About the project
Hero Booking is a process whereby a young person becomes the author, illustrator and editor of their own hero book. Hero Books are a form of memory work, a process of setting up a safe space for an individual to tell a story. This process of story telling can take place under a tree or in a community centre, or it can be made tangible by making a map, drawing pictures or writing the story down in a book, like a Hero Book. Memory work is important in developing self-esteem, helping people take control of their lives, empowering them and allowing them to tell their story in a positive way. It has been used by REPSSI in sub-Saharan Africa for four years, mostly as a way of providing psychosocial care and support to children affected by HIV/AIDS, poverty and conflict.
The Digital Hero Book Project aims to integrate hero booking into the learning activities of IT-enabled schools in Cape Town, South Africa, and other sites around the world, and put paper-based hero books into the digital arena. The project, currently in its pilot phase, will enable youth in these schools to create digital hero books, and publish them on this site (publicly) or on a closed, private community-based Digital Heroes website. Through the sites, authors can engage other “heroes” to share their experiences, affirming one other by recognizing their common challenges and ways of overcoming them. The project is a partnership between REPSSI, the Khanya Project of the Western Cape Education Department and Molotech. At the moment, the project is being developed by Steve Vosloo through the Digital Vision Program at Stanford University.
The Center for Digital Storytelling in Berkeley, CA — a project partner — has facilitated a number of digital hero stories with youth in Cape Town.