The Texas Association Against Sexual Assault has expanded its award-winning "Speak up. Speak out." public awareness campaign to include the digital world. As a part of the Digital Storytelling Project, TAASA hosted six survivors for a weekend and helped them tell their stories.

Since the early 1990s, the Center for Digital Storytelling has been integrating aspects of creative writing, oral history, and digital media manipulation to assist people with little to no prior media-making experience in creating short digital videos, or "digital stories." These digital stories are a continuation of the concept behind TAASA’s "Speak up. Speak out." campaign. The power of survivors telling their own stories is unmatched, and the longer format of the digital stories will help TAASA expand the discussion of sexual violence across Texas and across the internet.

Six survivors from across the state came to Austin to share their stories for TAASA’s training and public awareness activities. All of them had volunteered to participate in the "Speak up. Speak out." campaign.

Over the course of the weekend, the survivors crafted and recorded personal narratives, while blending still images and music. They were guided through computer tutorials which enabled them, with teacher support, to edit their own stories.

The Center for Digital Storytelling has worked with a broad spectrum of individuals and groups, ranging from artists and historians, to college and university faculty and students; from nonprofit organizations, to social activists and spiritual communities. Their work has been showcased on cable television, in higher education classrooms, at film festivals, on the web, and as part of community-based trainings, screenings, and activist events.

Speak Up. Speak Out.: Digital Storytelling Videos
The power of survivors telling their own stories is unmatched. The following videos were entirely written, directed and produced by seven courageous survivors and detail their stories of trauma and recovery.

Amy		Eileen
Debbie		Kate
Doris		Stephanie