Digital Storytelling as a Community Informatics Approach:
Informal learning and activism in rural communities of place
Dr Sarah Copeland@XarahC
• Scene-setting• Problem-setting• Problem-solving• Stepped approach
Digital Storytelling as a Community Informatics Approach
Community Digital Storytelling
CDST
CDST: Scene-setting
• Digital storytelling as a social movement
CDST: Scene-settingFour attributes (Copeland, 2014)
1. Small-scale, and therefore affordable and accessible; authentic(Lundby, 2008)
2. Creative self-expression free of critical analysis (Alexandra, 2008)
3. The potential to change opinion through listening and intimate communication
(Lambert, 2006; Hartley & McWilliam, 2009)
4. Legitimacy sought through ‘bottom-up’, participatory practice(Carroll & Rosson, 2007; Day, 2005; Gurstein, 2007; Day & Schuler, 2004)
CDST: Problem-setting
• Contemporary rural social issuesBoundaries;
Exploitation;Gemeinschaft – Gesellschaft;
Representation.
CDST: Problem-setting
• Inter-generational imbalance
• Countryside exploitation
• Counterurbanisation
• Voice
• Power play
CDST: Problem-solving
• Barriers to engagement
• Ladder of participation(Arnstein, 1969)
• Stepped process to problem-solving
Citizen Control
Delegated Power
Partnership
Placation
Consultation
Informing
Therapy
Manipulation
Degrees of
citizen power
Degrees of
tokenism
Non-
participation
CDST: Problem-solving
• Authenticity of voice
• Legitimacy of the project
• Synergy from the group, process and artefacts
• A community commons evolving
CDST: Problem-solving
Action! Activism
LearningSense-making
Social Justice
Emp
ower
men
t
CDST: The 5 phase method
1
23
4
5
Preparation
Story telling
Story digitisation
Digital story sense-making
Digital story sharing
5 Phase CDST Method1. Participant seeking2. Topic framing3. Interview
- Meaningful Maps
5. Workshops- Observation- Data gathering
6. Artefact generation
7. Story screening8. Group discussion / interview
9. Story sharing- sharing locally- sharing on-line / globally
4. Story circle
In a CI context, the Story Circle prevails
Thank you!
References:• Alexandra, D., 2008. Digital storytelling as transformative practice : Critical analysis and creative expression in the representation of
migration in Ireland. Journal of Media Practice, 9(2), pp.101–112.• Carroll, J.M. & Rosson, M.B., 2007. Participatory design in community informatics. Design Studies, 28(3), pp.243–261. • Copeland, S., 2014. Digital Storytelling as a Community Informatics Approach: Informal learning and activism in rural communities
of place. Unpublished thesis.• Day, P., 2005. Sustainable Community Technology: The symbiosis between community technology and community research. Journal
of Community Informatics, 1(2) .• Day, P. & Schuler, D., 2004b. Integrating practice, policy and research. In P. Day & D. Schuler, eds. Community Practice in the Network
Society2004. New York: Routledge, pp. 215–229. • Gurstein, M., 2007. What is Community Informatics (and why does it matter?), Milan: Polimetrica. • Hartley, J. & McWilliam, K., 2009. Computational Power Meets Human Contact. In J. Hartley & K. McWilliam, eds. Story Circle:
Digital Storytelling Around the World. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 3–15.• Lambert, J., 2006. Digital Storytelling: capturing lives, creating community 2nd ed., Berkeley: Digital Diner Press.• Lambert, J., 2009. Where It All Started: The Centre for Digital Storytelling in California. In J. Hartley & K. McWilliam, eds. Story
Circle: Digital Storytelling Around the World. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 79–90.• Lundby, K., 2008. Introduction: Digital storytelling, mediatized stories. In K. Lundby, ed. Digital storytelling, mediatized stories: Self-
representations in New Media. New York: Peter Lang, pp. 1–17.