The digital story I created is called Namesake, based on my son Jake's namesake. My husband and I named Jacob (Jake) after one of his relatives who survived the Holocaust. Creating this project was quite an experience on many levels. I was able to utilize a genealogy that my husband's uncle has been working on over the past 15 years. I was able to take the basic information about the events of this person's life and research the historical details to fill in the gaps and allow the real story to take shape. I admittedly did not know very much about the details of WW2 and was amazed by Jacob's survival story. We have no pictures of him or any family from that era, so I had to weave the visuals of my story using found images. Reliving the horrors of that war through imagery brought up a myriad of emotions. I am pleased with the final version of this story and feel proud to have this gift to give my son when he gets older.
This project demonstrated the Personalization Principle by using a less formal speaking manner to bring my audience into the story and make it fell more personal. I tell the story as though I am speaking directly to my son, as it is his story. I believe that this manner of delivery creates a more "Visible Author", thus helping the audience to relate to the message better.
My Digital Story: Namesake
