My Digital Story

Climate Change Link:  https://youtu.be/ 5DJATD4qcOg     There is no doubt that weather patterns are changing. From intense heat waves to floods, droughts, and the increase of sea levels, ocean water temperatures, and eroding coastlines — the impact of global warming has a major effect on people living in the United States and throughout the world.  We can’t ignore the signs.   Ninety-seven percent of scientists agree that burning fossil fuels is a major factor in global warming. But 50% of Americans still believe it doesn’t affect them. Global warming is a problem with enormous consequences over the long term, but because that’s not relevant to many people, personally, and in the short term, they turn their heads. A strong advocate in scaling back the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions,  the Obama administration strongly opposed the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines. Obama even used his veto power to reject the cons...

It was easy to understand how the CDS Digital Storytelling Workshop is successful in achieving an actualized digital storytelling piece by the end of the 4-5 day journey.  The seven steps were broken down as follows: Owning Your Insights Owning Your Emotions Finding The Moment Seeing Your Story Hearing Your Story Assembling Your Story Sharing Your Story This process allows the story facilitator complete control - they learn that the story is theirs to tell, and in order to give it the attention it deserves, they need to know it, feel it, see and hear it, and arrange it - in a way that is beneficial to the plot or original idea. The concept of knowing who to share with is also very interesting, because it is blended with knowing the story you have to tell and who you think would benefit from hearing it. Work Cited Lambert, Joe. "Chapter 5: Seven Steps Of Digital Storytelling." Digital Storytelling Capturing Lives, Creating Community . Florence: Taylor and ...

While reading through The New Digital Storytelling, I realized how important podcasts are in my daily routine.  I have listed three of my favorites below! FanBros Show https://soundcloud.com/fanbros A place to talk about everything nerd, from pop culture to comics to politics there really isn't a topic Fan Bros won't cover.  There are segments on just about anything you could imagine, and even free mixed tapes by Dj Ben Hameen, one of the emcees on the Fanship.  Take a listen if you like all things nerd culture. Death, Sex & Money https://player.fm/series/death-sex-money-40792 A question and answer type of storytelling pattern, which I really enjoy in the digital realm.  This podcast in particular uses flashback sounds that correspond with the story in order to flesh out the presentation.  Two of my favorites in this series are, "I Was Your Father, Until I Wasn't" and "Cut Loose: Break Up Stories." Modern Love https://player.fm/series/mode...

Be Proud   Everything is just a little faster, a little more bittersweet.  Nerves are all over the place but the excitement surpasses them and as parents we learn to let go just a little bit more. Watching your child grow is one of the most amazing experiences.  As angry as she gets me sometimes, I know I have to step back and realize that all of it is part of the learning curve.  We are all going with the flow of things, feeling each other out and trying to learn to fit. Before she came along it was just him and I – together – a team.   Then she came along and it was like all is right in the world, well for us at least. We are supportive parents.   We pride ourselves on the fact that our daughter feels like she has a place to share the things she loves and also a safe loving place to express her feelings about those things she doesn’t like all that much, or the things that confuse her or even scare her. I want her to know that she can a...

While reading  Part II of "The New Digital Storytelling: Creating New Narratives with New Media" by Bryan Alexander, he discusses the many different platforms used for storytelling. Being a Generation X'er - I existed in a space where there was no internet, no cellphones, no WIFI.  I also experienced the advent and launch of social media - from the very early days of AOL chatrooms, to MySpace, then Facebook and eventually Twitter and/or Instagram and every other platform we use to engage each other in this day and age. Although Alexander references Twitter as the "least likely story telling platform of all" - I couldn't disagree more (61).  The use of hashtags has allowed users to follow a specific thread of tweets (or conversations) to create a story or linear sequence of events (61-64).    Users can also utilize the hashtag to create a certain artistic, emotional or even psychological response from followers/other users (61).  As stated when disc...

With all the choices available to create stories, I couldn’t figure out what kind of product I wanted to use to create and distribute my work that would look good, be user-friendly and accessible.   I played with a few options – like Animoto and even an app called   PowerDirector .   I found both tools clumsy and to be honest I didn’t like the options I had when coming to either playing music OR recording voice. I found AdobeSpark to be the easiest to use.   This platform gave me the ability to add photo, video, music, and narration.   It was also easy to edit the vocal narration if I wanted to record again.   The software also told me when I was talking too long for one slide, and pretty much warned me to speed it up. For my first digital story, #Resist, I utilized my own photos and videos from various marches and protests I have attended in the last month.   I plan to utilize my own pictures, and videos to create the stories I put forth t...