Interactive Comic-Based Digital Storytelling for Self-expression

The Ph.D. project explores how a digital tool for comic-based storytelling can support young migrants and teenagers in producing and elaborating narratives for self-expression in the form of counterstories. Migrants and teen-agers are two communities that have few outlets to express themselves when discriminant situations occur. On one hand, migrants who arrive in a host country often experience episodes in which they are stereotyped and discriminated, and not many supports assist them in reflecting on their condition. On the other hand, teenagers have few means to critically structure their reality prospective regarding discriminant situations. In this stage of the research project, we investigate how a digital system can support self-expression and counterstory elaboration, using comic-based storytelling and the use of predefined text and incipits to facilitate this process.