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Using Digital Storytelling to Unlock Grassroots Knowledge

Public talk 2/7 and Digital Storytelling Workshop 2/8

From Personal to Collective:
Using Digital Storytelling to Unlock Grassroots Knowledge

Public Talk
Thursday, February 7, 2019
4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
UMBC, Fine Arts Building, Room 427


Hands-on Digital Storytelling Workshop
 Friday, February 8, 2019
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
UMBC, Fine Arts Building, Room 427

 
Psychologist Jerome Bruner said that narrative is a “principle by which people organize their experience in, knowledge about, and transactions with the social world.” Stories make information more understandable, memorable, and persuasive, unlocking grassroots knowledge and using the power of emotions to shape decisions. Digital storytelling has also emerged as an effective action research method to engage communities in collective participation and action, grounded in their sense of place and their distinctive cultural knowledge. As a tool, digital storytelling can challenge hierarchies of expertise, amplify unheard voices, and convey important emotions.

Dr. Antonia Liguori Lecturer in Applied Storytelling
School of the Arts, English and Drama
Loughborough University, UK
Arts and Humanities Research Council
      (AHRC) Fellow
Smithsonian Center for Learning and
     Digital Access 

 
Dr. Antonia Liguori will lead a two-part Inclusion Imperative Humanities Teaching Lab on digital storytelling and community-engaged research.
 
On Thursday, February 7th, Dr. Liguori will present a public talk on her journey in co-designing and developing digital storytelling projects that foster collective participation in knowledge production and activism. Based on her work with communities across the globe, Dr. Liguori will offer insight into the potential for digital storytelling to unlock shared knowledge and address critical issues such as climate change, public health, and refugee rights. She will reflect on a recent project that combined digital storytelling with songwriting as a way of translating individual stories about people’s relationship to place into something meaningful for the whole community. 
 
Then, on Friday, February 8th, in a hands-on workshop, UMBC faculty and graduate students will learn some of the key elements of digital storytelling focused on questions of inclusion and justice. They will practice storyboarding and editing audio/visual materials as well as discuss how narrative structure and modes of storytelling vary in the diverse culture contexts in which we work and live. 
 
Registration is required to attend the workshop. Please register by February 1, 2019.

Through the Inclusion Imperative Program, partners UMBC, Bowie State University, Coppin State University, and Howard University are cultivating a regional network of scholars, who are committed to diversity and inclusion in the humanities. Inclusion Imperative Humanities Teaching Labs introduce faculty and students to new media tools and methods for community-engaged humanities teaching and learning experiences.

Questions: Vernise Bolden, Inclusion Imperative Program Associate

Posted: January 10, 2019, 4:14 PM