Digital storytelling
for Africa:
case study of an
international digital
media project
Steve Vosloo

Background
HIV/AIDS, poverty, conflict
& unemployment
Significant psychosocial
needs of youth in South
Africa
Hero book: a child is the
author, illustrator, main
character (hero) and
editor of a paper-based
book that is designed to
help them overcome a
specific challenge or
obstacle in their life to
reach their goals
Good but limited reach

Overview (intended)
Hero book
•Increased self­
+ +
esteem
Video Discussion forum
● ●
•Resilience
•School environment Global
●
•Safe, secure platform
Stanford University
Reuters Foundation

Pilot sites
Cape Town, South
Africa
Nyeri, Kenya
San Francisco, USA

Outputs
South Africa
78 learners created paper hero books
Hero booking was offered in Reading, English,
Administration, Life orientation and Arts & Culture
lessons.
15 learners were part of the online exchange.
20 learners created digital versions of their books
through 2 digital storytelling workshops.
Kenya and USA
7 learners created paper hero books (Kenya).
15 learners were part of the online exchange (Kenya
and USA).

Digital stories
See www.digitalherobook.org/hero-stories
Word / Writer (script)
Adobe Photoshop / Picasa (images)
Audacity (audio)
iMovie / Windows Movie Maker / Adobe Premier
(video)
Soundslides (slideshow)

“Some of my learners who were the most disruptive
before, have been the most enthusiastic to embark on
the project.”
“They definitely have more self-confidence.”
“The workshop helped me to overcome my problem. I
am now able to talk in front of people without becoming
nervous.”
“It was an experience of a lifetime and I learned many
things. I learned a lot of computer skills.”

Challenges
Educator related
Educators' capacity (time and skills)
Short lesson times
Difficulty of online communications with educators
Psychosocial related
Dealing with psychosocial issues
Challenge of scaling psychosocial work
Evaluation is time-consuming
General
Curriculum alignment

Lessons learned and
recommendations
Digital media production is engaging
Improved educator-learner relationships
More interactive platform needed
More inclusive digital activities
The challenge of coordination
More facilitation of online engagement
Next steps:
More schools in CT
More in-depth evaluation
Curriculum alignment
Enable secure social networking
Toolkit

Improving cross-cultural
awareness and communication
through mobile technologies
Teens in South Africa and USA
Camera phones and blogs
Think about and present culture in:
Your life
Your home
Your community
Capture, upload, view, reflect

Implications for Africa
Technology is mediating the way that youth around the
world communicate, and consume and create content
Increased collaboration across place and culture
Need for cross-cultural awareness and communication
skills is more important than ever
Digital media technologies: cameras, phones, web can
mediate the development of these skills
Africa needs to:
Develop more local content
Collaborate more – inside and outside continent

steve.vosloo@shuttleworthfoundation.org
www.digitalherobook.org