Digital storytelling as a genre of mediatized self-representations: an introduction

This article provides a critical review of some of the most relevant studies on digital storytelling and proposes a genre typology that allows an initial classification of digital storytelling into two main types: educational and social. Digital storytelling is a multimodal emergent genre characterised by its versatility and flexibility which has resulted in a series of subgenres. However, the main premise here is that differentiating between social and educational– although one does not exclude the other– and bearing in mind that most digital stories may lie at the intersection of both, is the most useful way to start labeling the massive production of digital stories available nowadays on the Internet. The articles included in this number are mostly educational (Ramírez-Verdugo & Sotomayor Grande, and Reyes, Pich & García, Londoño-Monroy) but they all include some traces of the social type. Thus, Bou-Franch is an example of how students interpret certain events that had social impact and that are part of history while Westman’s article involves the creation of communities of practice among those who share the same interests. Finally, Herreros-Navarro, although educational in essence, describes a social act in which students intentionally choose a way to present their own identity to society using digital storytelling.This article provides a critical review of some of the most relevant studies on digital storytelling and proposes a genre typology that allows an initial classification of digital storytelling into two main types: educational and social. Digital storytelling is a multimodal emergent genre characterised by its versatility and flexibility which has resulted in a series of subgenres. However, the main premise here is that differentiating between social and educational- although one does not exclude the other- and bearing in mind that most digital stories may lie at the intersection of both, is the most useful way to start labeling the massive production of digital stories available nowadays on the Internet. The articles included in this number are mostly educational (Ramírez-Verdugo & Sotomayor Grande, and Reyes, Pich & García, Londoño-Monroy) but they all include some traces of the social type. Thus, Bou-Franch is an example of how students interpret certain events that had social impact and that are part of history while Westman's article involves the creation of communities of practice among those who share the same interests. Finally, Herreros-Navarro, although educational in essence, describes a social act in which students intentionally choose a way to present their own identity to society using digital storytelling