Learn About Digital Storytelling, Oral Histories, and Reaching Underrepresented Groups

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Elena Foulis is a senior lecturer in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Ohio State University. She received her doctorate in comparative literature and cultural studies from the University of Arkansas.

Elena Foulis will speak on "Latin@ Stories Across Ohio: Oral History in the Digital Era," at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, March 3, in the Walton Reading Room in Mullins Library. The event is free and open to the public.

Foulis will discuss how she draws on traditional elements of oral history methodology to collect historias from Hispanic and Latino Americans. She will provide practical information about how to reach out to traditionally underrepresented groups, how to collect and archive oral histories, and how to use digital storytelling and interactive cultural components — like maps, videos, links, and glossaries — to engage readers and provide context.

Foulis's current project is a digital oral history collection about Latin@s in Ohio, now being archived at the Center for Folklore Studies' internet collection. Some of these narratives are also available in her free iBook, Latin@ Stories Across Ohio. Her research and teaching interests include U.S. Latina/o literature, Spanish, Digital Oral History, and Digital Storytelling, particularly in service-learning courses.

Join the University Libraries for a reception preceding the lecture at 3 p.m., also in the Walton Reading Room. Metered visitor parking is available at the Garland Avenue Parking Garage, Stadium Drive Parking Garage, or Harmon Avenue Parking Garage.

"Latin@ Stories Across Ohio: Oral History in the Digital Era" is part of the University Libraries' Latino Americans: 500 Years of History programming. Latino Americans: 500 Years of History, created by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American Library Association (ALA), is a nationwide public programming initiative that supports the exploration of the rich and varied history and experiences of Latinos, and is part of an NEH initiative, The Common Good: The Humanities in the Public Square, designed to demonstrate the critical role humanities scholarship can play in our public life.