#1165: Exploration as Relationship: An Axiological Shift For Native Youths’ Relationships With Digital Storytelling Technologies

Across sociotechnical learning environments, such as with digital storytelling, Native youth often navigate histories of harm in their relationship with technologies, especially as they begin to develop a personal relationship with these tools. In this paper, we look at Native youths’ explorations with digital technologies as a core tenet of relationship building. We view exploration as a space between, specifically in regard to how Native youth self-determine and (re)shape their relational configurations with using digital storytelling technologies to represent their ideas and their community. We examined 17 Native youths’ initial engagements with digital technologies to understand how they begin to develop relationships with digital technologies through exploration. Findings provide evidence that Native youth explore digital technologies across technical and contextual configurations. Insights from this study expand our understanding of how Native youth explore the space between configurations of their ideas and their community as they develop digital storytelling projects.