Category: critique

Chapter Critique – “The Work of Story”

Most of the time, change is good.  For our Learning with Digital Stories class (INTE5340), we were given the option of critiquing a different reading from the book Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community.  The author is Joe Lambert, who founded the Center For Digital Storytelling in 1994.  The organization’s website, StoryCenter, showcases a variety of digital stories that include themes such as health, family, education and social justice.  I’ve already critiqued a couple of these videos on my blog.  After reading this chapter, I felt like I was having an “Ah Ha!” moment in realizing the purpose of humans to tell stories.

This first chapter, entitled “The Work of Story”, explored an interesting explanation on the origins of storytelling.  From Lambert’s point of view, much of it has to do with human survival and endurance.  I found this significant since a major focal theme I am concentrating on in this class is adversity.  Lambert nicely explains that:

“The memories associated with our most important life lessons are inevitably those with either strong emotional encoding at the moment, as in traumas or events involving those close to us” (p.8). 

After reading this sentence, I thought about not only the pivotal moments in my life, but also those moments in history that other people have witnessed and felt compelled to report to the rest of humanity.  The Nazi Holocaust is a perfect example.  Under the cover of war, millions of innocent civilians were systematically executed while the German people never suspected a thing under the Nazi propaganda system.  It wasn’t until years after World War II ended, when people began listening to the growing number of stories from the survivors, did the public become more aware of the horrific slaughter.

Lambert also discusses how 20th century popular culture tapped into myths to help explore a industrial age society that was feeling dislocated as people were moving from the country to the city.  For example, he cites how the Western genre of film “showed us how to bring frontier ethics into our chaotic urban experience, mapping the pastoral ideal of self-sufficiency and family integrity onto a suburban ideal of the single family dwelling” (p.9).  Director John Ford was masterful in this genre with films such as Stagecoach, The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.  The author’s ideas of storytelling in American cinema got me thinking about another classic film: Jaws.

In the middle of the movie, the three main characters discus the origins of their tattoos.  Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) asks the boat captain Quint (Robert Shaw) about an old tattoo on his arm.  Quint tells Hooper it’s the name of a U.S. Navy ship he served on during World War II: The U.S.S. Indianapolis.  Prodded on by local sheriff Brodie (Roy Scheider), Quint tells the tale of how he survived a massive shark attack after the U.S.S. Indianapolis was torpedo by a Japanese submarine.  It’s one of the most memorable moments in film history, but when reading this chapter, the scene got me thinking about Lambert’s idea of storytelling.

In reality, those actual crew members from the U.S.S. Indianapolis who survived that horrific ordeal felt a need to tell that story years later for several reasons.  First, because they were on a top-secret mission to deliver the atomic bomb to be dropped on Hiroshima, they could not discuss what happened for many years.  Secondly, there reached a point after the end of World War II that people didn’t want to hear “war stories”, especially ones that ended in disaster.  Due to the fact that for many years, even decades, had passed before the truth could finally be told about the U.S.S. Indianapolis, it was up to survivors to keep the story alive so that others would understand the many sacrifices made by soldiers, sailors and airmen in harm’s way.  These such stories need to be told for the benefit of future generations.  Lambert mentions the importance of storytelling when he adds, “Story… works biologically to insure the total recall of those events which define we have ingrained as of greatest emotional importance to us” (p.8).

I’m looking forward to the next reading from Joe Lambert’s book.

Digital Critique #5: “To Be or Not To Be”

The experience of adversity can come from different cultural perspectives at various times in history.  From StoryCenter comes a tale from Alan Fong entitled, “To Be or Not To Be.”   It tells the perspective of an Asian-American conscientious objector during the Vietnam War era.   The video was posted in April 2013.  For this analysis, I chose to judge the digital story on the following evaluation traits:

  1. Story – Fong has a very clear voice that guides the viewer through the series of images.  Most of the historical stills give the viewer a sense of the students discontent at the University of California-Berkley during that time.  Fong includes images of Asian-American students, protest buttons, and also archival footage of Chinese railroad workers and Japanese internment camps to give the viewer his cultural perspective.  One thing I wished to hear, however, was what Fong is doing today.   Perhaps seeing a present-day picture of him in Berkley.
  2. Project planning – Fong does a fair job of presenting the narration and images in chronological order.  Much of the emphasis was on his time at UC-Berkley in the 1960s and 70s, but he refers back to Asian-American history from the 19th and mid-20th century closer to the end.   It feels a bit out of order, but I can understand the logic.  If a digital storytelling creates the narration first, then the visuals will compliment the audio.
  3. Citations & permission – Fong cites the Ike & Tina Turner music playing in the background, but he fails to credit the historical images he included.  Even if this project is purely for educational purposes with public domain material, a storyteller must properly give credit to content creators like newspaper photographers, magazine artists and historical archive collections.

On a side note, I was hoping that Fong would have made a greater effort to personalize this story about Asian-American history.  He could have included pictures of himself or his family to give some more context.   I enjoy tales of cultural adversity like this, but I wish Fong could talked a little more from the heart.

Digital Story Critique #4: “Adapting To A New Culture”

It’s one thing to be challenged by adversity in your own country.  It’s entirely another to face obstacles, such as language, in a far away land.  As part of my job responsibilities at the Community College of Denver, I help our students whose primary language is not really English.  Just this afternoon, I was helping a student with grammar and mechanical issues on a composition paper.  She was born in Burma.  She was not only having issues with things like spelling, verb tense, and run-on sentences, but she also was struggling with how to express herself.   I offered her some suggestions on how she might add more details to her writing and include more perspective.

That experience made me think about adversity in terms of culture.   This evening, I found an interesting narrative from digital storytelling page at the University of Houston.   The video is entitled “Adapting To A New Culture” by Yukiko Nishimura.   For this video, I chose to focus on the following attributes:

  • STORY: Nishimura creates a simple story, through the use of narration, photos and images, about her learning experiences in Japan as well as in the United States.   Sometimes it’s difficult for students to express themselves fully in a language they are still learning, but in this context, she tells the story well.
  • MEDIA APPLICATION: Nishimura effectively utilizes the visual elements to simulate feelings of anxiety, sadness, joy, and hope.  She overdoes the movement of the photos (sometimes called the “Ken Burns” effect) a little bit.   A little music at a low volume would have been nice too hear as well.
  • CITATIONS: All the photographs and images have been properly cited.  Much of the content has been licensed for use under Creative Commons and Nishimura includes small, but legible text at the bottom.  At times, it’s hard to clearly read the text because the moment of the content.

Nishimura does a very good job at expressing her cultural challenges and accomplishments in the American culture.   I think many students who practice English as a second language might benefit from using digital storytelling as a learning tool.

Webinar Critique: “10 Powerful Principles for Creating Impactful e-Learning”

For my Webinars & Synchronous Learning (INTE 5670) class, I choose to review a webinar that took place on Wednesday, February 3rd starting at 11AM Mountain Time.  It was entitled “10 Powerful Principles for Creating Impactful e-Learning.”   The speaker was Ethan Edwards, Chief Instructional Strategist at Allen Interactions, the sponsor of the webinar.   The website where I found this webinar is called Training Magazine Network.   The Adobe Connect recording can be accessed at the hyperlinked webinar title through a membership login.

The webinar lasted roughly one hour, which was the advertised duration.   In that 60-minute session, Ethan Edwards gave the registered 2000 participants, including myself, 10 tips on effective e-learning practices.   One of the principles I found interesting was number 4: Talk less.  Do more.   Often, it’s easy for an online tutorial to become text or voice-over narration heavy.   It’s better to get the learner engaged in an activity, which tied into principle number 2: Let the learner take control.   The other principles he emphasized were:

  • Don’t list formal objectives.
  • Design the end of the lesson first.
  • Create real-life experiences.
  • Design specific gestures
  • Avoid adversarial tone.
  • Use context to create meaning.
  • Stop judging and scoring everything.
  • Hold the learner accountable.

Overall, I found the content of the webinar very insightful, but the context was a different matter.  With 2000 registered users, there were limited opportunities for active, or for that matter, interactive learning strategies.  Both the audio mic or video camera options were not available for the participants.  There was a chat option in the Abode Connect platform, but with the large number of participants, there was a flood of responses.   I posed a question about the mobile flexibility of a tutorial Ethan’s company created for Dairy Queen, but the question disappeared as more people chimed in with their chat replies.

On the other hand, the presentation by the speaker was impressive.  Ethan spoke with clarity and high energy.  I could tell he really enjoyed his work.  The host, Gary Vanantwerp, did a great job of not only moderating the session, but also of checking Ethan’s microphone levels prior to the start.  The slides were simple, easy-to-read, and incorporated many aspects of CARP (repetition of simple fonts, text alignment, etc).   For the most part, there was a simple analogous color pattern of blue and green with a mix of white and black.   This presentation would have been easy to read if it had been projected on a large screen in a lecture hall somewhere.   Also, the absence of a video recording of Ethan drew my eyes to the Power Point slides while he narrated.   It felt like a valuable Khan Academy presentation, where the vanity of the instructor is secondary to the instruction.

Ultimately, this was a very professional session, but it came off more as a webcast rather than a webinar.   It would have been nice if there where more active and interactive learning opportunities, but with 2000 registered participants listening to a 60 minute session, I imagine that’s not a possibility.  Still, this session gave me some good ideas on the style and substance of an effective webinar, particularly with the CARP slide characteristics.  Plus, Ethan sparked my interest in creating a better e-learning module, which will come in handy as I build my ILT portfolio.

 

Digital Story Critique 3: The Story of Sy Bakker

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m very interested in the topic of adversity.  My past struggles have been largely financial, but I’ve be fortunate to live out of harm’s way.  Not so for Sy Bakker, who had to endure Nazi oppression during the German occupation of The Netherlands during World War II.   Bakker, and other Charleston Retirement Community members, told their stories as part of The Charlestown Digital Story Project which involved students from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

For this critique, I focused on three assessment traits to gauge the storytelling:

  • Voice: This story is a straight “I was there” narration told by Sy Bakker himself.  There are no other soundbites.  At times, I could hear Bakker’s tone change as he described an encounter with a German soldier pointing a gun at him.  In another instance, he describes the terrible conditions at a prison camp: the straw floors, the small amounts of bread and the tiring labor tasks.  The recording is crisp, clean and easy to hear.   In a historical context, voice is important to consider since the eyewitness can give a unique account of small details of a large war.
  • Flow/pacing: The students at UMBC do a very good job of organizing the main audio elements of the story: Bakker’s narration and simple violin music.   The breaks in the narration gives the viewer a chance to reflect on Bakker’s experiences.  There is a nice flow of historical images, still photos and a picture of Sy Bakker at the time of the recording.  Pacing is important to give the viewer a chance to soak in all the historical details and gain a greater understand of what it meant to be a prisoner in a Nazi labor camp.
  • Media application: Like the comments before, the students use a simple mix of audio and video elements.  Some of the still photos are of sunsets and barren fields, which I believe gives the viewer an opportunity to briefly reflect.   It would have been nice to see additional historical photos of Bakker as a student in The Netherlands or maybe of his family in France, but such archived material may not have been available.   If there is one more thing I would have liked to have seen, it would have been some type of statement/reflection from Sy Bakker about how that time during Nazi occupation changed his life.   Maybe he could have passed along some words of wisdom to younger generations.

There are many more digital stories from The Charlestown Digital Story Project and I recommend anyone to click on the hyperlink above and check them out.