Abstract
Digital storytelling is a new media form that was developed originally in relation to performance art, social justice and activism. This chapter explores digital storytelling not only as a form of creative work, but also as a participatory research methodology that bridges the gap between researcher and practitioner, and as a method for evaluating community development. Interactionz, a Hamilton-based community organisation that works with people with disabilities, has developed a customised model called Person Driven Practice (PDP). PDP is a facilitative model of service delivery based on the citizenship model of disability, in which people with disabilities have choice and control over the supports they receive and the lives they lead as valued citizens in their own communities. This chapter explores the usefulness of digital storytelling as an evaluation method in the context of PDP. The researchers report on the capability of digital storytelling as a methodology: to capture and evaluate the quality of life of the people served by Interactionz; to assist in the development of best-practice guidelines of PDP; to document and analyse the organisational transition of Interactionz from a service driven model to a person driven model; and to facilitate the creation of an empowering community narrative for people with disabilities. The chapter concludes with a critical reflection on the research methodology. The authors discuss how the mixed methods of digital storytelling in a facilitated workshop, interviews and participant observation have been particularly appropriate where social relationships, belief and meanings are the main focus of the research.
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Notes
- 1.
Person driven practice is a phrase coined by Interactionz in 2007 to emphasize the intentional shift in the locus of control from services, the traditional holders of power, back to people. Person driven practice emerged from Interactionz understanding of person-centred planning (O’Brien & Lyle O’Brien, 1988).
- 2.
Web 2.0 refers to web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, user-centred design and allows interaction and collaboration in a virtual community. Web 2.0 can be contrasted to websites where users are passive viewers rather than active creators of content. Social networking sites, blogs, wikis, video sharing sites, hosted services and web applications are all examples of Web 2.0.
- 3.
The two stories referenced in the paper are included in full on the Interactionz website and can be accessed at interationz.org.nz/home/cfm. We have integrated the screen grabs into the text rather than separate them as figures to represent the nature of a digital story.
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Bliss, E., Fisher, J. (2014). The Journey to a Good Life: Exploring Personal and Organisational Transformation Through Digital Storytelling. In: Rinehart, R., Barbour, K., Pope, C. (eds) Ethnographic Worldviews. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6916-8_8
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