Like other forms of user-generated-content, Digital Storytelling has flourished in a grassroots fashion as well as under the auspices of various public institutions. How to construct a theoretical framework to understand of the impact of Digital Storytelling on the participants and their social environments in view of the empowering potential often invoked in the discourse of participatory media? In pursuit of a conceptual framework for empowerment in participatory media practice, this paper first gives a survey on both popular and academic literature on Digital Storytelling as a cultural movement. It then provides an extensive literature review on the theory and practice of participatory video in development communication, which bears considerable affinity to Digital Storytelling. It argues that only through integrating theories in development communication, visual anthropology, and empowerment theories from research in community psychology and health promotion can we holistically explicate the constructs of participation and empowerment in media practice involving nonprofessionals. The framework contributes to the field of purposeful use of media and communication for social change.