A B S T R A C TDigital storytelling (DST) is being increasingly used in a range of contexts to exploit current technological capabilities of capturing and reproducing community stories. Methods of storytelling collection are typically realized over short time frames of days or weeks, and appropriate visual images and interview data produce multimodal outputs. A particular stream of work has developed in community-based DST around intergenerational storytelling in environments where student researchers may work with older storytellers in culturally diverse urban settings. DST also emphasizes the participatory nature of the process and outcomes with respect to enabling untold but significant stories to emerge, and technical and storytelling skills to be transferred to participants through the process. This article addresses the particular concerns of relationship building and the pedagogical aims of training students to carry out research using this participatory DST research approach where intergenerational and cultural issues are foregrounded. In the conclusion, the author reflects on this particular focus and the shortcomings of the project with regard to the substantive participatory and democratic benefits exemplified by other projects; he also provides evidence of the other achievements of this project in an intergenerational project supported by an inner-city health organization in Melbourne, Australia.

This article discusses the use of an accessible visual notation system that represents the melodic component of an electronic music composition in acid house music, based on programming the Roland TB-303 bassline synthesiser’s sequencer. This notation system can be used for sharing, composition, collaboration and archival purposes. This system is called an acid pattern. The article analyses a variety of different approaches to communicate acid patterns. It examines the requirements and visual elements used and how they relate directly to the functionality of the Roland TB-303’s sequencer. Through content analysis of images, text and audio data gathered from various music community websites this article furthers the understanding of how the practices and cultures of acid house music composition, notation and archiving are shared online and how they, enabled by web-based technologies, can build communities. This article suggests important possibilities for communities of practice-based around a shared cultural identity, accessible notation systems, and the creation and recreation of music in both online and offline contexts.

Community-engaged design is often framed as a binary opposite to commercial design. Whereas commercial design is usually characterized as a market-led paradigm focused on profits, community-engaged design is seen as a socially useful design paradigm that is concerned with addressing societal needs. This study uses qualitative data from four design project case studies to explore whether this understanding is in fact consistent with current design practices within commercial design studios. The findings of this study demonstrate that both commercial and community-engaged design practices are more similar than different. In addition, it is also suggested that it is not only the clients’ instructions and the commissions that determine the designers’ processes and practices, but the design studios’ intent, practice and values. This study has a number of practical implications for designers and design studios in how they address commercial and community-engaged design work.

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