ABSTRACT
Participatory design and design for social innovation are valuable practices in driving social change. Nevertheless, giving media and content design the central role in social inclusion processes is still an alternative perspective and should be explored further within the design discipline. In this chapter, we address the power of stories to activate change processes and to promote the construction of a collective imagination. We present a collaborative, social process that engages designers as the activators of a process that gives voice to the experiences of those at the margins of the mainstream. Thanks to a narrative-based strategy that can empower the transmission of values and messages through the worldbuilding practice, audiences can immerse themselves into narrative spaces and participate in creating stories. From the communication design perspective, this strategy requires addressing two issues—the power of narrative change and the role of narratives in transmedia communication systems.
