"Digital Storytelling [aims to] radically improve public conversation in the U.S. and around the world" - StoryLab (Center for Digital Storytelling)
"Digital Storytelling is the modern expression of the ancient art of storytelling"
- The Digital Storytelling Association
An Introduction to this project
For my final project in my Visual Research Methods class at Claremont Graduate University, I analyze how students who study abroad utilize digital storytelling. As defined by Knut Lundby, digital storytelling includes small-scale video productions often made by amateurs and include narrations that mediate self-represetnation. I want to look at why digital storytelling is a preferable method of communication for sharing and reflecting on the study abroad experience. In addition, I will explore the pros and cons affiliated with using digital storytelling to reflect upon time spent by students abroad. Throughout this website, I reflect both upon digital storytelling efforts made by students from various universities and community colleges that I found online as well as my own personal study abroad experience to Paris, France in 2008.
What is digital storytelling?
Digital storytelling involves the "digitization of ordinary people's stories displayed on publicly available websites, made through cultural institutions in society" (Lundby, 2). Digital storytelling is typically produced in small, intensive workshops. This is because the digital storyteller is usually someone who has little to no prior experience working with digital technology or video production. In participating in a workshop, individuals work to use their own voice to engage in community building, education, advocacy and the act of preserving oral histories. Through mobilizing people together online, geographical borders are no longer barriers for creating and distributing these short films. Our CLST 455 class specifically focused on how digital storytelling raises questions about authority, authenticity, ethics, scalability, and the evolution of new media. Furthermore we also discussed how this new media practice can be utilized in the academic world. Throughout this website, I take these discussion points into account as I take a further look at how digital storytelling helps students gain insight from their experiences. Digital storytelling has the potential to not only enhance personal technological proficiency, but has also opened the doors for new opportunities by allowing students to tell others about their own experiences while simultaneously self-reflecting upon what their time abroad meant to them.