Category Archives: ds106

Thinking Deeper about DS106

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This weekend, a video conversation was posted in which the main facilitators/organizers of DS016 (Martha Burtis, Alan Levine, and Jim Groom) were being interviewed for an award DS016 is receiving around open learning. I was curious because I actually don’t know much about the history or intent of DS106, other than it is a wonderful way to engage in digital storytelling and creativity. I decided to put the video into Vialogues, so that I could comment and make notes as I listened to the three discuss the ethos underpinning the creation and nurturing of DS106, and its history.

I liked a lot of what I heard, from the open nature of the assignments to the desire to push the boundaries of digital storytelling as far as they will go, to understanding that the Web offers both limits and unlimited potential for creative minds, to the current state of educational organizations dipping their toes into online learning — only to replicate traditional learning. They imagine a digital humanities hub of work and exploration, with directions for learning yet unknown. I also liked how they connected this to agency and digital identity.

One point of the rich discussions that struck out at me, though, and I am not sure why I keep pondering it.

All three consistently refer to DS106 as a “course,” and that now makes sense to me — the site and idea was launched at a university, and has been and is used in college classes, and adapted for other university experiences. And – duh — there is the Headless Course that I am taking part in. Of course, it is a course. But I admit: I never knew that it was actually a college course and I never conceived of it that way, and listening to Jim, Martha and Alan use that word “course” to define the experience now has me rethinking DS016. It situates me differently inside the DS106.

And I am not sure why that bothers me slightly, and yet it does.

Perhaps it is because they are pretty adamant that DS106 is NOT a MOOC. And maybe it isn’t. But, well, maybe it is. My idea of a collaborative, open learning space is how I think about MOOCs in the best possible ways (acknowledging that the term is being taken over by corporate interests), and the DS106 experience feels a lot like that, for me. Maybe this is one of those times when words and language are really important when trying to explain something to the outside world, and hearing that word “course” conjures up a certain way of thinking about the University experience.

I suspect the three of them wish to change that kind of thinking with DS106, so that learning experiences are not a lecture, four-walls, textbook experiences. Maybe they need a new word there.

Peace (in the thinking),
Kevin

 

We Live in Stories: A Summary of Ideas

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Ds106 word cloud
This past week, in DS106, the center of focus has been storytelling. In particular, we have been exploring what it means to tell a story in the digital age. I’ve thought a lot about this over the years, and have been bringing different kinds of storytelling to my sixth grade students as a way to expose them to the possibilities.

I love that idea of “possibilities” when it comes to digital storytelling. In many ways, I don’t feel as if we are quite there yet with how best to express a story across multiple and connected technological tools and spaces. But we are getting there, right? More and more barriers are falling down, although we should continue to be worried about businesses coming into the gaps, and inflicting their vision of how we should be composing on us. Some of the best moments in my classroom come when a student finds a workaround or discovers a hack that uses a piece of software or a tool in an unexpected way.

This week, I thought about my own view of digital storytelling, and then reviewed a book about transmedia and comics as storytelling devices, and then dove into the Five Card Story site for visually constructing a story. Finally, I took part in the Twitter vs. Zombies game on Twitter (my second time.)

A few sample tweets:

You might wonder: storytelling? You bet. The game is a story, but told in moving parts and on a fluctuating stage. The characters are us. The storyline might be expected (all humans eventually turn to zombies) but the participants are shaping the pace of the story.

Peace (in the thinking),
Kevin

 

More Than Meets the Eye: Five Card Storytelling

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Five Card Story: When I Remember You, I Remember Us

a Five Card Flickr story created by dogtrax


flickr photo by @DrGarcia


flickr photo by Serenae


flickr photo by bionicteaching


flickr photo by bionicteaching


flickr photo by bionicteaching

I didn’t quite know where the story was going until that last image, which seems to be a memorial/remembrance of sorts. So, the story unfolded in reverse for me. The doll in the window seems to indicate a longing, with fierce metaphorical weather arriving. The leaf is most interesting to me here. It’s a beautiful shot, right? But it has a mournful quality to it, too.

Over at DS106, one of the activities to consider during this week of storytelling is using the Flickr tool “Five Card Story” that provides random images, and you choose one from a collection and built a visual story. It’s a fascinating dip into the world of visual storytelling, with just enough randomness to make it surprising and just enough agency to let you guide the story forward.

In mine, you can see what I was thinking in the comments of the piece. Essentially, I had an idea that then got completely changed with the final image, forcing me to re-imagine the entire story in reverse. For this kind of activity, you really need to be able to change your mind, and not dig in to a story too early. You never know what picture will come next that will alter your storytelling instincts.

You try it, too. Head to the Five Card Story site and make your own. What story will you tell?

Peace (in the visual),
Kevin

Book Review: Comics for Film, Games and Animation

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Tyler Weaver has done impressive work around thinking about comics as a medium for transforming storytelling, and this textbook — Comics for Film, Games and Animation: Using Comics to Construct Your Transmedia Storyworld — is a perfect entry point for anyone wanting to know more about comics (and you might want to toggle between this book and anything written by Scott McCloud) and the concept of transmedia storytelling. Here, Weaver not only tells of his own experience creating a multi-medium story (called Whiz!Bam!Pow!) that uses comics at the heart of the storytelling, but he also seeks to give us some defining characteristics and considerations of transmedia storytelling. (He also includes transcripts from interviews he has done with folks in this field of storytelling.)

In a nutshell, Weaver argues that digital technology and advances in multimedia tools allow storytellers to expand up on the experiences of readers/viewers by incorporating elements beyond text, so that a story might have images, audio, video, websites and other interactive elements that engage the reader/viewer on a variety of levels.  The story becomes an immersive experience. When we talk of digital storytelling, and try to move beyond the scope of just audio over rolling images of a personal story, this concept of transmedia conception of telling a story is intriguing, in my opinion.

It is also complicated to conceive and pull off as a writer, as Weaver acknowledges, and there are some hints that he suggests if you are thinking of working in a transmedia environment.

  • Make sure each part of the transmedia story can stand on its own, even the fragments of the larger narrative. This acknowledges that some readers/viewers will only want a piece of the puzzle, not the whole enchilada (my word, not his). He cites The Matrix as an experience that failed at this (see movie sequels) and Lost as an example that succeeded, even if it was mostly fan driven.
  • Keep the story at the center. Avoid the flash of technology and getting too smart with the tools. If a reader/viewer cares about the story and cares about the characters, they will remain engaged.
  • Weaver cites four lynchpins of transmedia storytelling: fragmentation, interplay, depth and choice.
  • Use the concept of multiple pieces of a story to create surprise and fun, creating connections to other nodes of the story that might not seem connected at first. Mystery and discovery will engage reader/viewers in new ways.
  • Consider the elements of each part of the transmedia. What does audio bring to the table? What do comics or graphic novels have that traditional text does not? How can a video enhance and move the story along? In other words, don’t jam in one way of writing and storytelling into a medium where it may not fit. Consider how best to leverage the possibilities and then use them to full advantage.
  • Allow for readers/viewers to go off on their own directions with your story. Be prepared for fan fiction, alternative worlds, and, Weaver notes, don’t be afraid of this.
  • Don’t “transmedia-fy” everything. Weaver notes that some stories deserve to be on their own. Resist the urge to create an immersive, multi-platform experience if the story does not call for it.

You might be wondering how Weaver’s focus on comics comes into play here. In the book, Weaver keeps a lens on how comics hold multiple possibilities for storytelling, either on their own or connected to a transmedia experience. There are elements around comics — the use of the “gutter” to create inference and time gaps, for example — that other mediums can’t go to. And comics has an emotional connection to readers, too, Weaver notes. Fans of comics are hard-core fans open to new experiences, and therefore, the possibilities of extending a story across platforms and mediums can be a natural fit.

Weaver ends the book with this thought:

“If there is one thing I hope you take away from this book, it is that most great storytelling inventions were created in service of the story being told … (the) danger we face in this ‘wild west’ media landscape (is) a loss of story, a loss of the joy of engaging with a character, replaced instead with a desire to ‘out-tech’ or ‘out-cool’ your transmedia competitors as you ‘engage’ your audience …. Always focus on the unchanging: the audience’s desire to be entertained by a great story that makes them want to be part of your world.” — Tyler Weaver, Comics for Film, Games and Animation, page 257

I agree.

Peace (in the stories we tell),
Kevin

PS — I should note that after I saw Weaver tweeting about the book, I asked if he might send me a review copy, and he did.

Where Has All the Color Gone?

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The Switch
The Daily Create assignment yesterday suggested we look at an everyday object through a photographer’s black and white eye so that the filter of a non-colored-world might have us examine something that is common and familiar in a new and expected way. I scoped out the room and focused in on the light switch. Nothing fancy. But it has eerie feeling when you use a b/w filter, doesn’t it? I did consider whether to have both switches in the off position, or maybe one up and one down, etc, and then realized: I was overthinking the assignment.

Just take it. I took it. You know what is interesting? The screws. They are nicely aligned, something I never noticed before, but which the builder no doubt did on purpose for a design element. They are sync with each other, and with the entire switch plate, right? Never noticed that before.

In fact, the entire collection of submissions really does capture what the prompt asks: it has us seeing common things with new eyes and noticing details otherwise not noticed. Interesting how photography has that power.

Peace (in the lens),
Kevin

Considering … what stories tell us about ourselves

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cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo shared by gogoloopie

This week’s assignment for the DS106 Headless Course is to brainstorm our ideas about storytelling, and how the “digital” element impacts our understanding of what a story is and how those stories get composed.

We are asked:

“What do you associate with the word storytelling? Before you do anything this week, use this as an opportunity to put down in words what your current concept is. There is no right or wrong answer here- this is to set up your current concept of what story means.”

For me, stories are a frame in which we see the world and reflect upon things around us. Even if a story that I read (a novel, let’s say) is something outside of my field of experience, the story should still allow me to step back from the narrative and consider the world from another angle. I want to get into the head of a story. I also want to get into the heart of the story. When one or both of these are missing, I feel like I have gotten ripped off, you know? I go into a story blind but trusting. I trust that the writer will treat me with respect and show me how to see the world in a different way. That doesn’t always mean a new way. Just different. Yes, I want to be entertained and engaged, but I want the characters and story to resonate long after I put down that book, or article, or turned the power off the e-reader.

Of course, this is all changing now. Technology is starting to chip away at the wall between writer and reader. Readers suddenly have more authority than ever to make comments, put pressure on favorite writers, create entire universes of fan fiction and more. Writers are no longer hermits with a typewriter. Their entire world is shifting with the digital. Suddenly, the possibilities of embedded media, of connected experiences, of fan sites and pressure from publishers is making what it means to write … different. (Which is not to say there are not plenty of pockets of resistance, and maybe there should be.)

I teach sixth graders and I work hard to keep a pulse on what they are reading. What stories matter to them? And how can I take what they value in modern-day storytelling and turn it around so that they are the writers — they are active participants in the writing experience of making sense of their lives and the world through stories.

What’s difficult, however, is the current push to the Common Core standards (for those non-teachers, sorry, this is going in a rant-like direction), the shift away from narrative writing has significant implications for young people making sense of their world through storytelling. Yes, good non-fiction is also good storytelling. But the natural curiosity that most children have begins with a story. Letting that curiosity go to meet new teaching standards is at the heart of many discussions I have with teachers.

Of course, we won’t let narrative go. This puts us in conflict with the top-down standards-based structure, but so be it. Stories have to live and grow, and the classroom is the perfect place to plant those seeds in a way that may only be clear years down the road.

Peace (in the story),
Kevin

 

A Fridge Full of Words

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This was my entry into yesterday’s Daily Create for #ds106. The prompt was to create an image for how cool a fridge can be. I used an app called WordFoto — it’s a word cloud app — and snuck in some words and letters among the food and beverages.
FridgeCoolFactor Daily Create

What’s interesting is that another member of #ds106 took my image and hacked it, and then shared it back out. She added in an image of Gromit to my fridge. Which is interesting because as I look closer at my original image, there he is! But I didn’t see him in there until she made him visible.

@dogtraxFridgeGromit
I then had to into my fridge to figure out what it was that was making the Gromit. It was the milk! Wallace is no doubt in the cheese drawer.

😉

Peace (in the pic),
Kevin

I Gif You the Bird

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One of the assignments for #ds106 is to create an animated GIF of a scene from a favorite movie that captures the essence of the movie or a scene from the movie. Or something like that. I had trouble thinking of a movie, but I have been wanting to return to a favorite movie that Clint Eastwood produced about jazz giant Charlie Parker after seeing some of the rave reviews of Forest Whitaker for The Butler (Whitaker broke out in Bird, I think.) As a saxophonist, I was always in awe of Parker and Bird showcases not just the talent but the destructive streak, too.

I am no expert in animated GIF files and used a Mac program from the App Store called Gif Animator. You can move either video clips or single photos into it, and it will create animated GIFs. I’ve used it for a series of single photos before, but this is the first time using it for video. I am not sure I like it all that much. I downloaded a clip (with Download Helper add-on) from YouTube of Bird in the midst of playing a solo, which is where he was most powerful. Then, I dumped the clip (after converting it from flash to .mov with the Leawo video converter app, which costs a lot more now than when I bought it a few years ago) into Gif Animator. The first time, my clip was way too long, so I went into iMovie and edited it down. The clip was again way too long, and so on the third try, I reduced it down even further.

The result, though, is a GIF that is dark (literally and not just the dark soul of Parker) and in slow motion, for some dang ereason, so I suspect I need to tinker with the app settings some more. And I don’t have the patience for it right now. So I am Gif-ing you the Bird.

🙂

Peace (in the gif),
Kevin

 

 

Angles of Possibilities: Nurturing Disruption and Breaking Assumptions

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Over at the #ds106 Headless Course, there were a couple of videos shared to start the headless adventure. One of them is this wonderful look at creativity and how to begin to break free of assumptions we have about everyday things. In our Making Learning Connected MOOC, we called this “hacking.” Here, Kelli Anderson calls it “disruption.” You might call it “modding: the world. Whatever the term, the idea is to not take for granted the use and function of things around us. Instead, break free of those assumptions and make something new. Re-envision the world.

In my classroom, I try to do this by helping my sixth graders shift from passive users of media and technology into the role of active creators of content. We do hacking activity, make video games, and engage in the world. But even at that young age, they are starting to fall into familiar roles, with assumptions about how things should happen just because that is the way they have always happened. It can be difficult to help them see the world from another angle — the angle of possibilities.

I’ll also note that the students who naturally do this – who see everything from that angle of possibilities — are often labeled “quirky” and “strange” and are all too often undervalued. If recent history has taught us anything, it is that this group of students will be the ones who will change the world in ways we don’t yet know.

I invite you to join the Vialogues of this video. (Vialogues allows you to post comments on videos, with time markers, so that your comments gets linked with a specific time in the video. It’s a neat way to have a conversation about a video.) The more, the merrier, and I would love to know what you think about Kelli Anderson’s presentation and her examples (check out the newspaper one … pretty nifty hack.)

 

Peace (in the conversation),
Kevin

The Headless DS106 Begins

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headless
I am hoping to take part in the DS106 Headless Course that has just gotten underway, although I didn’t realize it had already gotten underway. So, we’ll see how it goes. DS106 is a site designed to get participants learning more about digital storytelling and using it for creative ventures. I am more in tune with the Daily Create — a daily prompt for creative work — but I am intrigued by how a “headless” (ie, leaderless) course develops and is run.

As far as I can tell, the first tasks were around getting a blog up and running. Check.

And the second task was telling a “key chain” story — using your keys as a way to tell something about yourself. I ended up using Vine to tell a six second story and to be frank, it wasn’t much of a story. So, I uploaded the video into YouTube and added a few annotations. Here’s what I ended up with:

I am curious to see what other folks will do with DS106 and how it might inform my own understanding of digital storytelling across mediums, and how that work might inform my teaching practice. I suspect keeping up might be a challenge but the nature of open courses is that you come and go as you need, and have time for. I need to give myself permission to miss assignments and jump in where it makes sense. (Shades of our Making Learning Connected MOOC.)

Here is the link for the DS106 Headless Course Weekly Announcements, if you want to come along, too. (please, do)

Peace (in the place with no heads),
Kevin