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Digital life
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H Using technology to help young people
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a Simon P Hammond and Neil J Cooper
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Digital life
story work
Using technology to help
young people make sense
of their experiences
Simon P Hammond and Neil J Cooper
Published by
British Association for Adoption & Fostering
(BAAF)
Saffron House
6-10 Kirby Street
London EC1N 8TS
www.baaf.org.uk
Charity registration 275689 (England and Wales) and SC039337 (Scotland)
© Simon Hammond and Neil Cooper, 2013
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 907585 67 8
Project management by Jo Francis, Publications Department, BAAF
Designed and typeset by Helen Joubert Designs
All photos posed by models, by www.istockphoto.com
Printed in Great Britain by the Lavenham Press
Trade distribution by Turnaround Publisher Services, Unit 3, Olympia Trading
Estate, Coburg Road, London N22 6TZ
All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research
or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may not be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
without the prior written permission of the publishers.
The moral right of the author has been asserted in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
BAAF is the leading UK-wide membership organisation for all those
concerned with adoption, fostering and child care issues.
Contents
1
Introduction 1
2
Chapter 1: Why do digital life story work? 5
What is life story work and why is it important? 5
Life story work with young people 7
A window of opportunity 7
Adolescents, digital technologies and risk 8 3
Digital technologies in life story work 10
Technological difficulties 11
Chapter 2: The projects 13
Thinking about a project 13 4
How to use the projects 13
1. Remaking memories 15
2. Digital audio stories 20
3. Points of view 24
4. Soundscape 27
5
5. Life tracks 29
6. Photo mashup 31
7. Toontime 33
8. Three-minute movie 35
9. Podwalk 37
6
Chapter 3: Working with young people 41
Negotiating expectations 41
Core responsibilities when supporting and guiding reflections 42
Digital boundaries 46
7
Summary 49
Chapter 4: Preplanning, pitching and planning 51
Preplanning: people, places and possible stories 51
Pitching and planning 56
8
Summary 57
Chapter 5: Creating content 59
Points to consider when creating content 59
Managing risks when creating content in public 63
A
When is enough content, enough content? 66
Summary 67
Chapter 6: Editing and production 69
Preparing a computer for editing content 69
Preparing content 70
Editing content and stories 71
Production 75
Summary 79
Chapter 7: Completing the project 81
Holding a première 81
Time capsules 84
Summary 85
Chapter 8: Towards tomorrow: storying the self 87
Safe use of technology 87
Widening participation 89
Sharing digital life story work 91
Looking back and moving on 93
Future directions for digital life story work 94
Useful references and further reading 95
Appendices
Appendix 1: Equipment for digital life story work 97
Appendix 2: Jargon buster 99
Appendix 3: Cyberbullying resources 103
Appendix 4: Filming and editing tips 104
Appendix 5: Worksheet for use with the young person 107
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Norfolk County Council, BREAK and Hertfordshire County
Council, their employees and the young people themselves. We would have
no book without these people demonstrating the debt we owe. We also need
to thank our colleagues Professor Gillian Schofield and Dr Beth Neil for their
input and guidance at various stages during the four-year research project. We
would like to thank Steve Gentry of Hertfordshire County Council for offering
a practitioner perspective on the book, Andy Sayers and Jill Seeney for their
reading of an early draft, and Shaila Shah and Jo Francis of BAAF for their
assistance and support throughout.
Note about the authors
Dr Simon P Hammond recently completed his PhD upon which the majority of
this book is based. He developed the idea of creating adolescent-specific digital
life story work approaches in 2005 whilst working as a residential worker in
Sheffield. Currently a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of East Anglia,
Simon is extremely passionate about the everyday impact of research, committed
to translating his research into practice and is an active contributor to the Centre
for Research on Children and Families. He enjoys most things sporty, is known to
tweet (@DrSiHammond) now and then and is a keen supporter of Nottingham
Forest Football Club.
Dr Neil J Cooper is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of East
Anglia. Neil’s scholarly work orients around qualitative approaches in psychology
and he has been involved in research concerning child protection, inter-
professional practices, family support, and the use of technology in student
learning and support. When not at work, Neil practices traditional karate, listens
to Americana and walks up hills (although not usually at the same time).
Introduction
What is this book for?
When adolescents are supported and encouraged by caring adults, they
thrive in unimaginable ways, becoming resourceful and contributing
members of families and communities. Bursting with energy, curiosity and
spirit that are not easily extinguished, young people have the potential to
change negative societal patterns of behaviour and break cycles of violence
and discrimination that pass from one generation to the next. With their
creativity, energy and enthusiasm, young people can change the world in
astonishing ways, making it a better place not only for themselves but for
everyone.
(UNICEF, 2002, p. 3)
This book invites practitioners from all professions and carers who work with
vulnerable adolescents to engage with them through digital life story work.
Digital life story work involves using digital technologies to create opportunities
for supportive conversations with young people which can help them to make
sense of their past, their experiences and their aspirations.
This book builds on a four-year research project undertaken at the Centre for
Research on Children and Families at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. The
research project was Simon Hammond’s PhD and was inspired by his time in
practice as a residential worker.
During this time, Simon noticed that while some of the adolescents he worked
with wanted to talk about their experiences, they were unwilling to engage using
traditional life story work resources, frequently citing them as being “for kids”.
However, they would often use pictures and video clips on their mobile phones
and talk to him about places and people from their past and present.
Informed by this, the original research project aimed to use the appeal of digital
technology to develop adolescent-specific life story work resources. To do this,
the project worked with young people, their carers and care providers to see if
1
Digital Life Story Work
adolescent-specific resources would be used by the young people and how they
would be received. Numerous interviews and focus groups with young people
and carers were undertaken, and are drawn upon by this book to provide real-
world quotes and case study examples.
The book is primarily for practitioners working with looked after young people,
residential workers, foster carers and others, including adoptive parents. However,
it is also relevant for therapists, counsellors and others who work with vulnerable
young people. Building upon ideas about life story work, as an approach
established in Ryan and Walker (first edition 1985 and updated many times, most
recently in 2007), this book offers a range of illustrative, practical and jargon-
free exercises which use technology to enable effective communication with
adolescents.
Using this book
The book may be read from cover to cover, or dipped into according to your
knowledge, confidence and needs.
Chapter 1, ‘Why do digital life story work?’, introduces the ideas behind digital
life story work, outlining the importance of helping looked after young people
reflect, with the aim of enhancing their self-understanding and sense of a
coherent identity.
Chapter 2, ‘Thinking about a project’, introduces a number of creative individual
“off the peg” ideas for digital life story projects. The level of technological skill
needed across the nine projects ranges from beginner levels to those which
intermediate computer users may find challenging at first.
Chapter 3, ‘Working with young people’, introduces ways to work with young
people via technology.
Chapter 4, ‘Preplanning, pitching and planning’, looks at important aspects of
planning a project and pitching it to the young person, to help ensure it will run
smoothly.
Chapter 5, ‘Creating content’, looks at creating content, particularly filmed
content, and points you may need to consider, including when filming in public.
Chapter 6, ‘Editing and production’, gives practical information on how to edit
filmed content.
Chapter 7, ‘Completing the project’, gives some ideas for how to celebrate
completing a project, including holding film premières.
Chapter 8, ‘Towards tomorrow: storying the self’, reinforces the ongoing need
to discuss and listen to adolescents reflecting on their lives, highlighting how
forthcoming innovations and research in the life story work field may present new
ways to do this.
2
Introduction
Finally, a series of appendices gives additional technological, practice and
practical guidance, including details of equipment needed for digital life story
work, a “jargon-buster”, tips for filming and editing content, and resources which
provide information on and can help to tackle cyberbullying.
3
