Annotated Bibilography

Citation:
Hull, G. A., & Katz, M.-L. (August 01, 2006). Crafting an Agentive Self: Case Studies of Digital Storytelling. Research in the Teaching of English, 41, 1, 43-81.
PDF | Article

Summary of Topic

This is a portrait study involving two participates from the San Francisco Bay area and how they used digital storytelling to tell and reflect about a story in their lives.  The researchers were also interested in how this might influence their present identities, circumstances and futures.

Background

Data for this research study was collected from a multi-year digital storytelling project.  It is a comparative case study involving one child and one adult.  The participants used multiple media to articulate pivotal moments in their lives and to reflect on where these moments lead them.

Research Questions

This research study examines how digital storytelling in combination with supportive social relationships and opportunities to participate in a community organization provides powerful means and motivation for giving a voice to the participants.

Methods

These cases studies were conducted over a three-year period from a larger ethnographic project.  The two participates were part of a project called DUSTY (Digital Underground Storytelling for Youth).  The data collected consisted of field notes, participant’s writings, interviews and the final projects that were created.

Findings

The two participates were very different from each other, yet the digital storytelling seemed to position both as authors of a powerful multimedia piece that represents and repositions themselves.  This study helped the researchers to see digital stories not only as a verbal performance that not only reflects social life, but also gives the author the ability to comment on it critically.

Conclusions/Implications

These researchers would like to further their studies on literacy, identity, digital technology and community storytelling.  They want to explore the role of multimedia and multimodality as a powerful form of communication and as a means of reflecting upon self, family, community and social worlds.