The ethical complexities of sponsored digital storytelling
Abstract
This article articulates key ethical issues that may arise in sponsored digital storytelling initiatives, projects wherein participants’ stories are used to promote the organization that subsidized their training. Analyzing a digital story from a public health project in the US, the article suggests that sponsored digital storytelling initiatives require participants, facilitators, and those within sponsoring organizations to make complicated ethical judgments about recruiting storytellers, the role of storytellers in the production process, and if and how to represent proximate others in stories. Critical concepts from life writing and documentary studies are used to explore these issues.
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Biographies
Lisa Dush is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse at DePaul University USA, where she teaches courses in new media studies and professional writing. Much of her teaching and research is built around efforts to partner students with community-based organizations, for the collaborative development of new media storytelling projects. She has published chapters on a range of issues related to digital storytelling and new media in several edited collections.
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Article first published online: October 4, 2012
Issue published: November 2013
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Published online: October 4, 2012
Issue published: November 2013
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