Digital Storytelling Finale

Wow! We are closing out a very full and productive semester. I'm feeling smarter somehow!

I have broadened my view of what it is to teach and learn. I have come to realize what I should have known all along; a picture is worth a thousand words, and a video is worth a thousand pictures!

Most of us are visual creatures. We take in the world primarily through our eyes. Just because I like to learn by reading and writing doesn’t mean everyone else does. Having pictures, videos, and podcasts for those who like to listen does broaden our understanding of the world we live in. Being able to function digitally allows us to communicate with people we might never meet face to face. This includes people across the world with incredibly different life perspectives.

Newer generations than mine have developed a sense of their environment by gaming and interacting with animations. Being able to create a persona using an avatar allows one to soar beyond one’s own physical limitations and see the world from a new vantage point, interacting with others on another level.

I find myself gaining the confidence to try new applications and devices and find different ways of expressing myself in order to be understood by a wider audience.

This class, for me, has been overwhelming but in a good way. I would love to see this class be a six credit hour course or one that has two parts to it over two semesters. The format of working on a challenge followed by participating in a dialogue with classmates was very effective in my opinion.

Mandy Ganetti and I addressed the Reflection questions in this final dialog:

I think the first challenge I took pride in was my addition to the flip-grid Do you know Henry? series. I appreciated the entries before mine and had recently learned about the lonely orphan story. I knew we needed to move the plot along by creating the magical element with a book and the mysterious mentor/guide character. Looking back at it, I liked the way I mixed voice, altered photos and music to create my little production. I was especially proud that the persona I created continued to pop up in subsequent episodes. I especially enjoyed Erica’s rendition of her and laughed at the way she imitated my shawled, heavily made up figure of the old gypsy woman as I was dubbed. (Audio) (Video)

I also enjoyed working with Adobe Spark to create the Blast from the Past challenge:

Mixing graphics and photographs with text in an unusual and assymetrical slide app allowed me to revisit my childhood and also work with my family to recreate a moment in the distant past. It helped me hone my layout skills. Shortly after this creation, I used the same app in a presentation for a conference. It was a hit. (Graphics)(Video)

Remixing is still a bit of a mystery for me. I kind of get it. But I probably need to do more. However, I did get a certain feel for Amy's lifestyle based on her classwork and web presence. I was able to remix her photographic life into one of the friendly, small winery owner who sent out postcards with her wine deliveries. (Graphics)

Another remix effort I made was changing the article titles on the BBC website to be more clickbait-ish. I changed a few of the photos as well. This was hilarious fun. It forced me to come up with statements that were outlandish enough to attract clicks. What a great marketing technique this is! I should know I fall for it all the time. (Website)

I spent a lot of time editing my MC challenge on my dialog with Amber Beechley. We discussed ANTH101 The Art of Being Human. I couldn't have asked for a better dialog partner or a better topic. Michael Wesch's course takes you deeper into your own psyche and yet more aware of other people with all the activities he proposes. Just trying one out for a day helped my self-esteem. I used Filmora Wondershare to piece together the different parts of our dialog and tried to edit smartly. (Video)(Audio)

My favorite project so far is the very last one. It is a Timeline of my mother's early childhood. I used the TimeGraphics tool for the first time. I incorporated many of my new skills into this project including voice-over, editing, graphics, video, audio, dialoging. In the first video, I intended to do a sketchnote but couldn't find a way of holding a camera still and sketching at the same time. I couldn't find anyone to help me that day so I still sketched anyway and stopped to take pictures regularly. I think it has a similar feel to it although there is no animation. Recording conversations was challenging because no one is close by and my phone service is iffy. The recording quality was poor on most of what I did. I had to go back and edit this extensively to make it usable. Gathering pictures from my family was also difficult since the collections are old and stored away. Many were quite old and had to be touched up to make them workable. It was a time-consuming process to pull this together but very fulfilling. https://time.graphics/line/31386 You can click on the TimeGraphics Logo below to pull up the whole timeline.

I used my newfound Twitter skills weekly with the Daily Creates below. These are the most recent ones: (Social Media)