A Picture Paints a Thousand Words: A Case Study on the Use of Digital Media and Digital Storytelling in Three South African Universities

Storytelling has always been a way to convey a message, share information, feelings, and attitudes. The strength of digital storytelling lies in its ability to generate a series of cognitive metaphors and images associated with words to share content. Although the practice of storytelling in an African context has a rich oral and cultural history, the affordances of digital media are not yet fully realised in academic libraries. This paper reports on a study conducted in three universities to explore the current utilisation of digital media skills. The potential value of using digital media to support active learning in student communities was gauged. Qualitative data were collected from semi-structured survey questionnaires and interviews. Although research on the value of DST digital storytelling has been shared recently, very little has been reported on its application in academic libraries in South Africa. Findings are that the application of DST is minimal.