Digital Story Telling

The Story So Far

Since August 2006 the Caerphilly 50+ Forum has been developing its Digital Lobbying project. Digital Storytelling combines the ancient art of storytelling with new media technology. The stories can be a bit of light-hearted fun.

They can also address serious topics that people feel strongly about.

“In a DigitaJoy Matthewsl Storytelling session run by the Caerphilly 50+ Forum Digital Lobbying project, I made three short films. One of these was about my experience of age discrimination in intensive care, when my husband Jim was ill. The GAVO Participation and Involvement Officer for the forum thought it may be of interest to Help the Aged who were lobbying MPs on age discrimination. Thus it came to pass that I was invited to go to London to take part in the Mass Lobby for Age Equality, and show my film and answer some questions in front of three hundred people in Central Hall, Westminster on the 18th of April 2007”.  Joy Matthews

Have you got a story you would like to tell? Perhaps you feel strongly about the services you receive; perhaps you have an inspirational, uplifting story you would like to tell (you can see an example on our home page); or, just a bit of fun that you would like to share. You can share your comments here and we will see how we can help you get your voice heard.

The Project

The project aims to enable older people to talk about things that matter to them.  Some fun stories are always a welcome distraction. But the Forum has been particularly successful in producing stories to influence decision-making processes by making powerful, succinct films using their own scripts, images and voiceovers. The Caerphilly 50+ forum believes that Digital Lobbying has the potential to increase older people’s involvement in the design, delivery and improvement of public services.

The project was developed with members of the Caerphilly 50+ Forum, GAVO, Caerphilly 50+ Positive Action partnership and Breaking Barrier.

The informal nature of Digital Lobbying is less intimidating than traditional meetings, which are often a barrier to people getting involved. The project aims to influence decisions nationally as well as locally.

Some of the key achievements to date include:

  • Four of which the forum considers to be “lobbying” films, highlighting issues such as age discrimination, recycling and the environment, and care costs.
  • Four forum members have trained as trainers
  • Their films have had public showings at forum meetings, community groups and events including Joy Matthews’s film shown at national event in Westminster April 2007;
  • The forum members presented their work to Digital Storytelling 2 (DS2) Festival Aberystwyth Arts Centre;
  • Some of the films have been shown to a range of local authority and partnership officers to raise the profile of issues around Age discrimination and care costs.
  • As well as the end product, there is the social aspect of making the film, and the health and well being benefits derived from this for the individual and working with partners to reach common goals.

“The digital lobbying project has opened up a whole new field for me, not just information technology, but as a means of expressing my ideas, memories and issues that matter” Joy Mathews

“Age Concern Cymru (ACC) has benefited greatly from using the Caerphilly 50+ Forum Digital Lobbying film. We are using the film to get across key policy messages regarding age equality and human rights to diverse audiences including senior policy makers in Wales. The advantage of using digital lobbying is that it is older peoples own words telling their own experiences. For ACC, this is by far the most preferred method of getting older peoples views across to policy makers in Wales…audiences understand and most importantly empathize with the story told. The work of ACC in tackling the injustice and discrimination that older people face has been enhanced as a result of the use of the films and we are very grateful to the producer and production team for allowing us to use the film…” Maria Cheshire;  Equalities and Inclusion Manager, Age Concern Cymru

If you have a story you would like to tell or a comment on the services you use please get in touch using our get in touch website form and we will get back to you to see how we can help you get your voice heard.