Amy, hi

This is all really helpful and will, hopefully, give people some
ideas of how the stories can be used to great effect to raise
awareness and give people a different kind of knowing.

Thank you for posting about the evaluations you have already done -
it is inspiring!

It would be interested to devise some kind of framework or schema
for evaluating the impact of digital stories. Similar to your
experience, people here often cite the PV digital stories as the
thing that they remember most clearly from a presentation or a
workshop... so they must be touching the right bits somewhere along
the line!

All the best

Pip

--- In patientvoices@yahoogroups.com, Amy Hill <amylenita@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Pip/all --
>
> Yes Iım sure we are all very busy : )
>
> We have carried out a qualitative evaluation of Silence Speaks, in
terms of
> the impact of participants, but you are correct ‹ we have not had
the
> resources to evaluate specific uses of stories.
>
> For othersı knowledge Iım copying/pasting part of the overview of
some of
> those uses. Iıd love to work on evaluating the impact the stories
have had
> on viewers. We are always making connections with academics who
can help us
> with this piece, so I will keep everyone posted! I am hoping part
of this
> can be achieved at least qualitatively, via the StoriesforChange
portal
> weıre working on with our colleagues on the east cost (see
information
> below)
>
> Thanks and all the best to everyone,
>
> Amy H.
>
>
> --
>
> Amy L. Hill
> Community Projects Director
> Center for Digital Storytelling
> 1803 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
> Berkeley, CA 94709
> www.storycenter.org
> 510.548-2065 W
> 510-682-8311 C
>
> "Listen Deeply. Tell Stories."
>
>
> As far as use of stories, almost all of our community projects at
the Center
> for Digital Storytelling have very explicit screening objectives.
Education
> using stories from some of these efforts is indeed being done in
many
> systematic ways.
>
> Probably the best example is that of the Y.O.U.T.H. Training
Project, which
> is a youth development initiative we collaborate with. They
recruit, hire,
> and train current and former foster youth to develop and deliver
trainings
> to child welfare workers about the needs of youth in the foster
care system.
> We do 2-3 workshops per year with them, and then they centralize
the stories
> in the trainings they do. Because they are an intervention, and
because
> funding is hard to come by, they have not done rigorous evaluation
beyond
> short surveys with training attendees. However I do know that
anecdotally
> they have found people always cite the digital stories as the
piece of the
> trainings that made the biggest difference.
>
> An offshoot of this is the workshop we did with parents whose kids
were
> taken into the foster care system (and subsequently reunited with
them).
> They are being shown nationally in a project which trains parents
like this
> to serve as peer advocates to other parents who are working to get
their
> kids back. The response has apparently been tremendous.
>
> With silence speaks, the project focused on survivors and
witnesses of
> violence, I partner with all kinds of groups. Some have clear
agendas for
> how they will use the stories; some are more open and kind of wait
to see
> what permissions they will get, from the storytellers. On the
former, the
> best example is the workshops I did with MINCAVA, the Minnesota
Centers
> Against Violence and Abuse. The Director, Jeff Edelson, is a very
well-know
> speaker/trainer within the social services/criminal justice
sectors, on
> domestic violence. We helped them create stories which he is using
> nationally, in his trainings for court personnel (ie, judges and
the like)
> on how to address child custody issues when domestic violence is
involved.
>
> Another good example is the work I have done with generation five
(see
> www.generationfive.org). We have done 4 workshops thus far -- one
pilot; one
> with women focused on sexual abuse and class privilege; and two
with men
> focused on male supremacy and men's role in addressing sexual
violence. They
> use the stories in their trainings for community organizers on
integrating
> attention to child sexual abuse into broader social justice
initiatives, and
> screen them publicly at fundraisers/other events, to mobilize
people to get
> involved in their work.
>
> Then of course there is the work we did down in South Africa with
the Men As
> Partners Network (see
http://www.engenderhealth.org/ia/wwm/wwmds.html). They
> are using these stories in a variety of contexts to educate
providers, raise
> awareness of the general public, and promote policy advocacy. They
even
> showed them in South African parliament, only 2 weeks after they
were
> produced.
>
> Beyond these specific examples I get requests literally all the
time for
> stories -- mostly from agencies doing gender violence work who
want to
> obtain silence speaks stories to use as training tools. I have put
together
> a beautiful compilation DVD of silence speaks pieces, for use as
an outreach
> tool with potential partners/participants, and I'm going to put
together a
> shorter version of stories I have full permission to use and make
it
> available for purchase (fairly low cost just to cover
duplication/postage
> etc. but maybe it'll help raise a bit of money for the project).
>
>