1. thanh76

    The Daily Create- Pick an Opening Line

    by
    Hi All,   For this week's first daily create, I was asked to read through 20 great opening line types and then create my own! Though, I do not know which category my opening line fall under I thought this might be a good opening line for my focal theme.   Many telling games are bad for me, but I tell them games taught me how to "level up"!   Let me know what you all think!
  2. leetran91

    The Daily Create- Pick an Opening Line

    by
    Hi All,For this week's first daily create, I was asked to read through 20 great opening line types and then create my own! Though, I do not know which category my opening line fall under I thought this might be a good opening line for my focal theme.Ma...
  3. ekeating

    The Shift from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 – Chapter 3 Response

    by
    This chapter took me 2 days to get through and process and I still have questions.  However, for my response today, I am going to focus on what concept kept coming back to me while reading; the idea of Netscape vs Google and Britannica vs Wikipedia and ‘new ethos stuff’.  I remember using both Netscape and Britannica when I was younger, and I remember teachers telling me I can’t use Wikipedia in academic papers as a source and I shouldn’t “trust it” because anyone can edit.    



    Until very recently, I still considered Wikipedia an unreliable source, even though it is always my go to for quick answers.  It was something I read last semester in a class that I began to really understand how Wikipedia works and how it is becoming a very reliable source (look it up if you don't know, it is quite interesting).  When I was in middle school, I thought I was so lucky to have Britannica online (in addition to a set of encyclopedias my grandma bought us one Christmas) and I could put the CD-ROM in and become an expert on my research topic.  As I was reading, I began to understand the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0.  I don’t remember the specifics of the dotcom crash but it all makes sense now: the companies that were interactive and allowed users to contribute were the ones that survived. 



    I think I have taken all this ‘new literacies’ and Web 2.0 stuff for granted.  This chapter really helped me understand how it used to be and how/why it has changed.  I even created a website for a class solely dedicated to Web 2.0 tools and I never really understood what a Web 2.0 tool was until now.  The examples Lankshear and Knobel use to help describe the shift (Britannica to Wikipedia) were really helpful to me.  They say, “In the Web 1.0 business model, producers create the product and make it available.  In the Web 2.0 business model, customers or users actually help build the business for the ‘owner’, by using the software to generate content - such as ideas, data, texts, images, video content, etc. - that creates value, and where this value brings advantage to the ‘owner’ of the business” (p. 69).  Again, this chapter was a lot to soak in but if I thought of it all in terms of Britannica to Wikipedia, it was easier for me to follow. 
        
    Now I think I have a grasp on the shift, I have so many more wonderings about the future.  Will there ever be a Web 4.0 or 5.0?  Will the internet become too saturated with information and Web 2.0 tools that we have another crash?  What will the future hold in the next 20 years?  Looking back at my last internship in Marketing/PR before I decided to be a teacher, my job was advertising and promoting events through ‘grassroots marketing’.  When I interviewed I had no idea what that meant, I knew about blogs but didn’t really get them.  I think about how much I have learned in the past 5 years (Twitter, blogs, Instagram, Flickr, Tumblr, etc.) and I can’t even imagine what it will all look like in another 5 years!      

    Out of curiosity and in an effort to find images for my post, I Googled "Web 3.0" and this image really struct me!             


    I found this image from a blog, but after further reading, the image was created by Dr. John Moravec 
    (Now, where does this fall under 'New technical stuff and copyright'??)

  4. emilysmayy

    Response to Lankshear and Knoble’s New Literacies: Chapter Three

    by

    In this chapter, Colin Lankshear and Michele Knoble spend a great deal of time talking through the technologies and values of “new” literacies—specifically the interrelationship between “new technical stuff” and “new ethos stuff.” In short, Lankshear and Knoble argue that the “new technical stuff” of new literacies or, types of applications/sites we use to create meaning (i.e. Machinima) is the… Read more →

    The post Response to Lankshear and Knoble’s New Literacies: Chapter Three appeared first on Emily S. May.

  5. emilysmayy

    Learning to Critique: Assessment of Digital Storytelling Series – Part 5

    by

    23 Feelings in Dance When we watch dance what do we “see”? By Peter Lovatt My mother told me once I danced in utero. Whether I was actually dancing it up for debate. However, for as long as I can remember, dance has always been a creative form of emotional expression. I can remember the highs and lows after competitions… Read more →

    The post Learning to Critique: Assessment of Digital Storytelling Series – Part 5 appeared first on Emily S. May.

  6. amalthea13

    Tangram Mandala Kaleidoscope

    by
      It all started with a set of magnetic tangram pieces. You remember the Tangram puzzles right? I had one in elementary school that was wood; seven flat shapes called tans that you could use to create numerous different shapes. The tangam has an interesting history, with rumored origins in China from over 1,000 years ago. The puzzles were widely popular in England and Denmark in the early 1800's, and at the end of the century became common in the United States. Apparently they also had a
  7. lisadise

    This Little Light of Mine – Week 3 Video Assignment

    by
    For this week’s video assignment I chose to do Paying Homage to what you care about.  The assignment instructs the student to pick something that they care about and make a video out of it using images and video clips.  The instructions also state to insert some appropriate music and end credits. This digital story […]
  8. amalthea13

    Radio Silence

    by
    What stops a father and son from being able to talk?    What stops any family or friends from being able to talk? How do we fall into patterns of nonexistent or superficial conversation with those we love? In Radio Silence, Duncan Cowles explores his relationship with his father, and attempts to understand the pattern of unspoken communication that has become the norm. His genuine and heartfelt approach to learning more about his father naturally brings the viewer to reflect on their own
  9. amalthea13

    Tangram Mandala Kaleidoscope

    by
      It all started with a set of magnetic tangram pieces. You remember the Tangram puzzles right? I had one in elementary school that was wood; seven flat shapes called tans that you could use to create numerous different shapes. The tangam has an interesting history, with rumored origins in China from over 1,000 years ago. The puzzles were widely popular in England and Denmark in the early 1800's, and at the end of the century became common in the United States. Apparently they also had a
  10. amalthea13

    Radio Silence

    by
    What stops a father and son from being able to talk?    What stops any family or friends from being able to talk? How do we fall into patterns of nonexistent or superficial conversation with those we love? In Radio Silence, Duncan Cowles explores his relationship with his father, and attempts to understand the pattern of unspoken communication that has become the norm. His genuine and heartfelt approach to learning more about his father naturally brings the viewer to reflect on their own
  11. jamesboneill

    Digital Critique #3

    by

    “Why Writers are the Worst Procrastinators” by Megan Mcardle

    I’m going to use a different permutation of the digital storytelling rubrics. This one focuses on “selective story traits.”

    Story flow

    Sometimes hooks are so manufactured.  Especially if you’ve worked with students.  I firmly believe that inauthentic hooks can sometimes be worse than no hook at all.  I think Mcardle’s first sentence/paragraph is an excellent hook in terms of how many ways we can distract ourselves/procrastinate: “ In the course of writing this one article, I have checked my e-mail approximately 3,000 times, made and discarded multiple grocery lists, conducted a lengthy Twitter battle over whether the gold standard is actually the worst economic policy ever proposed, written Facebook messages to schoolmates I haven’t seen in at least a decade, invented a delicious new recipe for chocolate berry protein smoothies, and googled my own name several times to make sure that I have at least once written something that someone would actually want to read.”

    Craftsmanship

    After the hook, the story flows, bringing the reader along as Mcardle investigates a variety of forces that may plague procrastinating writers and supporting them with evidence from credible sources. It’s written in a casual, accessible way that invites the layman in, which is especially appreciated since writing can quickly become a pretentious/overly academic topic.  I really enjoyed the writers-are-flawed-writing-is-flawed-and-both-are-trying-to-achieve-something-perfect aspect of Mcardle’s story (paraphrasing and hyphens are my own :)).

    Problem solving and innovation

    Mcardle seeks to support her thesis: that writers are overly critical of their own writing, and prioritize talent over perseverance through, mostly, anecdotal examples.  I thought her section about journalists failing out of their field because they would rather not turn in work then turn in work below their personal code of quality was a particularly interesting part of the “problem.”  But eventually Mcardle learns something that is startling to her.  That this issue is symptomatic of a much larger condition in terms of whether peopple opperate from “fixed mind-sets” or “growth mind-sets.”  This particularly resonated with me in terms of how students approach classroom education, and I thought sharing with students how even famous writers struggle with self-doubt and procrastination would be an interesting lens in which to view an age-old problem.  I particularly liked this quote which supported how our own perceptions of inadequacy are built from a faulty premise: “The reason we struggle with"insecurity,” says Pastor Steven Furtick, “is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.” 

    Effort/Work ethic

    At first I thought I would cut this criterion out of the rubric, but then I realized how ironic that would be.  The writer finished the piece!  Work ethic intact!  I didn’t think it was necessary, however, when Mcardle moved from the fertile grounds of fixed vs growth mindsets to her discussion of “Trophy Kids,” the millenial generation entering the workforce who need constant praise, correction, or instruction.  I thought it was a weak assertion built on a massive generalization.  It’s clear that this part of the article is in line with her forthcoming book “The Upside of Down,” but I felt it belonged in a different article.  So my final thoughts in this section are less about the writer’s effort/work ethic and more about her loss of the integrity of the issue.

  12. ekeating

    Where I Stand…

    by
    With everything going on in our country and the world today and with the upcoming holiday, a lot has been on my mind a lot lately.  I decided to take a picture of the American flag.  It stands for our freedom and so much more.  This migh...
  13. mitchellwoll

    Digital Story Critique 5: The Object – Short Story

    by
    Digital Story:
    The Object | Short Story
    Link

    My last four digital story critiques evaluated non-fiction (mostly journalistic) works. I decided this week I would try something fictional. I found this video “The Object” accidentally by perusing through Reddit. The video “The Object” is a hand-drawn slideshow depicting a story written by Eric Lange at 30secfantasy.com. 30secfantasy is an idea inspired by 30 Second Sci Fi, a challenge made by Philip Trippenback to write a new short science-fiction story every day. This story would have to take approximately 30 seconds to tell (or be no more than 250 words). Eric took this idea and challenged himself the same way. “The Object” is one of his 30 second stories.

    YouTube User Artifexian took Eric’s 30 second story and drew pictures for it, which he used to create the video. Therefore, I have an interesting schism in how I will assess this video. Firstly, I will assess Eric’s story on Jason Ohler’s criteria of Story and Writing. Then, I will assess Artifexian on Presentation and Performance.

    Story
    Eric covers a lot of ground within his 30 seconds. He presents the conflict in the form of a mystery. This object is careening toward Earth and has the capacity to annihilate the entire planet (as seen by jettisoning Jupiter out of orbit). Then, things go from bad to worse, when the story suggests that the object is being chased by something more ominous. I really liked the technique that Eric used here by presenting one problem, but then creating an even more sinister problem by making the original look like a victim. This works very well in the unknown expanse of space. So much is unknown about space, giving you the chance to create a good sense of mystery and foreboding.

    Writing
    My only nit-picky issue is that the science of this story could be incorrect. How would such an object arrive undetected for so long? Science and technology has advanced enough to the point where we can observe objects in space way beyond the solar system. Is the only way to detect the larger object by seeing an absence of stars? And the comparison to a gazelle zig-zagging while being chased seemed inorganic to the story, and the analogy had me wondering if there really was a specific route gazelles run when escaping a predator – I don’t imagine there is one. Nonetheless, after suspending my disbelief, I enjoyed the effect these points create. Also, there is only so much you can do with 250 words, especially when you give yourself a day to write them.

    Presentation and Performance
    Artifexian drawings are really fun. His depiction of the object is great, looking more like a cosmic monolith than an alien space craft or celestial beast. I think this gives the object an indifferent demeanor at the beginning of the story, as it floats through space destroying planets in its path. The additional animations and sound effects were used well. We were not distracted by an onslaught of noises. Instead, Artifexian used them sparingly, at points where they could amplify the point or enhance the sense of dread. None of the sound effected overshadowed the narration either.

  14. jamesboneill

    Colony Collapse

    by

    Hi all.  I took on a new #dailycreate assignment.  The goal was to incorporate the following Neologisms into a story. The list of words and story are below, more info about the assignment can be found here: http://tdc.ds106.us/tdc1242/

    emoji
    wtf
    nsfw
    net neutrality
    click bait
    click fraud
    photo bomb
    crema
    chilaquiles
    colony collapse disorder

    Quick note about the story: Below is my take on hardboiled detective fiction meets Neal Stephenson-esque futurism meets…bees, I guess.

    Colony Collapse Disorder

    It all started with an emoji: a little cartoon bee flapping its wings, or “fanning” if you asked Roger.  Roger was always so particular about that type of thing.  I put down my chilaquiles and texted him: “wtf?”  

    “Possible CCD,” Roger responded. “The Cold Moon farm just outside the city.” 

    Cold Moon?  They were the only farm left in the Crescent City that still had hives.  If they had CCD then we were all in trouble.  Big trouble.

    I checked my watch.  If I left now I could still make it to the farm before sundown.  I waved off the extra order of crema and left a wad of sweaty bills on the restaurant table.  It wasn’t much of a tip, but it was enough to get a photo bomb down by the docks.

    I hopped in my big Chevy and gunned the engine.  It responded with a deep growl, like something big hunting something small.  With commuter bandwidth protected by the new Net Neutrality legislation, a lot of folks opted for the new digital cars - sleek, cool to the touch, and essentially free to drive.  I still preferred mine big, loud, and analog.  

    I flew down highway 61 out of New Orleans, avoiding the click bait billboards.  You look at one too long and suddenly you have a letter in the mail telling you you owe ten easy payments of $9.95.  Just to be safe I flipped the switch on my click fraud scrambler - any electric eyes would only get a picture of a man in a Guy Fawkes mask, not a 40 year old private eye who had done a little too much drinking, too much smoking, and not enough situps.

    The scrambler beeped and I caught the nsfw end of a digital stripper on a billboard out of my peripheral vision.  I chuckled a little.  Even got the scrambler excited…

    I pulled off the solar highway and on to the crunch of a gravel road.  The truck bumped its way through an orchard of skeletal apple trees - they were well past their fruit bearing days.  Not much living making much for the living these days…

    I killed the truck outside the old farm house.  It was a pre-war building, real wood, not the digital stuff they cooked up in China and uploaded overseas.  The paint was split and peeling but the boards looked straight and the roof looked sound. A large porch with old rocking chairs was lit by a few lanterns with real flames. A few windows glowing from warm lights inside. Would be a good place to curl up and forget the rest of the world existed, which is what I tried to do sip by sip every night.  

    There was a small cut out of a crescent moon in the wood above the front door, it matched the one on the outhouse leaning against the side of the old place. 

    My phone buzzed and I toggled the retina read-out.  It was Roger: “How does it look?” He asked.  Only Roger could sound anxious over a text message.  “You’re the scientist, worry about the science stuff.  Let me handle the looking.” My phone read the tone and timbre of my voice and gave the text slightly menacing italicization.  Roger didn’t say anything else.

    I knocked on the door, which about bent in half under my fist.  No answer.  I knocked again.  “Jack Beach here.  Bee investigator.  Anyone home?”  Nothing.

    I stepped off the porch and walked around the side of the house. The sun was almost completely down by now.  It sent little tendrils of light out, trying to grab at my hands and face, like a squid that knows it’s about to be eaten.  The stacks loomed in front of me.  Huge white boxes stacked so high I could barely make out the top.  Bee keepers were damn fools.  Who risked their lives climbing up rickety ladders to dig their hands into boxes full of angrily buzzing assholes?  Of course my father had been one of those damn fools…

    My retina read-out saw an opportunity to please me and started excitedly doing calculations: each stack of hives was 50 feet high, 20 feet wide at base, approximately 8,000 stacks total.  But I didn’t need a fancy computer to tell me what I was seeing.  I didn’t need eyes at all.  My ears told me all I needed to know.  It was silent.  No buzzing. No droning.  No bees.

    I walked up to nearest stack and ran my hand over the lowest box.  It was smooth, dry, good place for bees to make their home.  I knocked on it.  Sounded solid.  Not hollow.  But no bees answered the knock.  

    I kicked the padlock off and swung open the front latch.  It was full of honey, thick combs dripping golden spiderwebs from floor to ceiling.  Just behind the combs were a white carpet of eggs: the capped brood.  Nestled in their honey cribs, still too young to emerge, and with no one left to care.  Well, almost no one.  

    “Where are ya?” I asked.  My breath steamed into the box and made the honey columns quiver.  It had gotten cold, I hadn’t noticed.  I swept aside the hanging honey and squinted at the back of the box.  There, hunched protectively over the capped brood, wings stretched wide, was the queen.  She rose up on her back legs, wings stretching to their limit, trying to look as large and menacing as possible.  “It’s ok honey,” I cooed.  “It’s ok, I know you’re just tryin’ to protect yours.”  I reached my hand in slowly, inching it past the honey curtains and the capped brood and closed gently over the queen standing rampant on her liquid throne.

    I felt her move a little in my fist then she was still.  Calm.  What all those idiot beekeepers didn’t understand was the one thing my dad did: all that protective gear just made you something alien, some giant clumsy doofus.  Bees were social insects, they were receptive if you took the time to socialize.

    I slowly withdrew my hand, careful not to disturb the brood.  Color was good, most looked like their membranes hadn’t been broken.  They might make it…they might not.

    I stood up and opened my fist slowly.  The queen was still inside, wings tucked at her sides.  Her glossy black eyes regarded me without blinking, without flinching.  I turned and looked out over the Maurepas Swamp to where New Orleans sat nestled against Lake Pontchartrain.  The lights of the city sparkled and glowed, reflected in the water so that there were two cities: New Orleans above and New Orleans below.  One safe and dry, one drowned and shimmering.  I couldn’t really say which looked best.

    A snowflake landed on my hand and the little queen crept into the crease of my palm.  She laid down in the grime and oil.  No place for a queen, but it was safe and it was warm and it was dry.

    The snow had started to fall in sheets now, curling back in on itself.  I watched it descend on the city.  It had gotten cold and I hadn’t noticed.

  15. taniadsouza

    Hello world!

    by
    This is your very first post. Click the Edit link to modify or delete it, or start a new post. If you like, use this post to tell readers why you started this blog and what you plan to do with it. Happy blogging!
  16. edwyer10

    New Literacies Review (Ch. 3) – Different Technologies

    by
    This week I continue my reading and review of the book “New Literacies: Everyday Practices and Social Learning” written by Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel. This week is all about chapter 3: “New Literacies: technologies and values”.  Chapter 3 goes into great detail about many different ways we use “new” literacies. The quote I liked […]
  17. edwyer10

    Daily Create – Take a picture of small people

    by
    Today’s Daily Create assignment asked me to go to the highest place I can and take a picture of people being small. The picture below was actually taken last summer. Not sure if that’s cheating or not ;) This photo is off the Delicate Arch at Arches National Park in Moab, Utah. Take a look […]
  18. jamesboneill

    My Daily Shame

    by

    My daily shame is that I’m realizing, week 2, that it’s hard to find time to be creative.  Those words hurt.  I haven’t made all of the pivots that I contemplated after week 1, but I have submitted more work earlier, although my Friday deadlines moved my bangs a bit as they blew by. 

    The daily create assignments are really interesting and I’m starting to feel renewed and refreshed by the conversations happening over the #cudenver15 twitter list.  Since I’m having trouble with deadlines somedays and not others, I’m going to try something ambitious: something created everyday.  Be it a dailycreate, a digital critique, an L&K review, etc. I will do something every day! I’m excited about this new approach, because no longer will it be about “how many days until X” it will be about enjoying the work itself because I’ve created the time to accomplish it.  Wish me luck!

  19. jamesboneill

    L&K Chapter 2

    by

    I was really interested to read more about how L&K define “new” literacies, and was excited that this chapter covered quite a bit about social learning communities.  I think it’s fascinating how “interconnected” we’ve become through digital means.  Certainly there is tremendous benefit to being able to interact and communicate with friends (and strangers) across the globe and “new” literacy’s ability to base this in affinity groups (both formal and informal) mostly leads to positive outcomes.

    Of course, anonymity rears its head.  I think of anonymity as kind of an anti-Discourse (as L&K define it).  Anonymity is the complete opposite of someone’s identity, their story, their experiences, their knowledge.  Instead anonymity prioritizes the unknowable, the absurd, the aggressive.  What can I do and say because I CAN.  Gone are the subjunctives: should, could, would, might… Some are only interested in what they can do instead of what they “should” do.  
    It’s hard not to see the parallels here with the tragedy in Charleston - and again, we see the power of social learning communities/media to spread viewpoints (both positive and negative).  How do we continue to use new literacies to nurture and cultivate connections between disparate people (geographically, ethnically, socioeconomically, etc.), while also not infringing on the rights of people to be completely anti-social? As Michael brought up in his post, there i an Aristotle quote that seems apropos: “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.“ 

  20. jamesboneill

    My Attempt with the Story Spine

    by

    Once upon a time there was a ghost named Tommy who wanted to be loved.

    Every day, he tried to hug people, but he only succeeded in scaring them.

    But one day, he found a dark attic that people hadn’t opened for hundreds of years.  In the attic he found an old photo of a young boy.  The boy had died in an accident at the hospital.  When he touched the photo he found that he turned into a real boy.

    Because of that, Tommy could run and play like a normal boy and made friends with all the other little boys in the neighborhood.  He was allowed to go out and play every day, but he had to come back to the attic and return to his ghost form every night. He could only be a boy during the day.

    Because of that, a boy got jealous of his popularity and thought it unfair that the Tommy never had to go home or school, he could play all day.  He decided to follow Tommy home one day and see why Tommy was so special.

    Because of that, the boy saw that Tommy turned back into a ghost every night when he went back to the attic and touched the picture.  When the boy saw he became terrified and fell off the ladder to the attic.  The boy was badly hurt and needed to go to the hospital.  Tommy had to make a decision,

    Until finally, Tommy returned to his boy form and carried the boy to the hospital.  As he walked he slowly began reverting to his ghost form.  The boy began to slip from his fingers so Tommy walked faster and faster.  Tommy’s legs began to sink in to the ground and bend.  His hat fell off and turned to dust.  Finally he arrived at the hospital, just as the sun set, and the boy slipped from his fingers on to the ground in front of the hospital door.

    And ever since then, the legend of Tommy the friendly ghost grew; many boys would sit in the attic during the day and keep him company.  

UMW Spring 2024 (Bond & Groom)

Welcome to Paul Bond and Jim Groom’s Spring 2024 ds106

Student Blogs

(9 posts)

[feedroll tag=”spring24bond”]

Spread some comment love! Find a random post from this section