Understanding the media literacy of digital storytelling

Digital Storytelling is a workshop-based process in which participants gain the skills and knowledge needed to tell a personal story using their own words and imagery. This article draws on a MERJ conversation held during the Media Summit 2014 in Prague to deconstruct Digital Storytelling as means to understand the methodology and the stories told using it. It explores three specific themes: Theme A: Process of production – finding the articulate and personal voice Theme B: Crafting the stories – creating meaning in a short form Theme C: Impact – understanding stories as texts and collections Prior to the session, delegates had the opportunity to consider literature covering an overview of digital storytelling practice, and extracts from key academic and practitioner-based texts which address the three themes. Selected stories were shown at the start of the session. The article uses the resultant discussions as a means to explore the specific media literacy of digital storytelling. It looks at the multiple creative processes underpinning Digital Storytelling and considers how they merge together within the individual text to create an individual story that can be viewed in isolation or seen as part of a larger collection of stories.