and eight individuals completed 2 to 3-minute digital stories. Participants demonstrated increased agency in terms of how they represented themselves. Their digital stories disrupt hegemonic representations of heroin users and can help educate the public and decision makers about compassionate and science-based treatments for chronic addiction. Theory, methodology, practical applications, and ethics are discussed.