I’ve been part of a discussion on a Facebook digital storytelling group this week about people using DS for research communication.
It seems many researchers don’t see it as useful as it will never be able to convey the complexity of their research topic or methodologies but thought this comment from Karen Diaz from Ohio State Uni summed it up nicely:
We tell people that the story is a good way to “start the conversation” of their work, to emphasize the importance and significance of what they are working on. A digital story is not the place to express methodology or research results, but to help people understand why they/society/the audience should care about the work they are engaged in.
In other words as a way of explaining why this research “matters to me and why it should matter to you.”
It’s something that applies to not just research but any area where communicating effectively with people outside the scope of a project. It’s a tool for public engagement.
What might it look like? Here are a couple of Swedish examples (in English with Swedish subtitles) that were posted by Ragnhild Larsson from Konvoj Produktion.
There are also quite a few examples available from Karen Diaz at Ohio State Uni.
Update: Ragnhild also posted another example produced at the same time by the same production team but with a different style, a more traditional video case study.
I thought they made an interesting comparison. Which do you think works best in terms of your own interest?