In August 2005, Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana experienced Hurricane Katrina firsthand. This summer, Mobile Learning Institute Digital Arts Summer Camps provided young people from this community with an opportunity to share their own stories.

Working together in small teams over the course of intensive, weeklong workshops, Camp participants used the latest mobile phone and communications technologies to script and create digital films that combine their personal reactions to their experiences since Hurricane Katrina with their own specific recommendations for how parts of their cities, towns, and communities can be preserved or re-created as the region rebuilds. Some participants chose to focus their stories on other topics that impact their lives, such as friendship and family.

In many ways, the process by which these student works were realized is even more important than the films themselves: After writing structured narratives, Camp participants gathered and created images, video, and audio to integrate into their completed projects. In doing so, participants had the opportunity to consider and share their feelings; synthesizing their own experiences with those of their peers. Later, they also had the chance to share their recommendations for the future with other students and with parents and civic leaders.

To view the resulting digital stories, click on the images below.