Digital Storytelling in a Year of Great Changes

• On December 17, 2020, Equal Access International — Philippines has invited me to speak with young peace advocates for Mindanao in a tech camp. I discussed about the importance of digital storytelling in a year when significant changes happened. This is the text version of my talk.

Great changes happened this year. Before 2020 started, many were expecting that activities usually done in the previous year will push through just like every year. Then the pandemic happened. Many plans were postponed, rescheduled, or entirely put on hold. While we can think of ways when it could have been prevented, it’s not really productive to regret over the things we can’t control. All we have to do is to accept it. Yet people still find ways to connect with each other through the most accessible tool in modern technology — the internet.

You may have witnessed that many of the usual activities have shifted online. Social media has become a prevailing platform to sustain virtual events. In previous months, meetings still took place, businesses promoted their products, and students learned without visiting their campuses. Most of these happened through online outlets. With these changes, you may realize by now the relevance of the digital platform today. Although there may still be some related disadvantages, the platform can be utilized with good intention for a greater positive impact.

One common advantage that social media brings apart from connecting people is the information that we receive through digital content. However, the content varies. Depending on the social media user, digital content can take the form of text, video, audio, or images. Yet these are the most basic among the variety. What makes digital content stand out is the message that contributes to the impact.

How do you know if the content has impact? The message always counts. This is where storytelling matters.

Dr. Brenda Gladstone, assistant professor of the University of Toronto’s School of Public Health, traces the origin of digital stories. She explains that digital stories first started in the 1990s as a way “to provide a voice to individuals marginalized by mainstream and institutionalized media.” Digital stories began as a community development art initiative that soon evolved to empower communities. With the technology they had back then, people’s access to information was limited. Unlike today, they didn’t have the opportunity to get updated with the latest information in real time.

In the present-day, when social media and the internet have been heavily integrated into our current lives, digital storytelling has become the norm. Anyone can post anything online.

Digital storytelling can vary according to social media sites. By knowing how these social media sites work, the user can apply techniques that will lead their content to more impactful results. Facebook is a diverse platform where you can post all kinds of content — from text to video and photos. Twitter follows the same format, but it doesn’t have the common features that Facebook has. These features include groups and the chat section. Instagram focuses on images and short video clips. YouTube is probably the most popular video platform on the internet, but newer apps like TikTok focus on short form videos with customizable effects. Whatever content there is online, the user almost always has full control on what to post, share, and promote.

As a community leader, how can you create compelling stories and use the available platforms to amplify them?

Storytelling requires a keen sense of observation and a curious mindset. These traits will help you discover more aspects and knowledge about your community than you already know. You may draw inspiration from your personal experiences, but turning your story into one that gives new insight to people and spark their engagement requires you to set out into your community and find any relevant issue, event, or reality that needs to be told. In this way, you are able to shed light on topics that many do not know yet or may have known already but not properly understood.

Photographer and journalist Jim Jorstad said that stories are just right in front of us. All we need to do is to “take the passion and initiative to tell them.”

With this advice come the guiding questions. What are some issues that your community is dealing right now? Who are the people who can address these issues based on their expertise? What can people who do not belong in that community do to help? While these questions are geared towards finding solutions to overcome your community’s challenges, you can also find other ways to promote your community by highlighting its interesting aspects. What are the traditions that bind your community together? What are the factors that keep it whole?

When you know your community well enough to create a compelling story, the process doesn’t have to stop there. Social analyst and communicator Ashley Fell enumerated several factors that make up for a great story:

A great story captures our interest. In 2015 and 2018, we celebrated the crowning moments of Filipina beauty queens Pia Wurtzbach and Catriona Gray during their respective Miss Universe pageants. Why do these stories interest us? When a Filipino wins an international competition, our country receives recognition from around the world.

A great story instructs us. One example is the proper way to use a face mask. When wearing it out in public, it has to cover the both the nose and the mouth. Why does this matter to us? Because it’s for health and safety protocols in a time when everyone is vulnerable during a pandemic.

A great story involves us. When two typhoons hit the Philippines this year, donations poured in because there were people who have lost their homes, loved ones, and their certainty for safety and security.

Lastly, a great story inspires us. The typical rags to riches story we often find in fairy tales is a reflection of people in the real world who achieved great things in life despite all the challenges that they had to overcome.

When it comes to finding the right stories, it is best to keep truth and accuracy on our side. One downside of social media is the possibility of manipulating facts. While the user has full control of producing valuable content, this freedom has to be complemented with responsibility. That includes underscoring the truth in our stories, respecting your subject or source’s consent, and discerning whether the post has information that is helpful or harmful to the receiver.

Finding compelling stories is digging deep into the surface of general knowledge. We know that this year has been heavily affected by the pandemic. But how does your community cope with it? How do the people around you feel? By discovering specific truth and experiences amidst the general knowledge, we can find stories that will help us understand each other.

This year has seen a lot of significant changes. These events have either changed our perception about the world or made us appreciate the little things in life. But as long as there is life, there’s always a story to tell. Digital platforms have become an effective avenue to amplify these stories. With your access to social media sites and your capability to share information, how can you make the most of this advantage to support your community?