My Family, My Story: Representing Identities in Time and Space through Digital Storytelling

Abstract

Digital storytelling is increasingly used within educational and out-ofschool settings, particularly in informal learning contexts such as afterschool projects and those involving young people. At its simplest, digital storytelling can be a series of still images combined with music or words to create a moving image montage representing feelings and or telling a story. Moving image media can also be used. Editing has become simpler with the use of downloadable software. The process of making digital stories harnesses I/identities, including affect, emotion, and home funds of knowledge (identities), as well as "ways of acting, interacting, feeling, believing, valuing" (Identities) (Abrams & Rowsell, this volume). Digital storytelling is a mode of representation, which offers I/identity possibilities, and a medium for "curating the self" (Potter, 2010), which can then extend the reach of representation for those who might not access meaning-making in school so successfully.Objects can be selected for the story that then can call up home and everyday experience. The choice of music to accompany image and moving image media, as well as choice of font and use of particular photographs, can link to expressions of particular I/identities. This form of text making is linked to image as well as sound, story, and feeling. There is a link between emotion and the particular choices used in telling a story that signal more subjective identities. Digital storytelling involves

Emotions and digital storytelling in the educational context: A systematic review

“…DST and DSs provide an emotional experience for students, teachers and families (Byman et al, 2022; Chen Hsieh, 2021; Chen Hsieh & Lee, 2023; Christiansen, 2011; Gachago, Condy, et al, 2014; Goldingay et al, 2018; Liu et al, 2018; Ng & Nicholas, 2015; Pahl, 2011; Van Galen, 2017). In particular, the story circle of DST is the step in which the most emotional experiences are conveyed and experienced as storytellers begin to articulate stories they have never told before (Van Galen, 2017).…”

“…DST creates an emotionally charged space of engagement for students . Condy Goldingay et al, 2018;Liu et al, 2018;Ng & Nicholas, 2015;Pahl, 2011;Van Galen, 2017). In particular, the story circle of DST is the step in which the most emotional experiences are conveyed and experienced as storytellers begin to articulate stories they have never told before (Van Galen, 2017).…”

“Reflexivity Is Kicking Our Asses”: Tensions in Foregrounding Photographs in a Multimodal Ethnographic Analysis of Participation

“…Analyzing large sets of photographs created for the purposes of understanding participants’ experiences and identity development challenged us to take on and integrate what we argue to be two complementary lenses: multimodality and ethnography. Recently, qualitative researchers conducting multimodal research have continued to turn towards ethnography to deepen their understanding of the complex ways that modal resources emerge, take shape, and are understood by participants in social contexts (Pahl ; Rowsell ; Street et al ). In this section, we provide a snapshot of the central characteristics of methodological approaches to visual analysis from both ethnographic and multimodal perspectives, positing that an ethnographic reflexive approach is complementary to multimodal analysis in their shared valuing of social explanations of the resources that shape the lived experiences of individuals in their “everyday worlds” (Dicks et al , 228; Pink ).…”

“…Much of this research stems from ethnographic studies examining the multimodal literacy practices and communicative environments of participants and draws on participatory methods of image making and photo elicitation to explore both the production of images and their use in constructing participant narratives. For example, in her study of family literacy practices, Kate Pahl (2011) analyzed the modal choices participants made in the construction of their digital storytelling projects and how those modal choices represented aspects of the participants' identities. Pahl examined participant-produced images within the context of the production and subsequent analysis of the digital stories.…”

"When I'm Writing a Story, I Am Really Good" Exploring the Use of Digital Storytelling Technology at Home

“…Stories have been proposed, more broadly, as a human meaning-making tool. They play a critical role in young children's development enabling them to make sense of their lives through the expression and elaboration of their emotions, values, beliefs, knowledge and experiences (Bruner, 2003) (Pahl, 2011). The importance of storytelling has underpinned the development of new interactive technologies that include digital multimodal production tools children use to author, share, and perform their stories (Göttel, 2011) hereafter 'DST' (digital storytelling technologies).…”