skip to main content
10.1145/3328320.3328400acmotherconferencesArticle/Chapter ViewAbstractPublication Pagesc-n-tConference Proceedingsconference-collections
short-paper

Comic-based Digital Storytelling for Self-expression: an Exploratory Case-Study with Migrants

Published: 03 June 2019 Publication History

Abstract

In this paper, we report on an exploratory case study investigation of a digital storytelling intervention conducted with young adult male migrants in a reception center in Italy. The investigation explores how comic-based storytelling supported by a digital tool, named Communics, can facilitate migrants in producing narratives for self-expression and support them in reflecting on real-life examples of discrimination. In a first phase, focus groups with NGO operators were organized for negotiating the goals and the boundaries of the intervention. Then, semi-structured interviews with migrants were conducted to define both graphical and textual content on which to base the storytelling activity. In a second phase, we conducted a pilot study with young adult male migrants aimed at investigating the storytelling experience as a reflective process. The empirical findings provide evidence that digital storytelling based on comics can facilitate the narration practice and indications for future development of Communics. We also describe the main challenges experienced in undertaking fieldwork and in involving the migrant community.

References

[1]
D. Andrews and C. Baber. 2014. Visualizing Interactive Narratives: Employing a Branching Comic to Tell a Story and Show Its Readings. In Proc. of the 32nd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1895--1904.
[2]
Roy F Baumeister and Leonard S Newman. 1994. How stories make sense of personal experiences: Motives that shape autobiographical narratives. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 20, 6 (1994), 676--690.
[3]
Marina U. Bers, Joseph Gonzalez-Heydrich, and David Ray DeMaso. 2001. Identity Construction Environments: Supporting a Virtual Therapeutic Community of Pediatric Patients Undergoing Dialysis. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '01). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 380--387.
[4]
Fisher E. K. Bishop A. P. 2015. Using ICT Design to Learn about Immigrant Teens from Myanmar. (2015), 56.
[5]
J. Bobeth, S. Schreitter, S. Schmehl, S. Deutsch, and M. Tscheligi. 2013. User-Centered Design between Cultures: Designing for and with Immigrants. Human-Computer Interaction -- INTERACT 2013 (2013), 713--720.
[6]
Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke. 2014. What can âĂIJthematic analysisâĂİ offer health and wellbeing researchers? International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being 9 (2014).
[7]
Virginia Braun, Victoria Clarke, Nikki Hayfield, and Gareth Terry. 2019. Thematic analysis. Handbook of Research Methods in Health Social Sciences (2019), 843--860.
[8]
Jill P Dimond, Michaelanne Dye, Daphne LaRose, and Amy S Bruckman. 2013. Hollaback!: the role of storytelling online in a social movement organization. In Proceedings of the 2013 conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM, 477--490.
[9]
A. Duarde, N. Brendel, A. Degbelo, and C. Kray. 2018. Participatory Design and Participatory Research. 25 (2018).
[10]
Yafi E. Fisher K. E., Yefimova K. 2016.: "FutureâĂŹs Butterflies:" Co-Designing ICT Wayfaring Technology with Refugee Syrian Youth. (2016), 25--36.
[11]
Magassa L. Fawcett P Fisher K.E., Bishop A. P. 2014. Action! Co-designing interactive technology with immigrant teens. (2014), 345--348.
[12]
Phillip L Hammack. 2008. Narrative and the cultural psychology of identity. Personality and Social Psychology Review 12, 3 (2008), 222--247.
[13]
Caneel K Joyce. 2009. The blank page: effects of constraint on creativity. Available at SSRN 1552835 (2009).
[14]
H. Lindelmann Nelson. 2001. Damaged Identities, Narrative Repair. Cornell University Press.
[15]
S. McNicol. 2017. The potential of educational comics as a health information medium. Health Information & Libraries Journal 34 (2017), 20--31.
[16]
E. Mencarini, G. Schiavo, A. Cappelletti, O. Stock, and M. Zancanaro. 2015. Assessing a Collaborative Application for Comic Strips Composition. Human-Computer Interaction -- INTERACT 2015 (2015), 73--80.
[17]
E. Mencarini, G. Schiavo, O. Cappelletti, A. Stock, and M. Zancanaro. 2014. Formative Evaluation of a Constrained Composition Approach for Storytelling. In Proc. of the 8th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (NordiCHI '14). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 987--990.
[18]
J. Prins, F. Polletta, J. Stekelenburg, and B. Klandermans. 2015. Exploring Variation in the Moroccan-Dutch Collective Narrative: An Intersectional Approach. Political Psychology 36 (04 2015).
[19]
N. Rapport. 1995. Migrant Selves and Stereotypes: Personal Context in a Postmodern World. (1995), 267--82.
[20]
Carolina Beniamina Rutta, Gianluca Schiavo, and Massimo Zancanaro. 2018. Interactive Comic-Based Digital Storytelling for Self-expression. In International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling. Springer, 657--661.
[21]
Carolina Beniamina Rutta, Gianluca Schiavo, and Massimo Zancanaro. 2018. Interactive Digital Storytelling and Self-expression in the Context of Young Male Migrants. In International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling. Springer, 621--626.
[22]
M. Umaschi. 1996. SAGE Storytellers: Learning About Identity, Language and Technology. In Proc. of the 1996 International Conference on Learning Sciences (ICLS '96). International Society of the Learning Sciences, 526--531.
[23]
UNHCR. 2018. With 1 human in every 113 affected, forced displacement hits record high. http://www.unhcr.org/afr/news/press/2016/6/5763ace54/1-human-113-affected-forced-displacement-hits-record-high.html
[24]
A. Weibert and V. Wulf. 2010. "All of a sudden, we had this dialogue...:" Intercultural computer clubs' contribution to sustainable integration. (2010), 93--102.

Cited By

View all
  • (2024)ID.8: Co-Creating Visual Stories with Generative AIACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems10.1145/367227714:3(1-29)Online publication date: 2-Aug-2024
  • (2020)Visual Storytelling by Novelette2020 24th International Conference Information Visualisation (IV)10.1109/IV51561.2020.00126(723-728)Online publication date: Sep-2020

Index Terms

  1. Comic-based Digital Storytelling for Self-expression: an Exploratory Case-Study with Migrants

    Recommendations

    Comments

    Information & Contributors

    Information

    Published In

    cover image ACM Other conferences
    C&T '19: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Communities & Technologies - Transforming Communities
    June 2019
    375 pages
    ISBN:9781450371629
    DOI:10.1145/3328320
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

    In-Cooperation

    • OCG: Oesterreichische Computer Gesellschaft
    • TU Wien: TU Wien
    • EUSSET: European Society for Socially Embedded Technologies

    Publisher

    Association for Computing Machinery

    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    Published: 03 June 2019

    Permissions

    Request permissions for this article.

    Check for updates

    Author Tags

    1. Case study
    2. Counterstory
    3. Digital Storytelling
    4. Human-computer interaction
    5. Migrants
    6. Self-expression

    Qualifiers

    • Short-paper
    • Research
    • Refereed limited

    Conference

    C&T 2019

    Acceptance Rates

    C&T '19 Paper Acceptance Rate 29 of 59 submissions, 49%;
    Overall Acceptance Rate 80 of 183 submissions, 44%

    Contributors

    Other Metrics

    Bibliometrics & Citations

    Bibliometrics

    Article Metrics

    • Downloads (Last 12 months)61
    • Downloads (Last 6 weeks)5
    Reflects downloads up to 18 Feb 2025

    Other Metrics

    Citations

    Cited By

    View all
    • (2024)ID.8: Co-Creating Visual Stories with Generative AIACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems10.1145/367227714:3(1-29)Online publication date: 2-Aug-2024
    • (2020)Visual Storytelling by Novelette2020 24th International Conference Information Visualisation (IV)10.1109/IV51561.2020.00126(723-728)Online publication date: Sep-2020

    View Options

    Login options

    View options

    PDF

    View or Download as a PDF file.

    PDF

    eReader

    View online with eReader.

    eReader

    Figures

    Tables

    Media

    Share

    Share

    Share this Publication link

    Share on social media