Reframing Digital Storytelling as Co-creative

Abstract

This study of the digital storytelling (DST) project at the South Asia Hub of the Pathways of Women's Empowerment Research Programme Consortium examines the capacity of DST practice to articulate women's diverse experiences of empowerment, given the genre's formalities and narrative guidelines. I challenge notions that DST mediation is limited to relationships between the storyteller and the technology, and instead focus on mediation as a co‐creative process. There are at least two overlooked dynamics in DST. The first is how the organisation adopts narrative guidelines to fit their framework and purpose; and second, the social relationships mediating the way actors related to one another in the workshop. I find that the workshop model and specific narrative structure may constrain ways of conveying ‘experience’. Not every participant's experience or mode of narration is readily suited for DST. On the other hand, participants also report DST as useful for strengthening community relationships and opening up a more self‐reflexive space for critical thinking.

“And Then COVID Hit”: (Re)flexibility of Digital Storytelling in Qualitative Health Research

“…This thinking positions the participant as ‘co-constructor’ of knowledge and not only contributes to a greater sense of agency (Alexandra, 2008), it also meant that stories did not represent just the voices of participants but also contained co-created new voices (Gubrium et al, 2014) as researchers and facilitator worked alongside the participant. This reinforced the need for self-awareness in the role of co-creator of data, with the expectation that reflexivity played a key role in the co-construction relationship (Worcester, 2012).…”

Soft skills, stories, and self-reflection: Applied digital storytelling for self-branding

“…Some scholars have recognized the democratizing potential of such facilitated models of digital storytelling, focusing on how digital stories may make the personal public, thereby contributing to greater interpersonal understanding (Couldry, 2008; Spurgeon and Burgess, 2015; Thumim, 2009). Others have noted classical DST’s potential for self-empowerment and strengthening group cohesion, even when its constrained form may prevent participants from telling their stories in ways they themselves deem most appropriate (Worcester, 2012). In classical DST, stories tend to be autobiographical and told in first-person, although this is not always the case (Hertzberg Kaare, 2012).…”