Digital Story or Research Paper?

I want to start out by saying both, obviously, are very useful for an educational setting. The main question is can a digital story substitute for a 15 page research paper. I feel like you could meet a lot of the standards by writing a digital story instead of a research paper, but both have their drawbacks. I think with a digital story you have the advantage of being more collaborative and being able to share and have your story viewed by more people. I definitely think I would use both as a teacher, but I just love the advantages of digital media. I love that others can contribute and share ideas. You won't have the problem of the paper ever getting lost or torn up. Also, I think students are more interested and more inclined to do a better job if they know others will see their work and they know it is going to be posted online. Digital stories are a great way to have students brought out of the monotony of everyday class and assignments.