"Our Stories" Digital Storytelling Training
Project/Program Dates: 2010 - ongoing
The American Indian Health Portal User Group has been working with a woman-owned, native-owned company nDigiDreams for the "Our Stories" digital health stories project. The purpose of the project is to build capacity in the collection of community health and wellness stories for future generations. Digital storytelling emerged as a grassroots movement in the early 1990s. It uses new digital tools to help diverse people create personal narratives that are powerfully compelling and emotionally engaging. It is a community-based, learner-centered approach that combines first person narrative with digital images and music. Digital stories provide alternative views and perspectives that demystify stereotyped representations about indigenous peoples.
Through the trainings by nDigiDreams, 2-5 minute personal narratives are being created by numerous individuals including family members, health specialists, educators, artists, traditional healers, and tribal leaders and include stories being created by youth, adults and elders from our reservations, villages, pueblos, and urban centers.
For the projects, nDigiDreams provided particiapnts a 3-day training in digital storytelling methods and how to use basic equipment and software. Training was also provided on NLM resources by an American Indian Health User Group member or Regional Medical Library (RML) staff. Each participant finishes the training by completing production on their own digital story. Some participants have decided to have their story made available on the American Indian Health Web Portal and the NLM YouTube channel.
nDigiDreams has completed five trainings with:
- Fond du Lac Human Services at Cloquet, Minnesota on February 1-4, 2011 and May 12-13, 2011
- Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan on August 9-11, 2011
- Montana Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council for a Veteran’s project at Billings, Montana on November 1-4, 2011
- Shoshone Women’s Society at Fort Washakie, Wyoming on November 11-13, 2011
Digital Storytelling: A New Media Tool for Engaging American Indians. (PDF, 1.4 MB)
Poster session presented at: Medical Library Association, May 13-18, 2011; Minneapolis, MN.
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