Digital Storytelling as Public History

A Guidebook for Educators

Christina Fisanick, Robert O. Stakeley

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000284805
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Teaching History

Digital Storytelling as Public History: A Guidebook for Educators provides a practical methodology for teaching public history in the digital age.

Drawing on a long-standing collaboration, Fisanick and Stakeley examine how and why educators in all arenas should adopt digital storytelling as a means for encouraging interest in local and regional history. The book shows readers how to implement the strategies necessary to help storytellers in a variety of settings create short films that showcase the collections at local and regional historical societies and museums. It also teaches storytellers higher executive functions, such as independent project management, peer and self-critique, and rhetorical savviness. By guiding storytellers through this process of creating public history digital stories, the book enables them to become connected to communities, improve their understanding of regional history, and expand their knowledge of the preservation of historical artifacts.

Supported by online handouts and offering a comprehensive methodology for educators, this is the ideal guide for those teaching public history in the digital age across a range of educational settings, including the classroom, museum and community.

1
THE ART AND PRACTICE OF DIGITAL STORYTELLING

Although a writing professor and a museum professional may seem like unlikely partners, we have discovered that we have much in common in both the missions of the organizations that we serve and our own academic endeavors. Christina Fisanick has been teaching college writing for over two decades and discovered the power of digital storytelling through a StoryCenter workshop at a conference in Louisville, Kentucky. In 2010 she earned a certificate in digital storytelling from the University of Colorado at Denver and is currently an associate professor of English at California University of Pennsylvania. Robert Stakeley, a former librarian, archivist, and educator, is the manager of the affiliates program at the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He enjoys inspiring people of all ages to explore local and regional history via primary sources. Through these mutual interests and aspirations, we have created what has become a successful, long-running collaboration that has served our organizations and the communities in our region.

In a culture in which we have grown accustomed to consuming information and entertainment in short, dense packages, it should be no surprise that those of us who create this content and teach others to do the same have had to reevaluate the ways in which we do so. We have found that the fusion of digital storytelling and public history serves that purpose incredibly well. We invite you to explore the potential of this powerful combination and try it for yourself. We hope this story of our journey gives you the inspiration and the tools necessary to create your own model of teaching and learning about history through digital storytelling.

FIGURE 1.1 Robert Stakeley and Christina Fisanick introducing California University of Pennsylvania Honors students to World War II veterans (photo credit: Loring Prest).

Digital Storytelling: A Short History

In brief, digital stories are short (2–5-minute) videos that rely on still and moving images, a soundtrack, narration, and other components to tell a story. Digital storytelling expands the concept of telling a story by using technology not just to enhance the story but to fundamentally change the process and product. Most important, digital storytelling, as we refer to it in this book, is about harnessing technology to empower people with limited multimedia skills and resources to tell and share powerful stories from their own perspectives and in their own words.

Although these types of multimedia projects can be referred to by different names, including digital essays, interactive storytelling, digital storybooks, digital documentaries, electronic memoirs, and many more, we prefer the name digital storytelling, especially as it is understood and taught by early digital storytelling pioneers, Joe Lambert and the late Dana Atchley.

Digital storytelling began as a grassroots movement in the early 1990s by theater producer Joe Lambert and media producer and digital artist Dana Atchley, who worked together to teach others how to harness the power of then-new technology to tell stories enhanced by digital components. Computers had become affordable, as had other equipment, such as microphones and photo scanners. Inspired by the “art is for everyone” movement of the 1960s and 1970s, Lambert and Atchley worked with other talented community organizers in the San Francisco Bay area to merge technology with storytelling. Eventually, their collaboration led to the formation of the Center for Digital Storytelling in 1998, which became StoryCenter in 2015.

At the heart of Lambert and Atchley’s methods is the belief that anyone can use digital storytelling to tell and share powerful stories about themselves, their community, and the world. A key tenet of their philosophy undergirds our work as well: authorial intention and content are far more important than polished final products. In fact, we have found that audiences are more likely to connect to digital stories that appear novice-made rather than professionally produced. Audiences can feel the storyteller coming through in voice-cracking, blurry images, and other perfect imperfections. Although we strive to help our storytellers create the highest quality digital story possible, the human fingerprint that comes from everyday people using unfamiliar tools to tell their stories adds a layer of authenticity no polished product could ever provide.

Like Lambert and Atchley, we believe strongly that helping storytellers understand the creative process of telling a story is just as important (or even more so) than the final product. Given that our storytellers learn how to create digital stories through personal narrative, we construct an environment in which storytellers are positively supported by their workshop mates, instructors, and community partners as they work through the steps needed to go from idea to finished story. By doing so, we demonstrate value in the person and the story they are telling, which ultimately yields more powerful content. As Lambert says in the sixth edition of Digital Storytelling: Story Work for Urgent Times, digital storytelling is “a participatory media practice.” We believe the content of this book bears out that philosophy.

In addition, by creating a community that nurtures and respects the disparate voices of others, our storytellers feel compelled to be honest and genuine in their projects and not tainted by institutional goals and objectives. Those values, then, transfer to the public history digital stories that storytellers create later in the semester. We have found that it is essential that the instructors be openly vulnerable as well by showing their own personal digital stories as models of potential storytelling styles. Not only does being vulnerable send an important message to storytellers about the value of authenticity in story creation, it also encourages them to tell stories that mean something to them.

Many times storytellers will tell us that they have nothing to say; nothing has happened to them that is worth writing down. But we know that everyone has a story to tell. In these instances, we encourage our storytellers to follow StoryCenter's lead and “listen deeply.” In other words, when storytellers feel incapable of telling their own stories, listening intently and compassionately to the stories of others can be just the catalyst needed to find a story they want to tell.

The impact of Lambert and Atchley’s work and the instructors they employ through StoryCenter is challenging to calculate. In the past twenty-five years, thousands of students around the world have learned how to tell stories through their workshops and outreach. And many of those students have gone on to teach others those same techniques. In many ways, digital storytelling has become a powerful movement that has made space for voices that might otherwise be lost to us all. In addition, widespread internet availability has allowed those stories to reach audiences that would have been inaccessible not long ago.

Although much of the work that has been done and that continues being done by StoryCenter has focused more specifically on personal narratives, digital storytelling is also used to tell community stories. In fact, some of StoryCenter’s most recent work has been engaging community storytellers to create public health digital stories to highlight issues in our global healthcare for patients and caregivers alike. We have easily adapted the philosophy, values, and techniques developed and perfected by StoryCenter to public history. The hows and whys of creating those kinds of digital stories make up the bulk of this book.

The Benefits of Digital Storytelling

Digital storytelling is now being used around the world in a variety of different settings. From the community center to the boardroom to the classroom, digital storytelling has become a tool embraced by thousands of instructors and storytellers. A closer look at the benefits of digital storytelling reveals why it has taken hold in so many venues.

How to Tell a Story

Digital storytelling at once embraces traditional storytelling techniques and multimedia ones as well. No set formula exists for digital stories, but in general, basic story structure is used. That is, a dramatic question (or hook), story details, story climax (or change), and resolution. Storytellers learn not only how to use story structure in their own digital stories but to look for it in the work of others. We spend a great deal of time at the beginning of the term watching and critiquing digital stories, and we focus on story structure. We look not only for how it is used, but for how it is adapted to suit the needs and desires of the story and its teller.

Critical Thinking

Beyond basic story structure, digital storytellers learn how to use multimedia methods to tell their stories and learn that they must choose wisely. Storytellers must use rhetorical choices to tell their stories in the best way possible. For example, too many sound effects can lessen the impact of a story. In addition, pictures that transition too slowly can bore and distract the audience from the story’s message. Learning how to tell an effective digital story means making critical decisions about background music, slide transitions, tone of voice, and other elements based on purpose, audience, and other rhetorical decisions. Unlike traditional writing projects, digital stories are often shared on social media, which means that storytellers must be aware of an audience that reaches far beyond their usual boundaries.

Digital Literacy

Most storytellers have knowledge of social media, including YouTube, word processing programs, and other software. Few are familiar with movie-making programs and techniques. Even fewer have critically considered the kinds of decisions required to make effective digital arguments like those created by digital stories. Through the process of creation, storytellers learn how to navigate software and social media platforms—skills that transfer to future projects. In addition to learning how to be more effective consumers of digital media, storytellers learn how to become producers as well.

"In Their Own Words

“Digital storytelling has definitely changed the way I think about writing. Now, when I write, I imagine it being read as a script. This aids in the proofreading process and makes me an overall more efficient writer. While there is a heaping handful of reasons I liked about making digital stories, I would say my favorite aspect is the topics of research. By assigning groups to surrounding historical societies, we are becoming immersed in knowledge, experience, and hands-on learning. Working with adults gives students the opportunity to practice professionalism early on.” Amanda Considine, digital storyteller"

The Writing Process

Most storytellers come to digital storytelling with a sense of how writing works. They know that you think of an idea, you write a draft, and then you polish that draft. The digital storytelling process, though, illuminates those stages of creation and prompts storytellers to think critically about how and why they write the way they do. Digital storytellers routinely remark about the extensive nature of revision required to create projects with which they are satisfied, and they easily discuss other steps in their process, especially as they compare and contrast digital storytelling with writing a traditional essay.

Collaborative Learning

Even if storytellers create only their own individual stories, collaboration remains a central part of the creative process. From whole-class critiques of completed digital stories to discussions of software choices and methods, storytellers quickly realize the value in learning from others. We used to believe that collaboration in digital storytelling took place primarily in the story circle (small group script critique), but we have learned that collaboration plays a significant role throughout the composing process from idea generation to storyboarding to software troubleshooting to creating the final draft.

References

• Lambert, Joe, and H. Brooke Hessler. Digital Storytelling: Story Work for Urgent Times. 6th ed., Digital Diner Press, 2020.
• “Our Story.” StoryCenter, www.storycenter.org/about/.

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TEACHING THE PERSONAL DIGITAL STORY

We begin each semester by introducing students to digital storytelling by having them create a personal story. Not only is the process an excellent exercise in self-expression, it provides students wit...