“What is my story?”: older people re-framing their lives through digital storytelling. An ethnographic approach

This study sets out to explore the use of digital storytelling with older people in community settings and residential care homes. It seeks to understand how older people experience and engage with the process of digital storytelling and explore how this facilitates the telling of stories from lived experience.
The need for the study flows from an earlier EU-funded project, using digital storytelling with older people to bridge the digital divide. Literature discussing digital storytelling and its application within the contexts of health, education and community engagement are discussed as well as key debates concerning voice and listening. The potential for digital storytelling within narrative research and humanistic gerontology is also explored.
Ethnography was considered the most suitable methodology for the project, resonating with the underlying ethos of digital storytelling and my own practice. A chapter is dedicated to close examination of the digital storytelling process, presenting the ‘classic’ model, discussing its merits and challenges in using with older people. Adaptations made during fieldwork to enable people who had cognitive or physical impairments to participate are presented. These were important developments, to remove barriers and not deny them the opportunity of voicing and being listened to.
Analysis of the stories produced revealed themes concerned with identity and its loss, rituals and attitudes for life, work and gender, glimpses into harsh childhoods and the relationship between nation macro stories and individual micro stories. A thematic analysis drawn from semi-structured group interviews discusses the process as a means to develop empathy, improve confidence and self-esteem, increase understanding of others and provide the space for voicing and deep listening.
The study concludes with a discussion on the affinity between humanistic gerontology and digital storytelling, proposing a collaborative approach to developing a significant body of work within the field of ageing studies, using digital storytelling and placing older people at the centre.