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Undergoing Week 3 Investigation

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Hello fellow DS 106-ers! I am excited that this was the first week of no bootcamp! It was nice getting up on Monday and knowing I wouldn’t have to do a Word Press {see what I did there ;)} Anyways, this week, I was put to the test of investigating just what ‘Digital Storytelling’ is. If you have not read it already, you can check out my pre-investigation definition here. I know, it’s nothing concrete, I guess my investigation continues!! This week, I was a detective bug!

detective bug

Kurt Vonnegut’s clever idea of the Shape of Stories was fun to explore and investigate. This shape of stories actually proved itself to be right in most cases. When we think a book or movie is being very predictable or cliché, it’s really just because we have become so familiar with the “shape” of stories. The story line that I chose to compare to Vonnegut’s shape idea was his show has all of the basic curves that Vonnegut mentions in his video. The boy gets the girl after losing her, the girl that comes from ill fortune and poverty actually achieves off scale happiness in the end, and there is the boy who gets himself into trouble but then gets out again. These are the classic elements of a story and it makes so much sense to me now that I know about Vonnegut’s shape of stories.

The digital story that I chose from the new DS 106 reddit page was a GIF. You can read the summary of why I chose it and why I think it is classified as a digital story in my blog post. To make the long story short, I think that this is a digital story because it tells a story itself without having any words or captions to it (but it doesn’t HAVE to not have any words). The possibilities are endless either way {thus another clue for my investigation}!

The past DS 106-ers work blew me away! When I was looking through their “best work”, I realized why they called it their best work. My blog post about this doesn’t even compare to all of the work submitted by the students. I had to pick two but only because I HAD to. I would have picked them all to analyze :) *Will I ever be that good?* Looking through their work gave me a little more insight on just what digital storytelling is. I already knew it needed to have certain elements in it; a plot, characters, a theme. Now, I know that it can take any form; GIFs, videos, pictures, or actual words. Through this assignment, I got more clues for my investigation, but I will have to keep investigating.

I have enjoyed the Daily Creates so much! I think it is my favorite part about this class, which is hard to say because there is a lot of fun things in this class. This week we had to do 3 Daily Creates, in week 3….go figure. I think I sense a pattern coming on?? Here is my post about this week’s Daily Creates. I find myself wanting to do the Daily Creates even after I have hit my limit…and this week I did. Here is my picture of something broken {this picture is not in my Daily Create post because I had already completed 3 and blogged about it. This is just extra}:

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My photo story was really fun to make. For this assignment, we had to use pictures to tell a story. I knew that I wanted to write a story about animals {because who doesn’t love that?!} so I used 2 animal pictures from the Daily Create pictures posted by my fellow DS 106-ers. I found myself being very creative by giving human characteristics to animals. I love to write creatively, even if I don’t do it as well as other people might. This assignment was right up my alley! I can’t wait for more assignments like this!!

Also this week, we were assigned to comment groups. I was assigned to Comment Group 3, grouping up with four fabulous fellow DS 106-ers. You can check out each of their blogs by clicking on their name; Amber May, Jennifer Gorman, Micaela Butler, and last but not least Sarah Park. These girls have wonderful thoughts and interesting blogs to read, so check them out! And all of these ladies have something about their blog and its design that stands out and probably {not sure, it’s an online class} reflects their personalities. I love how just a blog can do that!

Micaela Butler has a beautifully designed blog. Looking through her blog makes me want to find a new layout for mine because I was super jealous. Also, Amber May‘s post about her story shape was well organized and put simply. It made my story shape post look confusing. So I went back and make some clarifications on that post. The feedback that I got from my comment group members was very helpful. When Amber commented on my Shape of Stories post, she let me know that it was a little confusing at first and then she understood. I went to her page and saw her shape story and then went back to fix mine, like I mentioned above. Her comment changed my thinking. My shape made sense to me but with digital storytelling, it needs to make sense for everyone {thus yet another clue in my investigation}. Also, I found out that one of my group members, Micaela Butler, is in the education program! She is a freshman in the program. It was neat to find this out because I wouldn’t have met her if it wasn’t for this class {last semester :`(} She told me about how I can submit my invention to a website and they would make it for me to create. She liked my invention – but if your nose has ever been cold…who wouldn’t like it?!

The comments from my group members to me were very reassuring. I got a lot of positive feedback about the content in my blog and the style of my writing. I also got the chance to give feedback to my comment group members. I enjoyed reading their posts and finding out things about them. I wish my group members were a little more hard on me. I know I’m ot perfect and I want them to give me some constructive criticism. But since this was the first week of being a part of a comment group, I think it was more like a soft/introduction week. Hopefully week 4 will be filled with constructive criticism and more fun digital storytelling assignments!! :)

Overall, week 3 went pretty well. I am glad that I have a comment group so I can focus in on 4 other people’s blogs and not skim over the whole classes’. I am feeling a lot more comfortable with navigating Word Press. After further investigation, I have come to the conclusion that digital storytelling doesn’t have to be just one thing. It can be pictures with words or pictures without words. Videos or GIFS. A paragraph or a blog post. As long as what it is tells a story {to other people besides just the person who created it}, it works. I also conclude that every thinks of digital storytelling differently and there is no one right answer. CASE CLOSED.

Have a great week everyone! :)

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