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.