Digital Stories for Civic Engagement
If you have not already delivered the Digital Storytelling unit, do so now.
Have students access the student chapter Digital Storytelling for Civic Engagement.
Explain to students that their groups will be creating a Digital Story on the topic they have chosen. (If you are delivering this lesson on its own, you will need to organize them into groups.)
Their Digital Story will include at least one interview.
Ask students to think about what ethical issues they might encounter when making a Digital Story. To help them reflect on this, have students navigate to the student chapter Edit Ethically and watch the video there and answer the free text question. You can also show it in fullscreen to the class (stop at 2 minutes 30 seconds) and ask the same question: What ethical considerations might we encounter while editing a digital story?
Make sure the discussion includes the following points:
- Each time you take a photograph of someone, take video of a person or publish a quote someone told you in a newspaper or online, you are representing them.
- Representation is a key element of any media we create when we feature people other than ourselves and we need to be aware of it so as not to misrepresent others that may appear in our projects.
- An example of misrepresentation would be to publish an incorrect quote that someone said, leading others to believe that they had one opinion on a given issue, but in fact, they felt another way. Another example would be posting a photo of a friend that they did not give you permission to do.
- In order to avoid hurting people’s feelings or sharing incorrect information when we create media projects, it is always good practice to ask permission to publish or share from your subject before you do. It is your responsibility to represent and treat your subjects with respect and care, as this power is very real and can lead to damaged reputations and feelings.