life stories classes. Benmayor began sharing that work with faculty across the country involved in the Visible Knowledge Project including Georgetown University; LaGuardia Community College, CUNY; Millersville University; Vanderbilt University, and University of Wisconsin–Stout. Out of this work emerged publications in several key academic journals as well as the Digital Storytelling Multimedia Archive. Ball State University has a masters program in digital storytelling based in the Telecommunications Department, as does the University of Oslo. In 2011, the University of Mary Washington launched an open online course in digital storytelling titled DS106. The course includes credit-seeking students at the University as well as many open, online participants from around the world. Digital storytelling is also used as an instructional strategyLowenthal, P. R. (2009). Digital storytelling—An emerging institutional technology? In J. Hartley & K. McWilliam (Eds.), Story circle: Digital storytelling around the world (pp. 252-259). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. to not only build relationships and establish people's social presence online but also as an alternative format to present content. Digital storytelling in higher education can also be used for scholarly communication. Higher education students at the graduate and undergraduate level create scholarly digital stories based on their academic research across disciplines, including American studies, anthropology, history, industrial design, and international studies. Uses in public health, healthcare, social services, and international development The development of the Silence Speaks project in 1999 under the direction of Amy Hill (who joined the StoryCenter (formerly the Center for Digital Storytelling) in 2005) led to the expansion of digital storytelling in public health. Projects developed with the Centers for Disease Control, the Open Society Foundations, work in gender-based violence prevention with groups in California, Texas, New York, Minnesota, and with the organization Sonke Gender Justice in South Africa, the broad use of digital storytelling with Foster Youth, and finally the connection to digital storytelling to public campaigns in substance abuse prevention and community mental health programs. Digital storytelling is being used to raise awareness of the "human" factors in healthcare. The Patient Voices programme is the product of Pip Hardy and Tony Sumner. Established in 2003, their project provides a means for people (patients, families or healthcare workers) to tell their stories which might affect clinicians, managers and decision-makers in the healthcare arena. The Programme has worked closely with The Royal College of Nursing, The National Clinical Governance Support Team, The National Audit Office, NHS England, NHS Improving Quality,