Digital Storytelling and Justice: Amplifying Female Experiences in Engineering
The 2022-2023 Student FLEXperience was a media training program sponsored by UMass Flex Initiative. All matriculated UMass Students were invited to propose digital stories centered around Belonging and Access: How Digital Technology Can Solve Obstacles. Projects could be proposed as individuals or in groups of up to four students.
The FLEXperience team received over a hundred applications but only one submission from the College of Engineering. Bridget Benner, Jonisha Aubain, and Paola P. Furlanetto, doctoral students at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, proposed the story “Womanhood in Engineering: Marriage, Motherhood and Multicultural Backgrounds” and were among the awarded projects.
Over the course of four months, the students wrote scripts, recorded audio narrations, and collected visual content to develop digital stories. They worked with a staff advisory team to produce and share their digital stories, getting hands-on experience and media training.
Behind the scenes, group recording at UMass Digital Media Lab Production Studios
Finally, the stories were presented at roundtables during UMass Flex Summit: Beyond the Classroom. All completed projects are posted at the FLEXperience website.
Picture of participants at the Flex Summit
“Being a woman, mother, and PhD student in a male-dominated field like Engineering comes with challenges and resource gaps that can hinder the path to success. I am honored to have worked with Paola Furlanetto and Bridget Benner to discuss an important topic that provides visibility for other nontraditional students. WE are women, WE are here, and WE are STEM! I would also like to thank the FLEXperience team with University of Massachusetts Amherst for providing this opportunity and helping us bring our vision to life!”
– Jonisha Aubain