Publishing Digital Stories: A Project Review and Call for Submissions

By Natalie Underberg-Goode

Editor’s Note: As StoryCenter continues to develop and refine new ways of bringing digital storytelling methods into higher education, we are spotlighting the contributions of some of our many collaborators. In this piece Natalie Underberg-Goode, with the University of Central Florida, talks about her efforts to curate stores for one of the university’s online magazines.

Aquifer, The Florida Review’s online literary magazine, is emerging as an innovative space for interdisciplinary publication. The Florida Review, edited by Dr. Lisa Roney at the University of Central Florida (UCF), publishes exciting new work from around the world from writers both emerging and well-known. Aquifer features new literary works on a weekly basis, as well as author interviews, book reviews, visual arts, and digital stories.

In existence for more than 40 years, The Florida Review helps build the careers of young writers such as Jason Arment, whose essay “Two Shallow Graves” is included in The Best American Essays 2017. The Florida Review has been listed in Writer's Digest's “Fiction Fifty,” and creative pieces first printed in our magazine have also been reprinted and awarded “special mention” in The Pushcart Prizes: Best of the Small Presses and several other best American stories collections.

When Roney approached me last year to ask if I would be interested in curating digital stories for the Review’s online publication, I was excited at the opportunity to explore with my students at UCF the possibilities and challenges of identifying digital stories that could form part of this first wave of digital story publication. Taking this idea and running with it, I formed a class project for my students that would involve them in the discussion of this emerging publication trend in a way that engaged directly with the nature of StoryCenter’s approach to digital storytelling.

The project involved reviewing and selecting a corpus of digital stories to be included on Aquifer. The purpose of the assignment was to help students understand the practice of storytelling by applying their knowledge of the seven steps of digital storytelling outlined by Joe Lambert to the solicitation and selection of digital stories; gain experience applying knowledge of major themes in Web 2.0 storytelling to the presentation of digital stories online; and critically engage with scholarly debates surrounding vernacular creativity, digital story curation, and assessment of digital storytelling in educational practice.

The project involved the completion of three mini-projects. For Mini-project #1, students learned about digital storytelling as it is formulated by StoryCenter and reviewed a corpus of digital stories for possible inclusion in The Florida Review online (solicited by me from people I know who teach or work in the areas of digital storytelling). Students then wrote a one-paragraph analysis of each story, drawing on ideas about the seven steps of digital storytelling and considering the question: How does the story make use of the affordances of the digital story form to tell a visual personal narrative?

For Mini-project #2, students reviewed examples of Web 2.0 storytelling and considered how digital storytelling as it is formulated by StoryCenter relates to Web 2.0 storytelling techniques and technologies they learned about through lectures and readings. They then wrote a brief paper in which they answered the question: How would you more fully integrate Web 2.0 technologies, techniques, and themes into the presentation of digital stories that follow the StoryCenter model?

For Mini-project #3, students were familiarized with academic and professional discussions surrounding vernacular creativity, digital story curation, and digital story assessment in educational practice. They then were asked to develop a selection rationale for digital stories to be included in the online portion of The Florida Review. They considered questions such as: How can we determine excellence in digital storytelling practice for stories using the StoryCenter model, if the practice is traditionally understood as democratic and participatory and is therefore something in which everyone, even beginners, can participate? Should factors other than technical excellence be the basis for selection, and if so, how do we articulate this in a way that people wanting to submit their stories can understand? How can the way we feature the digital stories online make use of the affordances of Web 2.0, such as commenting features, hyperlinking, or creating a community around the content enabling us to highlight the meaning of the story to the storyteller and his/her community beyond the bounds of the story itself? Students read and discussed articles by Helen Burgess on vernacular creativity in digital storytelling practice, and Jason Ohler’s work on assessing digital stories in educational practice, to help frame their discussion. In addition, they read a paper by Ana Boa-Ventura that argues for an approach to curating digital stories that honors the non-hierarchical approach of StoryCenter itself.

I have tried, throughout, to maintain at the forefront the particular participatory character of StoryCenter’s approach while also asking my students to help us derive a way to explain how we choose what stories to show online. It’s a delicate balance, in my opinion, and something I’ve tried to turn into a learning experience for everyone, including me.

We have published a number of digital stories so far, beginning, as indicated earlier, with contacts I had developed over the years. Several of the stories submitted for consideration, for example, came from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst’s Anthropology department, including a project directed by Dr. Betsy Krause called "Global Bodies." Digital stories from this project, republished on Aquifer, include a story about a young woman’s efforts to “talk back” to her doctor and reframe the discussion around body image; a young woman’s differing views on the purpose and value of the ritual of applying makeup; and an exploration of how a simple hobby, in this case hula hooping, can serve as a way to introduce one’s identity and passion to others. Another source of initial publications included stories from "Self Narrate," a Gainesville, Florida, group which produces digital stories by narrators that explore a variety of themes, including stories about migrating from Haiti and finding and making a new home in the United States, and the value living a life focused on serving others. Other stories submitted more recently take different approaches to digital storytelling, including a hybrid experimental film/digital story that humorously shares the bumbling romantic overtures of a shy young man, and another young man’s relationship with the trains that run over and under the cities in his life.

Publishing a digital story on Aquifer is an excellent opportunity for digital storytellers and the project and causes with which their stories might be linked, to gain exposure on an international platform. Our submissions numbers have increased since capable UCF student Laura Gonzalez joined the team as digital story curation assistant, but we are always looking for more. In addition to the opportunity to increase the visibility of one’s work through publishing on Aquifer, one digital story each year will receive the Aquifer Annual Digital Story Award with a prize of $50. Submit a digital story for consideration now! The submissions are reviewed by me, our digital story curator, and a team of Digital Media students from the University of Central Florida. For more information, you can visit us online or contact me at Natalie.Underberg-Goode@ucf.edu.