[Commlist] CfP Reminder: 9th International Digital Storytelling Conference

*/Story Work for a Just Future/*
*/Exploring Diverse Experiences and Methods within an International 
Community of Practice /*

9th International Digital Storytelling Conference

*Monday the 30th of March – Wednesday the 1st of April 2020*
Loughborough University, UK

*Call For Papers and Presentation Proposals*

We invite you to join us at Loughborough University, UK, this Spring for 
an amazing gathering of digital storytelling professionals, academics, 
students, community partners, and activists.

The conference is part of a multi-institutional, multinational, two-year 
process and programme – organised in collaboration with StoryCenter 
<https://www.storycenter.org/> (US), UMBC – University of Maryland 
Baltimore County <https://www.umbc.edu/> (US), SCLDA – Smithsonian 
Center for Learning and Digital Access 
<https://learninglab.si.edu/> (US), Montgomery College 
<https://www.montgomerycollege.edu/> (US), Patient Voices 
<https://www.patientvoices.org.uk/> (UK) – that includes a series of 
follow-on activities in the Washington, D.C. area and in Maryland, USA, 
in 2021.

The conference will host various events in its structure for inclusion 
of diverse perspectives and voices. In addition to academic papers, 
workshops, and roundtable discussions, we encourage practitioners from 
community settings, artists and students to contribute and express their 
creativity through various formats (short performances, artworks, 
video/audio submissions, etc.).

Storytelling has been defined as ‘the artform of social interaction’ 
(Wilson, 1998), not only for its inner dynamics, but also for its power 
to unlock grass-roots knowledge, explore dilemmas, develop community 
resilience, engender change.

Stories can generate empathy and trust in the audience and at the same 
time demonstrate their usefulness because they have the power to give 
meaning to human behaviors and to trigger emotions (Bourbonnais and 
Michaud, 2018). ‘This happens because stories are perceived as vectors 
of truth. They also challenge the meaning of truth itself and suggest a 
deeper reflection on how various perspectives embedded in personal 
narratives about contested themes and events can generate multiple 
truths’ (Liguori, 2020).
Yet we acknowledge the existence of multiple truths when we recognise, 
as the Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie observed, ‘the danger 
of a single story’ (2009). As she described, ‘because our lives and our 
cultures are composed of a series of overlapping stories, if we hear 
only a single story about another person, culture, or country, we risk a 
critical misunderstanding’.
In a time of worrying ‘critical misunderstandings’ worldwide, we want to 
explore with you the value of Applied Storytelling as a tool to 
co-develop ‘A Just Future’.

We are interested in proposals that will explore issues related to (but 
not limited to) the following sub-themes:

  * [*Past*] *Unwanted legacies and key learning to carry forward*:
    difficult pasts; traumatic transitions; post-conflict scenarios;
    lessons learned from our histories; place-based learning and
    research; reflective learning
  * [*Present*] *Urgent story work*: climate change; health; migration;
    social justice; education and action; deindustrialization,
    development, gentrification and displacement
  * [*Future*] *Speculative futures*: building communities; crossing
    boundaries; human/animal and human/landscape relations; new forms of
    conversation; new digital environments, platforms and applications;
    storytelling for evaluation; curation; dissemination and storyteller
    safety.

**

*All interested conference contributors are invited to share their work 
through six types of contributions, but we also welcome other formats*.

*Conference Formats: *

  * Academic paper (15 minutes)
  * Workshop (45 minutes)
  * Roundtable discussion (45 minutes)
  * Short performance (to be defined on a one-to-one basis)
  * Artwork (to be defined on a one-to-one basis)
  * Video/Audio submission
  * Other: If you think you don’t  fit into one of these formats, please
    email us with your idea!
**

*Submission guidelines & key dates*:

  * 250-word abstract to describe your proposal (any format)
  * Include a title, your name, email address, and affiliation if 
applicable
  * Submit your proposal via email to (Saedstorytelling /at/ lboro.ac.uk)
    <mailto:(Saedstorytelling /at/ lboro.ac.uk)>
  * Deadline for *abstract submission: 15th October 2019*
  * Notification of acceptance: 15th November 2019
  * Early bird registration opens: 20th November 2019
  * General Registration opens: 15th January 2019
  * Registration closes: 29th February 2020
  * Conference presentations, videos, materials to be sent in advance by
    15th March 2020. Special arrangements will be made on a one-to-one
    basis for other formats.
  * Early bird: 180£ (80£ student rate);
  * Regular registration: 220£ (100£ student rate)
  * Digital participation: It is our intention to make digital
    participation possible. Please write to Sally Bellman
    (S.J.Bellman /at/ lboro.ac.uk) <mailto:(S.J.Bellman /at/ lboro.ac.uk)> for more
    information.
Included in the Registration fee are coffee and tea breaks, lunch, 
access to all conference sessions, social activity (performance) during 
the opening evening, publication of the abstract in online conference 
proceedings.

Additional and optional social activity (trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, 
Visit to Loughborough sport event, etc.) will be booked separately by 
each participant.

For further submission requirements, accommodation and scholarships, 
please write to the Storytelling Research Team at Loughborough 
University: (Saedstorytelling /at/ lboro.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(Saedstorytelling /at/ lboro.ac.uk)>

The conference committee will capture all presentations for digital 
conference proceedings. The conference committee will submit a book 
proposal in 2020 of a selection of academic contributions from the 
conference.

Students and community members are welcomed and encouraged to apply!  
There will also be opportunities for students to participate digitally 
and be part of the event through various online engagement options.

*Conference Chairs*: Antonia Liguori and Michael Wilson (Loughborough 
University, UK)

*Conference Committee Members*: Darcy Alexandra (University of Bern, 
Switzerland), Jessica Berman (University of Maryland, Baltimore County 
UMBC, US), Bev Bickel (UMBC, US), Matthew Decker (Montgomery College, 
US), Lindsay DiCuirci (UMBC, US), Sara Ducey (Montgomery College, US), 
Daniela Gachago (Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa), 
Jamie Gillan (Montgomery College, US), Pip Hardy (Patient Voices, UK), 
Charlotte Keniston (UMBC, US), Joe Lambert (StoryCenter, US), Michalis 
Meimaris (University of Athens, Greece), Philippa Rappoport (SCLDA – 
Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access, US), Bill Shewbridge 
(UMBC, US), Tony Sumner (Patient Voices, UK), Pam Sykes (University of 
the Western Cape, South Africa).

**

*Conference website*: dst2020.org 
<https://storytellingacademy.education/digital-storytelling-conference/>


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