Digital storytelling techniques incorporate playfulness, exploration, perspective taking, and collaboration to communicate complex ideas in accessible digital formats. Storythinking enables researchers to translate their disciplinary expertise to new challenges. While many digital research initiatives in the humanities and social sciences focus solely on digital methods and tools, we incorporate the use of digital technologies to tell stories, and the use of stories as a method for scenario-planning digital futures in our research approaches and capacity.
We develop the capacity of HASS researchers in 2 key areas:
- Using digital technologies and media in telling stories and engaging with stakeholders about their researchUsing story-thinking, design-thinking and scenario-based practices to explore, investigate and speculate about research problems related to digital technologies.
- Using story-thinking, design-thinking and scenario-based practices to explore, investigate and speculate about research problems related to digital technologies.
Research Activities
‘Digital Humanitarianism Scenario Lab’: an industry collaboration project with Sebastian Kaempf, School of Political Science and International Studies, 2022. This project identified a unique opportunity to work with Volker Schimmel, the Director of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Global Data Service, to explore how digital capabilities are transforming the global humanitarian sector and its operations. The DCS Scenario Lab enabled Seb to develop an ongoing partnership with Volker and the UNHCR Global Data Service, resulting in the Digital Humanitarianism Hub (forthcoming).
DCS Projects
- ‘Supercharging the WhatIF Lab’: Development of Creative Workshops for Internal and Industry Use’, with Helen Marshall, School of Communication and Arts.
- ‘Queensland Atlas of Religion: harnessing digital storytelling’: with Geoff Ginn and Adam Bowles, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry.
'Preserving First Nations languages through music and digital storying: A pilot project' with Katelyn Barney, School of Music and ATSIS. Music plays an important role in enhancing language preservation and there are a growing number of people who are working to sustain Indigenous languages through music. This pilot project documented they ways a number of individual Indigenous people are using music to sustain languages in digital spaces.
Engagement and Events
‘Introduction to Creative Futurism: Using Speculative Fiction Techniques to Express and Extend Research’, 2023. This one-day workshop, led by Helen Marshall and award-winning speculative fiction writers, guided researchers to learn to use storytelling techniques to imagine possibilities for their research over multiple timeframes and from several perspectives.
Digital Storytelling Workshop Series, 2024. This five part series, open to researchers and higher degree by research students, provided a practical and hands-on digital story making experience. Casey Fung and Dylan Harris, guided researchers to identify the fundamentals elements of narrative and to identify compelling tales within their work. They then assisted the group to learn basic recording and production techniques.
'Affinities: Exploring Potent Connection', 2024. A one day symposium, led by Giselle Newton and co-funded with TASA, on affinities, affects and sensations in humanities and social sciences research.