Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Reasons and mediators in the development and communication of personal digital stories

  • Published:
Education and Information Technologies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The expansion of access to devices, as well as the production and publication options in social networks requires a broader definition of the traditional notion of personal digital storytelling. To get a deeper understanding of these practices in the group of adolescents, the objective of this article is to analyze what are the reasons that direct the publications of personal stories and what kind of filters, agents and consequences are articulated in these stories. To do this, the most qualitative part of an investigation on teenagers’ internet publication guidelines is synthesized. Specifically, the results of a semi-structured interview with 12 adolescents between 12 and 20 years are shown. The answers show that the interviewees’ perspective on what a digital story is goes beyond the format and varies depending on the network where it is published and the type of content. Thus, the emphasis and motivation of the publication has shifted from the digital - which has been incorporated with something normal and not differential - towards the personal, focusing the publications on the daily life of young people. An extension and refinement of the public-private dichotomy has been identified, maintaining general privacy guidelines above the dissemination of publications. As for filters, publications are preceded by the widespread use of image modification tools. Finally, the answers show the influence of personal agents, mostly friends and brothers, and technology agents, which determine the relationship between the type of story and the network where it is published.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abercrombie, N., & Longhurst, B. (1998). Audiences. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alper, M., & Herr-Stephenson, R. (2013). Transmedia play: Literacy across media. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 5(2), 366–369.

    Google Scholar 

  • Annacontini, G., & Rodríguez Illera, J. L. (Eds.). (2019). La mossa del gambero. Teoria, metodi i contesti di pratica narrativa. Milano: Sintesis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aparici, R., & García-Marín, D. (2018). Prosumidores y emirecs: Análisis de dos teorías enfrentadas. Comunicar, 26(55), 71–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, J. (1997). La Educación, Puerta de la Cultura. Madrid: Visor.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burgess, J. E. (2006). Hearing ordinary voices: Cultural studies, vernacular creativity and digital storytelling. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 20(2), 201–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castilla del PIno, C. (Ed.). (1989). De la intimidad. Barcelona: Crítica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ciancia, M. (2013). Transmedia phenomena: New practices in participatory and experiential content production. Proceedings of the 11th European Conference on Interactive TV and video, 41–44.

  • Débord, G. (1967). (1992). La societé de l'espectacle. París: Gallimard.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunford, M., & Jenkins, T. (Eds.). (2017). Digital storytelling. Form and content. London: Palgrave MacMillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Erstad, O., Kumpulainen, K., Mäkitalo, Å., Schrøder, K. C., Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt, P., & y Jóhannsdóttir, T. (Eds.). (2016). Learning across contexts in the knowledge society. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fundación Telefónica. (2018). Sociedad Digital en España 2017. Barcelona: Editorial Ariel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gee, J. P. (1991). Memory and myth: A perspective on narrative. In E. A. McCabe & C. Peterson (Eds.), Developing narrative structure. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenhow, C., & Lewin, C. (2016). Social media and education: Reconceptualizing the boundaries of formal and informal learning. Learning, Media and Technology, 41(1), 6–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herreros, M. (2012). The educative use of personal digital storytelling as tool for thinking on my-self. Digital Education Review, 22, 68–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hyvärinen, M. (2010). Revisiting the narrative turns. Life Writing, 7(1), 69–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ito, M. (2008). Education vs. entertainment: A cultural history of children’s software. En: Salen, K. the ecology of games. Connecting youth, games and learning. (p. 89–116). Massachusetts: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins, H. (2009). The revenge of the origami Unicorn: Seven principles of transmedia storytelling. Confessions of an Aca-Fan. The official weblog of Henry Jenkins. En línea. Retrieved January 22, 2020 from: http://henryjenkins.org/2009/12/the_revenge_of_the_origami_uni.html.

  • Lacasa, P. (2018). Cómo se comunicarán las nuevas generaciones. Madrid: Morata.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lambert, J. (2007). Digital storytelling. Berkeley: Digital Diner Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lambert, J. (2010). Digital storytelling cookbook. Berkeley: Digital Diner Press.

  • Lambert, J. (2013). Digital storytelling: Capturing lives, creating community. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lundby, K. (Ed.). (2008). Digital storytelling, mediatized stories: Self-representations in new media. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, W. J. (Ed.). (1981). On narrative. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nissenbaum, H. (2010). Privacy in context. Technology, policy and the integrity of social life. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ohler, J. (2008). Digital storytelling in the classroom: New media pathways to literacy, learning, and creativity. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, cop.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pertegal-Vega, M. A., Oliva-Delgado, A., & Rodríguez-Merinhos, A. (2019). Systematic review of the current state of research on online social networks: Taxonomy on experience of use. Comunicar, 60, 81–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodríguez Illera, J. L. (2014). Personal storytelling in the digital society. In C. Gregori-Signes & A. M. B. Corachán (Eds.), Appraising digital storytelling across educational contexts (pp. 41–58). Valencia: Publicacions de la Universitat de València.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodríguez Illera, J. L., Martínez-Olmo, F., & Galván, C. (2019). Los relatos digitales personales y las redes sociales en adolescentes. Revista e-Curriculum, São Paulo, 17(1), 10–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodríguez-Illera, J. L., Martínez-Olmo, F., Rubio-Hurtado, M. J., & Galván-Fernández, C. (2021). The content posting practices of young people on social networks. Píxel-bit. Revista de Medios y Educación, 60, 135–151. https://doi.org/10.12795/pixelbit.74025.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sancho, G. (2014). Historias de vida: el relato biográfico entre el autoconocimiento y dar cuenta de la vida social. Praxis, 18(2). Retrieved January 26, 2020 from: https://cerac.unlpam.edu.ar/index.php/praxis/article/view/898/1345.

  • Schanck, R. (1998). Tell me a story. Narrative and intelligence. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, D. (Ed.). (1995). Teachers’ stories. Buckingham/Philadelphia: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toffler, A. (1980). The third wave. New York: Bantam Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warfield, K. (2015). Digital subjectivities and Selfies: The model, the self-conscious thespian, and the #realme. The International Journal of the Image, 6(2), 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, B. T. (2009). Shimmering literacies. Popular culture & reading & writing online. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study is being conducted with the EDU2016-76726-P project and the PID2019-108924GB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 project, both funded by Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the government of Spain.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    José Luis Rodríguez-Illera

  2. Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

    Elena Barberà Gregori

  3. Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Núria Molas-Castells

Authors
  1. José Luis Rodríguez-Illera
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Elena Barberà Gregori
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Núria Molas-Castells
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Núria Molas-Castells.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Annex

Annex

1.1 Semi-structured interview

PART 1: QUESTIONS ON THE USE OF SOCIAL NETWORKS

Checking over your answers to the questionnaire, we’ve seen that you use social networks.

  1. 1.

    Since when (or for how long) have you been using social networks?

  2. 2.

    Which social networks do you use the most or are most active in? Which one or ones do you prefer?

  3. 3.

    Why do you use the internet and social networks?

  4. 4.

    What to you usually do in each of these networks? (posting, etc.)

  5. 5.

    Have you changed what you do over the years? How do you see what you used to post in comparison with what you post now?

  6. 6.

    What would you like to post in the future?

  7. 7.

    Why do you enjoy creating and posting content in your social networks?

PART 2: QUESTIONS ON TYPES OF POSTS AND REASONS FOR POSTING

  1. 8.

    As we have seen in your answers, you create and post different types of content in your social networks. Let’s talk about them:

  2. 9.

    What type of content do you like creating and posting in your networks? Give me some examples.

  3. 10.

    Does how you post depend on the type of content and the specific social network?

  4. 11.

    Do you feel that this content can be classified as stories? Why?

  5. 12.

    What are you favourite issues when it comes to posting stories or content? (Broaden the question depending on the type of content that they tick. For example: “You said you like to create content about your environment. About what specifically?”)

    1. a.

      Is there any content that you would never post? Why? (violence, offensive content, family-related issues, etc.)

    2. b.

      If you post about personal issues, where do you draw the line on the most personal issues?

    3. c.

      If we were to look at the ten most recent posts of your profile, would you recognise yourself in them?

    4. d.

      What part of yourself do you tend to share?

  6. 13.

    Who would you like your content or stories to be read by or seen by?

  7. 14.

    Why or for what purpose do you publish your stories or content? What impact do you expect from your posts?

PART 3: ON POSTING HABITS

  1. 15.

    In the interviews in Catalonia: what language do you post in?

  2. 16.

    In the questionnaire you specified where and when you tend to post.

    1. a.

      Do you usually do your posting alone or accompanied?

    2. b.

      Why do you mainly post in the (morning/afternoon/evening)? (depending on answer)

  3. 17.

    There are all sorts of ways of posting. Some people post spontaneously while others mull over what they’re going to say. What do you think about these two approaches? Which profile do you fit into?

  4. 18.

    If you mull over your posts: can you describe the process of preparing content? Do you discuss your intended post with someone before posting?

  5. 19.

    What type of, or what specific, programmes or applications do you use to create your posts? Do you use them on your phone or on your computer?

  6. 20.

    What elements do you add to your contents? (videos, texts, hashtags, emojis, etc.)

  7. 21.

    Once you’ve shared a story, what trajectory do your posts have? In other words; do you review and reflect on what you’ve posted?

  8. 22.

    Have you ever erased a post or certain content after posting it? If so, why did you do it?

  9. 23.

    As regards your friends’ posts, do you comment on or share what they post?

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rodríguez-Illera, J.L., Barberà Gregori, E. & Molas-Castells, N. Reasons and mediators in the development and communication of personal digital stories. Educ Inf Technol 26, 4093–4109 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10460-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10460-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation