The Center has managed and participated in a number of large-scale Digital
Storytelling programs, assisting institutions in creating their own
ongoing workshop, production, celebration, and publication processes.
We have worked in 38 states and 16 countries. As we move towards the
future, we continue to look for partners to join us in bringing digital
storytelling to communities, regions, and countries around the world
(see maps of North American and World
travels). We provide a number of case study descriptions of our work
in these areas.
Oral
& Local History
British
Broadcasting Corporation
Cardiff, Wales
In 2001, CDS trained the staff of a new unit in at BBC-Wales/Cymru in
our methods. The project developed into an ongoing program in Digital
Storytelling which has continued to collect hundreds of stories from
throughout the country of Wales. An affiliated program, Telling Lives,
developed in Northern England from 2003-2005, and several additional
projects have grown from this initial collaboration across the United
Kingdom.
Digital
Clubhouse Network
Sunnyvale, CA and New York City
CDS initiated, directed and trained the staff of the Digital Clubhouse
Network from 1996-1999 in programs to work to capture stories with youth,
elders, women, people with disabilities, non-profit health and social
service organizations. The program continues with online projects working
with veterans, www.stories-of-service.org.
War and
Remembrance
Kansas City Symphony, Kansas City, KS
Working with the Symphony and Kansas City based curriculum design company,
the Learning Exchange, CDS assisted in developing a program for the
local schools for a concert dedicated to the issues of war and peace.
Storie de
la Guerra
Inteatro and the Muncipality of Jesi, Italy
CDS
developed a program to capture a dozen stories from local elders about
their experiences in World War II to commemorate the 60th anniversary
of the liberation of the area from Nazi Occupation.
Australian
Centre for the Moving Image
Melbourne, Australia
In 2002, CDS worked with staff at the ACMI to initate a program with
their education department. ACMI has since developed several programs
and projects working with immigrant communities, families facing Alzeimer's
disease, and many other projects.
Plessy
Civil Rights Park
New Orleans, LA
In conjunction with the Crescent City Peace Alliance, Students at the
Center, and the Douglas High School Community Partnership, CDS has been
working with students at Douglas High School to create a series of stories
about New Orleans Civil Rights history to co-incide with the development
of a park commemorating Homer Plessy's historical act of civil disobedience
in 1892.
Community
Building
Storymapping
CDS and various collaborating organizations
StoryMapping is a way of integrating the work of Digital Storytelling
with the emergent tool set of digital mapping technologies now available
to the broad public. Linking narrative and place, StoryMapping can include
building story-based GoogleMaps, developing Windows Live virtual tours,
organizing local cell phone walking tours, and permanently imbedding
stories into locations to be received by Bluetooth and other wireless
information. Through this methodology, maps can now be created that
share stories about the places in which we live and consider important
to our lives.
Managing
Information in Rural America
The W.K.K. Kellogg Foundation
MIRA was a multi-year program assisted grassroots community activists
and organizations in developing technology assessments and development
plans. CDS worked with groups in a dozen small towns across the U.S.
to assist them in reflecting on their organization's work.
Ukiah
PlaceMeant Project
Ukiah Players Theatre, Ukiah, CA
CDS worked with UPT in a series of Digital Storytelling workshops as
part of a community wide process to capture the stories about this small
city in Northern California. The stories were integrated into a theatrical
production in the Fall of 2005 that toured the local area in 2006.
SEIU
Local 660
Los
Angeles, CA
This activist
trade union approached CDS to help develop a digital storytelling facility
and train the staff to assist with capturing the stories of workers
in the health care industry. CDS is working with Local 660 and the Institute
for Change of the SEIU International to assist in bringing these methods
to other locals and organizations within the trade union movement.
K-12
& Higher Education
Tech
Tales
Streetside Stories, San Francisco, CA
CDS joined with the this arts education organization in 2004-05 to facilitate
a program to work with 300 7th grade students. The process adapted Streetside's
traditional writing curriculum, and followed up with the recording and
editing of digital stories by the participants. The second year begins
in 2005-06, and will be evaluated by Wested to access the impact on
student performance.
Downtown
Aurora Visual Arts (DAVA)
Middle school artists in DAVA’s
Computer Art Lab worked with guest artist Daniel Weinshenker of the
Center for Digital Storytelling in Denver to create digital stories
that focus on the concept “The Power of Word.”
National
Gallery of Art
Washington DC
During the three summers, 2003-05, CDS worked with the education staff
of the NGA to introduce educators from across the U.S. to the the use
of Digital Storytelling to discuss art. Participants created stories
that linked personal narratives to work in the NGA collection.
Digital
Underground Storytelling Youth (DUSTY)
Oakland,
CA
Working with
the School of Education at UC Berkeley, CDS staff helped to initiate
this ongoing after school program in low income communities in West
and East Oakland.
Pasadena
Art Center
Pasadena, CA
CDS has helped to provide an annual workshop to the incoming
cohort of Graduate Students in the Media Design program. The immersion
into stories draws students together and has helped to influence the
approach of many students over the two year program.
Pasadena
City College
Pasadena,
CA
In 2003, CDS assisted in creating a week long workshop for
17 area high school students to encourage their exploration of new media
as a profession. The program also worked with several staff members
from PCC and the Armory Center for the Arts.
Public
Health and Youth Services
Silence
Speaks
CDS and various organizations statewide and nationally
Beginning in 2001, the Center has collaborated with nonprofit and grassroots
groups across California and beyond to incorporate digital storytelling
and art therapy principles into efforts to assist survivors and witnesses
of violence and promote violence prevention. Workshops have been held
in the Bay Area, as well as in Redding, Los Angeles, Arizona, and Colorado.
Stories
for Change
CDS, Creative Narrations, Mass Impact and various organizations nationally
For the past few years, CDS has been working with Creative Narrations,
Mass Impact, and groups across the U.S. to develop and maintain this
web-based hub of resources, story examples, and networking focused on
the promotion and expansion of digital storytelling in community development
and community organizing contexts.
Foster Youth
Voices
The Y.O.U.T.H. Training Project, Oakland, CA
This youth development initiative sponsors bi-annual digital storytellng
workshops for current and former foster youth. The stories are then
integrated into the project’s training curriculum, which educates
child welfare workers about the needs of youth living in care.
Stories
by Young Cancer Survivors
HopeLab, San Francisco, California
In April 2007, seven young cancer survivors from across the U.S. participated
in a digital storytelling workshop held in San Francisco. The workshop
was sponsored by HopeLab, as part of its ongoing work to understand
the needs and interests of young people with cancer. The stories are
powerful and illuminating documents of the cancer experience and its
impact on the lives of young people.
Partners
for Fit Youth
Santa Barbara Public Health Dept. and various organizations, Santa Barbara,
CA
This coalition of health and youth agencies sponsored a digital storytelling
workshop in which middle school and high school youth told stories about
eating, body image, and physical activity. The stories are being used
to educate school officials and local policymakers about the need to
support environments conducive to healthy nutrition and fitness.
International Health and Development
“A
Better Life Than Me”: Stories of Labour Migration in Southern
Africa
International Organization for Migration (IOM), Johannesburg, South
Africa
In March, 2007, CDS worked with IOM and the Market Photo Workshop to
assist a group of eight men and women from countries in Sub-Saharan
Africa in sharing stories that recount hardships and celebrate achievements
related to every day migrant struggles for safety and dignity. The stories
are being used in trainings and community settings to promote compassion
and an understanding of the obstacles and risks faced by labor migrants
and anyone forced to move in order simply to survive.
“Learn
From My Story”: Women Confront Fistula in Rural Uganda
The ACQUIRE Project, Masaka, Uganda
CDS partnered with ACQUIRE in August 2007, to coordinate a digital storytelling
workshop for Ugandan women who have experienced obstetric fistula. The
resulting stories, told in Ugandan languages with English subtitles,
explore women’s daily struggles with pregnancy, loss, relationships,
and the search for safety, acceptance, and dignity. The project also
interviewed health providers involved in fistula repair. Together, these
media pieces are being used to demonstrate the critical role that community
members, the health sector, and policymakers have in supporting fistula
prevention.
The
Digital Hero Book (DHB) Project
REPSSI, Cape Town, South Africa
For the past two years, CDS has been working with the DHB to develop
methods for bringing paper “Hero Books” – collections
of short stories written and illustrated by young people to explore
their challenges and potentials – into the digital realm. Pilot
workshops have been held in Cape Town and in Arua, Uganda. The stories
are a testament to the strength and courage of young people globally.
Men
As Partners (MAP)
EngenderHealth, Johannesburg/Cape Town, South Africa
In July 2005, CDS's Silence Speaks
project traveled to South Africa to conduct two digital storytelling
workshops with staff and volunteers from the MAP Network. These stories
are being shown in trainings and public community screenings throughout
South Africa, to promote the MAP Network’s efforts to involve
men in ending gender-based violence and preventing HIV/AIDS.
Spanish
Language Projects
Contando
Nuestras Historias (Telling Our Stories)
The Latina Center, Richmond, CA
Funded by the California Council for the Humanities, this project supports
digital storytelling with participants of the Latina Center’s
Mujeres, Salud y Liderazgo program. Participants will create stories
about their immigrant experiences and their unique contributions to
the Bay Area’s Latino community, where their leadership has supported
cultural arts and health promotion activities.
