92 Int. J. Arts and Technology, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2014 Copyright © 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Digital storytelling for social and international development: from special education to vulnerable children Luca Botturi*, Chiara Bramani and Sara Corbino Associazione seed, via al Chiosso, 8 (Resega), 6952 Canobbio, Switzerland E-mail: luca.botturi@seedlearn.org E-mail: chiara.bramani@seedlearn.org E-mail: sara.corbino@seedlearn.org *Corresponding author Abstract: This paper presents the digital storytelling for development model (DSD). DSD is a process model for supporting the implementation of digital storytelling activities within the broader framework of social and international development projects. DSD blends storytelling, visual arts and digital media to make a difference for vulnerable children, including children with special needs, and in development and integration projects. Vulnerable and special needs children often experience difficulties in communication with adults and peers, both as language difficulties and as inability to focus on personal feelings and thoughts, and consequently to express them properly. Removing such barriers is one of the main goals of special and social educational projects, and a key step towards integration and personal development. Digital storytelling offers an opportunity to tackle the issue, and DSD provides guidelines for implementing projects in this context by focusing on fiction, engaging all stakeholders and providing a high degree of flexibility. The paper presents DSD, and illustrates it with real cases, discusses its evaluation, and indicates ways to adapt it to different project settings. Keywords: storytelling; digital media; special education; vulnerable children; organisational development. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Botturi, L., Bramani, C. and Corbino, S. (2014) ‘Digital storytelling for social and international development: from special education to vulnerable children’, Int. J. Arts and Technology, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp.92–111. Biographical notes: Luca Botturi is currently the Executive Director of Seed, a non-profit organisation based in Lugano, Switzerland, and the Director of Research at the University of Teacher Education in Locarno, Switzerland. Formerly, he is a Researcher and Instructional Designer at the University of Lugano. His development and research career brought him to work with digital technologies in education and game-based learning in different settings and internationally. Chiara Bramani received her degree in Communication Sciences in 2003 and worked for five years at the Hypermedia Open Centre, Politecnico di Milano, managing projects in the field of educational technology. Since 2007, she works as fund raiser and Project Manager at Seed, a non-profit organisation based in Lugano, Switzerland, and as a Scientific Collaborator at the New Media in Education Laboratory, University of Lugano.