Introduction

Narrative approaches to research have gained prominence in academia, particularly in the fields of social science and health. Digital Storytelling (DS) is rapidly becoming recognised as a way for people – especially those whose voices are marginalised – to shape, voice and share their stories.

In this chapter, we discuss the use of DS with older people. We look at the benefits of participation in the DS process before considering how these self-representations – organised, selected and told by individuals and shared on their terms – can break down traditional bureaucratic power structures represented by the notion of ‘archive’.

We present two case studies: one from Patient Voices, which curates and archives digital stories made under its auspices with the intention of transforming health and social care by conveying the voices of those not usually heard to a worldwide audience; and another from DigiTales's work with older people through the transnational action research project Silver Stories, which generated an archive of over 160 stories by older people and those who care for them, from five European countries. ‘Digital storytelling creates new possibilities for participatory and collaborative approaches to discovering and developing new knowledge, re-positioning participants as co‑producers of knowledge and, potentially, as co-researchers’ (Hardy and Sumner, 2018: 11).

Digital storytelling – practice, product, research and archive

Digital stories are short (two to three minutes), first person, multimedia presentations consisting of images, a voiceover, sometimes video and occasionally music or other sound effects. Stories are often created in DS workshops during which storytellers are carefully facilitated to find their stories (participating in a Story Circle), draft scripts, record voiceovers, select suitable images and edit their own short videos. The restrictions imposed by the form require storytellers to focus on what really matters to them; the commitment to empowerment and collaboration required of facilitators ensures that storytellers are helped to tell the story only they can tell and offers them complete control over what goes in and what stays out.