Program Background

Digital storytelling incorporates information and communication technology tools and media—digital cameras, video cameras, drawing and animation applications, and web design tools—to give an added dimension to the stories from people and communities. The advent of these affordable and accessible technologies has opened new methods for communities to engage in creating community narratives. The networks of community technology centers offer the opportunity to amplify community voices through digital storytelling to address the content divide in addition to the digital divide that exists in underserved communities.

Stories can build community. Powerful storytelling evokes the personal experience and introduces us to new or previously unheard voices. Community storytelling and multimedia narratives, focused on social inequity and injustice, can even become forces for social change by underserved communities.

Digitalstorytelling.zerodivide.org web gallery launches...

We are proud to announce the launch of the Digital Storytelling Institute web gallery at http://digitalstorytelling.zerodivide.org. Designed and built by BAVC, it features the eleven DSI grantees from the first round and media streams of their digital stories in Real Player and Windows Media Video formats.

Through the Digital Storytelling Institute, ZeroDivide has teamed with the Bay Area Video Coalition to provide direct training, technical support, technology and media tools to community-based organizations and community technology centers. ZeroDivide helps amplify community voices through digital storytelling – addressing both the digital divide and the content divide that exists in underserved communities. Over the last seven years, ZeroDivide has awarded more than 40 grants that total over $1.5 million towards community digital media. We have learned that in the rapidly changing arena of technology, simply providing cash is not enough—facilitating access to know-how, expertise, and adaptability towards technology are the keys to sustaining technology-enabled initiatives. ZeroDivide’s expertise lies in building the capacity of community organizations to integrate technology, media, content and collaboration. The result is digital media that advances the organization’s program strategy.

Digital Storytelling Institute Mission

• Advance ZeroDivide's programmatic focus of media, outreach, and communications
• Provide direct training and technical assistance to a network of new digital storytelling programs
• Help community-based organizations and community technology centers generate rich content about stories, histories, events, languages
• Develop ways to share these vital stories
• Promote social justice oriented storytelling through community multimedia