For my second daily create we were asked to create an image of a bride throwing a cat. I hope you all find this hilariously cute!    

         Creative thinking is all about perspective. Seeing things or processes not how they are but how they could be. Perspective twists, turns and manipulates the mundane. Transforming it into something extrao...

For my second daily create we were asked to create an image of a bride throwing a cat. I hope you all find this hilariously cute!

     Digital storytelling can be as simple as a single image with text or voice narrative. It can be as complex as a full-length movie. The key to storytelling success lies in the structure of all the elements. Without organization,...

Wet Spring

The Daily Create Assignment:
Send flowers to DS106 people!

If you live in Colorado, you know that this has been a very wet Spring. This morning, I wasn't sure I could produce a very good flower picture with the stormy weather. But around noon, the clouds dissipated, the sun started shining through, and I was able to capture this great photo of a purple flower (sorry, I’m not good with flower names). “Wet Spring” represents this unprecedentedly rainy season in Colorado. The dew clinging to the flower pedals indicates a fresh rain, while sunlight shines in the background. I think this image really captures the elements of Spring: lushness, beauty and rejuvenation.

LG G2 Smartphone camera
Gimp (cropping only)

Flickr

For this week's DS106 Assignment Bank Project I decided to make a Word Cloud. The assignment was simple: using an online tool, such as Wordle, create a word cloud using text that invokes some kind of meaning or emotion. The idea is to use visualization...

Bill Calhoun, Thank you for your help in the last class when I needed an evaluation of my design document!

June 12, 2015 Response to L&K: Chapter 1 This week I began reading New Literacies by Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel. They basically had me wondering if I was illiterate in this day and age of technology. I am just starting to learn about social media and I prefer my social contacts to be “real-time” […]

As week one slowly comes to a close I tell myself “only seven more weeks!”. Don’t get me wrong, I think this will be a great semester. Challenging, yes, but a definitely a learning opportunity. If I were to use one word to summarize how I feel about this week: overwhelmed. After careful review of the… More Week 1 Reflective Summary

As week one slowly comes to a close I tell myself “only seven more weeks!”. Don’t get me wrong, I think this will be a great semester. Challenging, yes, but a definitely a learning opportunity.

If I were to use one word to summarize how I feel about this week: overwhelmed. After careful review of the course syllabus and Canvas pages, I identified at least 9 assignments due each week, not including the required reading. In an attempt to stay organized I created notes within Evernote to track when assignments were due each week, checking off those that have been completed (see image below). But please don’t think I’m simply completing assignments for the sake of completing them. If I felt that the workload was too much and could not provide quality assessments and critiques I would most likely drop this class.

I found most of the assignments fun and rewarding - especially the TDC’s and Visual AB. Although the critiques were not as fun, I am learning a lot from peer reviews as well as what I would/would not do for my own storytelling projects. I have used Twitter and Tumblr more in the past 5 days than I thought I ever word. Much thanks to Remi for providing other resources to track social media posts (Tweetdeck & Feedly).

It may be a little too early to have a favorite assignment. However the TDC assignments are engaging and fun. I get to see the creative side of my peers and leverage some of the ideas and design decisions for future projects. 

At this point I can’t say I would do anything differently. I understand this is a summer class and naturally the pace and workload would be greater than if this were a traditional semester in length. I just didn’t imagine it would be like this. 

As for my focal theme, I am struggling to find digital storytelling resources/samples to support my “change management”. Several assignments ask us to incorporate scholastic resources of our focal theme into our critique. This has been a challenge for me, prompting me to reconsider my theme. 

Lastly, on a scale from 1-10 I think my participation  in the class and completion of the assignments thus far is on par for a 10. The rubric clearly states that grads should not be awarded based on “effort”, but I hope there is at least an appreciation of all of the effort being made to complete these assignments in such a small amount of time - especially considering other obligations outside school (full-time work, family, etc).

Understanding what it means being literate or illiterate in todays world implies analyzing a complexity of concepts, terms, inte ractions, and being willing to rethink personal conceptions. “New Literacies: Everyday Practices and Social Learning” by Colin Lanksh ear and Michele Knobel provides in the first chapter an overview exploring concepts, proposing themes of reflection, and […]

The hype machine is my constant enemy.  I love getting recommendations for books, tv, movies, podcasts, but I also fear the inevitable tipping point where my goodnatured nods and affirmation become more bitter and cynical.  “Serial? No I haven’t listened to it.  Mmhmm, I hear it’s good.  Yep, I know I have to listen to it.  Yes, I do believe it will blow my mind.”  

“Satisfaction (b1) must be equal and opposite to the effect of expectations (- b1)” - from Handbook of Research on Contemporary Theoretical Models in Information Systems edited by Dwivedi, Yogesh K.  It’s entirely unnecessary to pull that quote from such a weighty text, but the toothpaste is out of the tube here.  The higher the level of expectation the lower the satisfaction, and vice-versa.  This is my roundabout way of saying that I entered the Serial podcast with clenched teeth: “Ok, here we go.  Time to hear what everyone is talking about.”  And it was…good.  Really good.  The pacing was mostly effective and thoughtful.  The earnestness of Koenig was particularly refreshing - some of my favorite moments where when she wrestled with her inner doubts right along with her listeners: Did he do it?

Serial is arguably the most recent example of a new era of “digital storytelling,” which is funny since it is fundamentally based on a pre-digital technology (radio).  In reality, it has a lot working against it - an old story (15 years in the past), and a thin cast of characters (not many people are interviewed).  But what it does have is Koenig’s compulsion to figure out what happened - not only for the truth of the story, but also to be set free herself.  Koenig’s narration is closer to Poe’s narrator in the “Tell-Tale Heart” than it is to a confident, careful investigator (say…Matlock).  Her own sense of truth and justice and the integrity of her moral compass quickly become caught up in the puzzle and I found that most compelling of all.  

June 12, 2015 Critique 2: World Best Motivational Videos for Students Digital Storytelling Assessment Traits by: Jason Ohler Focus of critique: Story – Story with a strong message Media application – The main messages were based on video images Originality, voice, creativity – The story was unique, clear, and refreshing Story: 10/10 The main character […]

A Response to Lankshear & Knobel, New Literacies, Chapter 1

The teachers were all dreading the professional development session. It was to be two-and-a-half hours of how to implement the Common Core Curriculum in our technical high school. "I guess we're supposed to all become Language Arts Teachers now" was a common refrain in our grumblings. It turned out to be one of the best PD's we've ever had.

The consultants had a well-thought-out and comprehensive framework about literacy. The idea was that the word "text," as used in the Common Core Standards, could be quite broadly interpreted. It didn't mean just written text. As a physics teacher I already considered "text" to include graphs, charts, diagrams, and equations. But these consultants had done their homework. For an example they described a possible outing to a work site by one of our technical programs, carpentry. The task would be to inspect a damaged deck, create an estimate for repair or replacement, and consult with the homeowner. Each of these three tasks involved skills that could be considered literacy. The damaged deck was a "text" that could be "read" through inspection. The "text" was then interpreted through the means of creating the estimate, which itself was another text. Finally, the interaction with the customer, determining his needs and budget and presenting an appropriate proposal, was all interpretation of another text.

"Wow, I hadn't really thought of it that way" became a new refrain. The anxiety around implementing the Common Core Curriculum was replaced with a certain excitement around utilizing this new idea about literacy.

The first chapter of New Literacies was basically a summary of how the concept of literacy has changed over the decades. I was afraid that it would be a dry run-through, but Lankshear and Knobel steered through the details with a steady eye on their destination - their own interpretation of "new literacy." I was surprised by how much of the summary I recognized. I guess I've been around for a while! But I had never connected all the dots in quite the way that Lankshear and Knobel had. By the time the summary had gotten to "The radical 'multiplicity' of literacy" (p. 21) the memory of that professional development session had popped into my head and I knew I would have to write about it.

• What are your main insights and ideas from the given L&K chapter?

“With respect to literacy and economic growth and well-being, it was increasingly believed that the average literacy level of a country’s population is a better indicator of economic growth than is educational achievement as measured by credentials.”

Startling stuff for developed nations that are busy using other metrics to determine economic growth: job creation, trade deficit, inflation, etc.  As Freier identified, literacy is closer to critical thinking than it is to alphabetic decoding. So if it’s so important than we must need to legitimize it in quantifiable ways (particularly with data).  

“New Literacies As an institutionalized activity of the state, education is seen to be legitimated through the principle of performativity (Lyotard 1984). This is the principle of optimizing the overall performance of social institutions (like schools) according to the criterion of efficiency: the ‘endless optimization of the cost/benefit (input/output) ratio’ (Lyotard 1993: 25). “ 

It’s a slippery slope.  I think that Knobel and Lankshear are saying what many teachers would echo.  Data is a priority, yes, but if we don’t look at the validity of the data, the quality of the data, then we are building our next steps off faulty premises.  I really like the concept of “performativity” that something can only be legitimate if it can demonstrate performance.  

• What unique terminology, jargon, buzzwords, and other concepts appear in this reading that required your careful attention and definition? What are your interpretations of these words and concepts?

Attention has to be given to what this chapter is primarily discussing: “new” literacies.  Though Knobel and Lankshear are careful to delineate between “new” and “digital” I think the point is clear, that there the contemporary avenues of literacy (or thinking if we can be so broad) involve but are not limited to digital competencies, the importance of which are equal to Freir’s work (though the technologies and “forums” may have changed).  I don’t know how comfortable I am with “new” literacy.  The first half of the chapter spends time discussing why the “old” literacy model has largely failed, or at the least, been called into question.

The chapter ends soon after this revelation and I’m left wondering what this means for literacy - here’s the only analogy I can think of: should we use current lingo because it is current, or should we use it because it creates something fresh, and new, and intentional that wasn’t there before.  Do we really need to acknowledge Yuh-Gi-Oh as a means of more deeply understanding the critical processes that undergird literacy?  Or is our time better spent drawing more inclusive lines around what has been deemed to be the English “canon.”  I am in favor of the latter, but for every argument about “dead white guy” bias, we oversimplify the argument to author instead of theme.  Ideas have no race, or class, or educational status. 

June 12, 2015 Critique 1: Temple Grandin: The world needs all kinds of minds Digital Storytelling Assessment Traits by: Jason Ohler Focus of critique: Story – A talk with a strong story focus Media application – Use of slides for support Research – Mentioned scientific research and the speaker is a researcher Story: 10/10 Temple Grandin […]

Episode 5: Hometown 2   Inanimate Alice is a browser-based, interactive digital story. This story is number five in a series that follows the main character, a teenage girl named Alice. Her narration is facilitated through text accompanied by sometimes intense music and sound effects, and the main point of navigation requires you to click an arrow to move to the next scene.   This was my first experience with a media compilation of this kind, but the three traits I identified for my critique are

Episode 5: Hometown 2   Inanimate Alice is a browser-based, interactive digital story. This story is number five in a series that follows the main character, a teenage girl named Alice. Her narration is facilitated through text accompanied by sometimes intense music and sound effects, and the main point of navigation requires you to click an arrow to move to the next scene.   This was my first experience with a media compilation of this kind, but the three traits I identified for my critique are

A physics teacher named Frank Noschese wrote and hosted a series of essays on the concept of pseudoteaching. Pseudoteaching is activity that looks like teaching, feels like teaching, but no learning is taking place. One of the guest bloggers was Dere...

My first visual assignment for class was chosen at random.  The instructions were to emphasize a color from a picture.  I have decided that my theme for the next two months is going to be me exploring a new city.  This picture was taken in July last year when I visited Denver (better yet Colorado)… More I hope I found my pot of gold.

Digital Story:
Radiolab - The Trust Engineers
Link

I selected Radiolab’s podcast profiling Facebook’s “Trust Engineers” (now renamed “Facebook Protection and Care”) because it covered social media, a technology being trusted to innovate education. The teaser described that “Facebook has created a laboratory of human behavior the likes of which we’ve never seen.” To summarize, Facebook conducts social experiments on users and gathers data, which was, and may still be, unbeknownst to said users. One example of these experiments was manipulating the News Feed of users to see if it could affect their emotions.

This particular episode of Radiolab was apparently years in the making, and because of this I will assess it on Jason Oher’s criteria of Story (of course), Research, and Digital Craftsmanship.

Story
The story structure of this podcast reminded me a lot of the sort of story structure of the movie The Matrix. Like most journalistic feature stories, or documentaries, Radiolab starts out with a small point (as I describe in my last critique). This starting point is profiling the collection of reported photos on Facebook. Then, as with a typical diamond structure, it moves outward, more broadly, going to Facebook’s campus, and talking about the Trust Engineers. Finally, when Robert Krulwich asks the question about social experiments being conducted unknowingly to him, we have a sort of red pill/blue pill moment. Once one of the Trust Engineers says “100 percent,” the hosts and audience, like Neo in The Matrix, realize that they have secretly been part of a larger system they had no control over. As Radiolab aptly put it, we are their lab rats.

From here, there is some rejection of Facebook’s Trust Engineers. The public finds out about the experiments, and the backlash begins (as in The Matrix when the humans fight the machines). The term Trust Engineer is then treated with disdain. The episode ends with a discussion about whether the Trust Engineers’ experimentation, manipulation, and monitoring of emotions are ethical or not. Can Facebook improve how people interact online as online interactions yet do not have a complete set of social norms as face-to-face interactions do? Or is Facebook using its data for marketing purposes to make money?

I think the story was super intriguing despite its slow start. And I may be saying it had a slow start because of the hangover of discovering the massive social experiments. The small facts during the first few minutes about how using the word “please” or “do you mind” in pop-up messages really pales in comparison to the larger notion that people were manipulated without them knowing by a seemingly open and friendly social media network.

Research
This episode took some time to create, starting in 2011, as the hosts mentioned. So, kudos for the perseverance to create a 30 minute episode based on years of research. The hosts first interviewed one member of Facebook, but then ended up on the Facebook campus talking to a staff of Trust Engineers discussing the social experiments and asking the right questions; the most poignant one which changes the whole tone of the episode asked by Robert, “What is the statistical likelihood that I have been a guinea pig in one of your experiments?” (See above.)

Digital Craftsmanship
What I really enjoy about Radiolab is its fantastic use of ambient sounds, as well its clippings of dialogue. The ambient sounds and music engages the listener to elicit emotion. In a couple projects I did in my Creative Design for Instructional Materials course in Fall 2014, I also included ambient music into my videos because music affects the amygdala in the brain, which also manages emotions. Evoking emotion can increase engagement. Thusly, music can elicit more attention. In this particular episode of Radiolab, perhaps the most effective use of ambient sound and music was when the hosts described the influx of photos of Facebook during Christmas time. While describing this, sleigh bells could be heard in the background, a sound so commonly associated with the Christmas time, it amplified my visualization of the season.

Throughout Radiolab podcasts, the dialogue between the hosts and the interviewed subjects is constantly clipped and reassembled to convey the story. On paper, this might sound like a bad idea. Clipping so much could potentially lead to a jumbled mess of disjointed phrases. But Radiolab does it so well. This method really keeps the listener entertained and engaged without losing the plot or flow of the podcast.

My wife and I started a marching band 12 years ago for a local dairy delivery company called Munroe Dairy. Why does a dairy company need a marching band you might ask. Because they were already appearing in a couple of parades every year, dressed in o...

Assignment: Movies are often based on books. Not this time. Design a book cover that is based on a movie. DO NOT use an image of the actor/s. Try to find or create imagery that captures the essence of the movie without using the actor’s picture. This may be a bit of a stretch, but […]

Original Post here 

This flower is for @Peachey_Pie who brought me into the twitter fold for Digital Storytelling.  May this crazy Dr. Seuss-ian flower bring you joy and happiness and may your enemies tremble before you.

This week I watched a couple of productions developed as part of a initiative to create videos reinforcing identity. The traits I selected for my first critique are: Story: I believe the core aspect of a digital storytelling project is to show a quality story that engage viewers during the whole production. Originality, voice, and […]

New Literacies: Everyday Practices and Social Learning by Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel, is divided into 3 parts; Part 1: New Literacies: Concepts and Theroy Part 2: New Literacies: Some Everyday Practices Part 3: New Literacies and Social Learning Below is my response to Chapter 1, which falls under Part 1. In order for us […]

Daily Create Post Today’s Assignment: Send flowers to DS106 people. Who or why is up to you! To one person or to many up to you too! Remember, tell us who they are for and why. My Response: I recently went on a backpacking, hiking, camping adventure with friends and saw this beautifully bloomed cactus […]