582
cess, the students actively shared ideas and thoughts, and this helped create a rich
learning experience relevant to their studies.
As facilitators, we took somewhat of a back seat in the field, allowing for the
students take the lead in what they were trained to do. We believe this further
enhanced acquiring the “true” perspectives of the beneficiaries and avoided potentially predetermined narratives which can often be the case in this type of research
situation (Latz 2017). Essentially, the practice-led methodology, which evolved
through cooperation among stakeholders, helped address the gap between knowing
and doing that Pfeffer and Sutton (2000) emphasise is prevalent within organisations. In the context of the REDCAP and SEED-Fish projects, respectively, we hope
the image-based digital stories can help put the acquired knowledge into appropriate actions. From research to dissemination, the image-based digital stories appear
to have added value in terms of efficacy, data quality, and capacity building over
what could have been achieved through using more conventional or traditional
methods.
One of the most important elements of both DS and our hybrid methodology is
sharing the stories. This helps create ownership and thus empowerment among participants. In our case, this meant returning to the communities to share and discuss
the stories. This also highlighted the flexibility of the method; it would have been
logistically difficult to show the finished digital stories in Nkhotakota and Dedza,
but the photographs could still be utilised.
For example, in Nkhotakota where three stories were made, each story’s images
were hung on a clothesline for the community to view (Fig. 10). The three ADC
students who accompanied us to Nkhotakota and who had previously collaborated
with some of the fishers and fish processors to make the stories then facilitated a
discussion session with the community. The students asked the storytellers to share
his or her story and experiences through the images. The individual interpretations
of the images fuelled a dialogue among participants, who included project beneficiaries, extension agents, and academics. The images were clearly something participants could identify and connect with, and the discussions were fruitful.
Another empowering component of the methodology was listening to the stories.
Although the stories could not be shown to the communities in their video format
due to logistical and resource constraints, the recorded narratives were played from
a flash drive through a portable battery or solar powered radio – technology that is
simple, relatively inexpensive, and becoming widely available. After storytellers
had shared their stories through the photographs, participants listened to the original
recorded narratives whilst continuing to view the images. Reflection is a key element
of DS according to Jamissen and Moulton (2017), and this awarded the audience the
opportunity to reflect upon what they were both seeing and hearing – to interpret,
create meaning and therefore knowledge – in a similar way to how they would with
a video format. Furthermore, to hear their own voice emanating from the radio, or
that of a third person narrating their story, was empowering for not only the storyteller but also for the audience – the stories were being heard.
Although the three ADC students facilitated the group discussions well, the
images played their role as we hoped. Likewise, this is true for the entire methodolN. G. Davey and M. K. Moulton
cess, the students actively shared ideas and thoughts, and this helped create a rich
learning experience relevant to their studies.
As facilitators, we took somewhat of a back seat in the field, allowing for the
students take the lead in what they were trained to do. We believe this further
enhanced acquiring the “true” perspectives of the beneficiaries and avoided potentially predetermined narratives which can often be the case in this type of research
situation (Latz 2017). Essentially, the practice-led methodology, which evolved
through cooperation among stakeholders, helped address the gap between knowing
and doing that Pfeffer and Sutton (2000) emphasise is prevalent within organisations. In the context of the REDCAP and SEED-Fish projects, respectively, we hope
the image-based digital stories can help put the acquired knowledge into appropriate actions. From research to dissemination, the image-based digital stories appear
to have added value in terms of efficacy, data quality, and capacity building over
what could have been achieved through using more conventional or traditional
methods.
One of the most important elements of both DS and our hybrid methodology is
sharing the stories. This helps create ownership and thus empowerment among participants. In our case, this meant returning to the communities to share and discuss
the stories. This also highlighted the flexibility of the method; it would have been
logistically difficult to show the finished digital stories in Nkhotakota and Dedza,
but the photographs could still be utilised.
For example, in Nkhotakota where three stories were made, each story’s images
were hung on a clothesline for the community to view (Fig. 10). The three ADC
students who accompanied us to Nkhotakota and who had previously collaborated
with some of the fishers and fish processors to make the stories then facilitated a
discussion session with the community. The students asked the storytellers to share
his or her story and experiences through the images. The individual interpretations
of the images fuelled a dialogue among participants, who included project beneficiaries, extension agents, and academics. The images were clearly something participants could identify and connect with, and the discussions were fruitful.
Another empowering component of the methodology was listening to the stories.
Although the stories could not be shown to the communities in their video format
due to logistical and resource constraints, the recorded narratives were played from
a flash drive through a portable battery or solar powered radio – technology that is
simple, relatively inexpensive, and becoming widely available. After storytellers
had shared their stories through the photographs, participants listened to the original
recorded narratives whilst continuing to view the images. Reflection is a key element
of DS according to Jamissen and Moulton (2017), and this awarded the audience the
opportunity to reflect upon what they were both seeing and hearing – to interpret,
create meaning and therefore knowledge – in a similar way to how they would with
a video format. Furthermore, to hear their own voice emanating from the radio, or
that of a third person narrating their story, was empowering for not only the storyteller but also for the audience – the stories were being heard.
Although the three ADC students facilitated the group discussions well, the
images played their role as we hoped. Likewise, this is true for the entire methodolN. G. Davey and M. K. Moulton