This posting is not a how-to guide, but a condensed explanation of what Indigenous digital storytelling is and why it is important.
In the work Story Circle: Digital Storytelling Around the World, the authors of the Chapter “Computational Power Meets Human Contact” state that the term, digital storytelling, may be simply defined as “a…practice in which people…use digital media to create short audio-video stories.” Represented as a social movement, digital storytelling is currently being used across the globe for all sorts of various reasons. It is claimed that digital storytelling’s purpose is “simple and human,” meaning that storytelling is an everlasting tradition. By the means of technology, human narratives have entered into digital age.
Indigenous digital storytelling (aka digital oral storytelling) falls into the above description. For Indigenous cultures, oral storytelling is essential to education and preservation. Storytelling, in this sense, does not mean a tale about a meaningless dinner-date. Instead the narratives told are culturally dependent which include ways of knowing, meaning, and purpose.
Lakehead University Professor and Research Chair in Indigenous Knowledge, Judy M. Iseke produced an article titled “Indigenous Digital Storytelling in Video: Witnessing with Alma Desjarlais.” In this work, Iseke claims that Indigenous digital storytelling blends cultural knowledge and modern ways in a ways that can tell-retell histories while still honouring traditions and ancestors. The four Candian-Aboriginal Elders, including Cree/Metis Alma Desjarlais, that Iseke worked with on her film project (Voices in the Wind Productions) recognize that we are currently living in the Internet age, and thus, understand the importance of digital video and audio stories. Alma’s stories, in particular, invites the audience “to attend to the past and reconsider our futures.”
Informative is a key word associated with this digital history method. Indigenous digital storytelling are meant to educational for the audience. While target audiences can be generally be nonspecific, it may be presumed that there is a desire to attract younger Aboriginal generations. Why — because it encompasses the timeless learning tradition of oral storytelling, historical told by word of mount, between Elders and younger people.
Creators of this digital method do not have restrictions on their informative message. As in, there can be multiple context showcased in a audio-video short. For instance, in “Narrating Aboriginality On-Line: Digital Storytelling, Identity and Healing,” the authors Naomi Adelson & Michelle Olding state that Indigenous digital narratives may be “simultaneously” historical, aspirational, and recuperative. Basically, the contextual process involves blending history, reinforcing Indigenous identity-culture, and promoting a healing process through technological means.
For more information, check out my “Notes” and “Related Websites.” Also, certain provided links below include examples!
Notes:
John Harlem and Kelly McWilliam, “Computational Power Meets Human Contact,” In Story Circle : Digital Storytelling Around the World, ed. John Harlem and Kelly McWilliam (Chichester, UK; Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009) 1-2.
Judy M. Iseke, “Indigenous Digital Storytelling in Video: Witnessing with Alma Desjarlais,” Equity & Excellence in Education 44, no. 3 (2011): 311–29.
Naomi Adelson and Michelle Olding, “Narrating Aboriginality On-Line: Digital Storytelling, Identity and Healing,” The Journal of Community Informatics 9, no. 2 (2013), http://ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/740/1004.
Related Websites:
Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (Concordia University)
Indigenous Australian Voices (ACMI)
Indigenous Stories — Center for Digital Storytelling
Resistance To Residential Schools: Digital Stories (University of Victoria)
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
digital indigenous history 