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110 | Digital Media and Storytelling in Higher Education
vocabulary does not allow for precise expression or when verbal expression
is may be too painful.
According to Lanszki and Horvath (2017), DST can be seen as a
participatory version of classic narrative autobiography research, where the
facilitator-researcher creates a framework in which participants can work
together to (re)construct their life stories. Matthews and Sunderland (2013)
analyzed thousands of digital stories to observe how well they can be used to
obtain data on the quality of life, socio-economic and socio-cultural status of
different social groups or on particular social phenomena. It was found that
biographical data, perspectives, and reflections observably appear in digital
stories Not only verbally but also visually. This can be seen in the way that the
creators of the narratives present their living conditions. Digital stories can also
be regarded as data corpora and are therefore valuable sources for qualitative
sociological and anthropological research, as they reveal life situations and
social structures that cannot be authentically revealed by other methods.
Eglinton, Gubrium, and Wexler (2017) define DST as a qualitative,
transformative, arts-based research tool. It is qualitative in that it makes
ethnographic study possible, and is arts-based in that it involves participants in
text and image creation. It is also transformative in the sense that the process
of DST causes changes in the participants. The participants articulate their
identities, reflect on their roots, and realize their potential for action. They
become aware of their own agency and their capacity for social action; in
this sense, DST can also be viewed as a democratic action.
DST is an excellent tool for creators to express themselves and articulate
their collective group identity. The method is also a critical, participatory
research tool, as the discourses and reflections that take place during the
creative process allow participants to develop a critical attitude towards
their own situation and circumstances. The process is participatory, as the
narrators interact with their peers to construct their individual creations. In
terms of data, dialogues taking place during these workshops can be just as
important for researchers as digital stories.
According to Lambert (2002/2013), DST can help anyone become and
remain ‘somebody. In the discursive process of DST, listening and making
space for the silenced is an act of “[...] making room for the nobodies in
mind to find their somebody at heart so they feel like anybody else” (Lambert,
2002/2013, p. 4). Digital stories created in first person play an important
role in helping participants to experience agency. In the process of DST, the
narrator, feeling agency, consciously interprets the phenomena taking place in
his or her environment and then influences them in order to achieve specific
goals. The narrator becomes aware of his or her social situation when creating
a multimedia text, and tries to develop a solution and a socially constructive
action plan using a narrative schema. This process is aided by the feedback
provided by the co-creators and the facilitator.