What is Digital Storytelling?

"Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity...when we reject the single story, when we realize that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise."

- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Danger of a Single Story

Digital storytelling refers to the process of developing personal narratives based on certain life experiences. Those stories are supported by a combination of text, audio recording, images, music and animation to create short films. By using multimedia, digital storytelling brings what would have otherwise been a traditional, written story to life.

Digital Storytelling Examples

UM-Dearborn Speaks: UM-Dearborn's own digital storytelling project. Over the course of two years, a group of students worked with the Mardigian Library and EXP+ to develop and share digital stories exploring their identities, purpose, and communities.