Below is our original post, written early in the project. See the following posts for additional information written as the project unfolded:

Queer Digital Stories: Looking Back
Omecihuatl: Reclaiming Gender through Undocumented Stories
De Facto
Queer Digital Stories: Identity

Queering the Museum (QTM) is launching a Seattle-based Digital Storytelling Project, inviting LGBTQ individuals from the Puget Sound Region to reflect on their lives and select a single defining story that has left a lasting impact on themselves and their identities.  During our Workshops, participants transform that story into a digital narrative. The participants use their own narration, photos and select from available music to create a 3 to 4 minute video.

Our first Workshop was a great success!  We are excited to announce that the first 8 videos will be screened at the Queering the History Museum Symposium on June 8, 2013!  Several of the completed videos are available to view here.

This project will add to the historical record and preserve the narratives of LGBTQ peoples, peoples whose stories are often left out.  Participants will have the opportunity to contribute their videos to local museum archives and for possible inclusion in the queer-themed history exhibit that QTM is curating at the Museum of History and Industry.

We chose the digital storytelling method because it is a unique way of both capturing the stories of people’s lives and giving people the opportunity to decide how they want to be represented.  The result is not an encompassing life history but a vignette of an important moment or experiences.  The short video is designed by the video subject, ready to be seen in multiple venues.  This differs from the process of curating longer oral histories or images, where the curator determines what elements are important to share.

True to the purpose of allowing individuals to create their own narratives, we have designed our Digital Storytelling Workshops using free and low cost tools.  The entire Workshop is intended to be easily reproduced and all participants are empowered to use our process in their own work and lives.

We are currently raising money and resources for future workshops.   We dream of creating a mobile digital storytelling lab that could come to participants in their own spaces, giving more people the opportunity to construct their own digital story.

Thank you to Angelica Macklin, who donated her technical expertise in designing and facilitating our Workshops.  Lily Divine provided much needed cash for this project through their Community Grants program.  Thank also to Rebecca Sims, Ron Krabill and the QTM Community Advisory Committee who supported the prototype workshop.  This workshop was supported by Point Foundation as Point Scholar Nicole Robert’s Community Service Project.