So you have heard about this little open course on digital storytelling called ds106, but how do you go about being a part of it? Come on in…

cc licensed ( BY NC ND ) flickr photo shared by Conor Keller | fortysixtyphoto.com

If you need more information about ds106, we have the requisite about page as well as a history of ds106 through the ages.

First of all, in ds106, there are multiple levels of participation- but most importantly, it is designed so you can pick and choose the when and where. We expect NO APOLOGIES for not being able to participate when other parts of life intrude. There is no concept in ds106 of “dropping out” c.f. Groom, Jim (2010-present), “ds106 is #4life”.

There are two approaches for being part of ds106, we will call “Fast and Easy” and “The Blogging Way”.

The Basics You Should Line Up for any Open Participant

These are all services you will use to participate in ds106, we recommend them all. They are free as in free. If you already have accounts, just use them, and consider yourself at the head of the class.

• Set up Gravatar. Pick a square photo or icon you prefer to use to represent yourself online and register it at http://gravatar.com with the email address you regularly use for online activity. This service is used in many places, including the ds106 web site, to associate the icon when you use that email address.
• Get a twitter account (if you do not have one) Register at http://twitter.com – this is the main channel we use for community in ds106, there are no discussion boards or web forums; if you want to “tweet” something to the broadest audience, include #ds106 in the message. Set up your twitter reading to monitor the #ds106 channel.
• Get a flickr account (if you do not have one) Flickr is place we share photos for the Daily Create and photo/graphic assignments; an account is also needed to comment on other people’s photos. You will comment on other people photos, right? If your account is brand new, you should upload at least 5 photos, flickr seems to need this to believe you are a real person.
• Get a Gmail Account (if you do not already have a gmail account) It’s not really for the Gmail, it is so you can upload videos to Youtube for Daily Creates, video assignments, and participate in Google Hangouts (out platform for live events). If you are one of the 4 people on the world without one, set up one now
• Get a Soundcloud Account (if you do not have one) Soundcloud is a nifty service we use for sharing sounds for Daily Creates and audio assignments

We do not specify what software you use for your ds106 work, use what you have already for creating/editing photos, graphics, audio, and video. We maintain a list of tools, including open source and web based ones, that other participants have used for ds106 work.

Suggestions of What to Do as an Open Participant

• Follow a current class. Here is where you follow along the work of a current class. Most typically, there are several different for credit classes going on at any one time, either at the University of Mary Washington or elsewhere. All current work will be displayed prominently at the top of the posts on the home page, and the work of different “sections” of ds106 being taught are grouped by tags and displayed on the right side of this page. You may want to try the same assignments they are doing or comment on student work
• Build Your Own Path Coming Soon! We hope to someday make a new way to build a custom syllabus through ds106 content for your own use. Until then, if you want a course path, follow one of the syllabi from previous courses ay UMW.
• Do The Daily Create The Daily Create was set up to provide a smaller challenge to create something and share it back to the site. There is no requirement to do it every day but we believe in the value of regular acts of creativity. You do not need a blog to do the Daily Create, just accounts on services like flickr, YouTube, or Soundcloud.
• Pick and Choose Assignments The core of ds106 is our open assignment bank, where we have categories of creative work you can do, grouped by media type (Visual Assignments, Audio Assignments, etc). Just jump in and take them on as challenges. Try a random one If you post your work you your blog, our syndication system can pull in your work as examples simply by following the tags on each assignment, or you can a single example directly via a URL. It is worth it just looking at the examples that other people have done for each assignment.

  Creating the assignments is great, but what really makes it storytelling is how you write it up on your blog (if you are on the blogging plan) — you may want to review some of the things we ask our UMW students to include in their assignment writeups.

  Some of our recommended and most popular ones assignments include:

  • Say it Like Peanut Butter (visual)
  • Splash the Color (visual)
  • One Story Four Icons (design)
  • Alternative Book Covers (design)
  • Sound Effects Story (audio)
  • May I Take Your Order (audio)
  • Resturn to the Silent Era (video)
  • One Archetype, Five Movies, Five Seconds (video)
  • Movie Trailer Mashup (mashup)
  • Remix an album Cover (mashup)

  See more featured assignments.

• Join in the Twitter Conversations The pulse of ds106 happens through our communication in twitter, and you can find people there sharing the work they create or other related resources. Find it via the #ds106 tag
• Share What inspires you. Our showcase of the best of ds106, in[SPIRE] is a place to make more visible the best work you find in ds106. It was created by former ds106 students as a place to nominate the work of others.
• Listen or Broadcast on ds106 Radio ds106 radio is a web based radio station that has regular live audio feeds or ongoing shows broadcast 24/7. Find out how to tune in or broadcast yourself, it is an open place.

Is That It? I Thought This was a Course

ds106 is many things, a course and a community. It is ongoing all the time.

As an open participant you choose to do what you do where you can, by sharing your work, and most importantly commenting on the work of others. More than just the cliché sense, ds106 is a place that is made better from the ideas and contributions of the people who come inside that door.

We do not give out badges or certifications, the creations you do, the connections you make with other, and just the experience of challenging yourself to tell stories is its own reward.

Some people even think it is a cult.