Author Archives: Amy G.

HOW TO – Join our G+ community

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Use Social Media Tools for Class

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NOTE: I wrote these instructions specifically for my WRTG 3020 students, but some of the steps are generic enough to be of possible use to others. At the bottom I’ve …

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Creative non-fiction writing exercises

CATEGORIES: RESOURCES: Storytelling Prompts

(Re-posted from:  http://www.keepwriting.net/prompts.htm) Writing Prompts These prompts are intended to help inspire your creativity. Try your hand at any one of them or use them as quick ten minute writing …

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RESOURCES – Develop a Cast of (Internal) Characters

CATEGORIES: RESOURCES: Storytelling Prompts

ABOUT THIS PROMPT: I delivered the first part of this activity in a class session in Spring 2014, and students did the second part at home. IN CLASS ACTIVITY IN …

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RESOURCES – Collections of digital stories to read, watch, and listen to

CATEGORIES: RESOURCES: Digital Storytelling

I collected these links for student in the Fall 2014 section of my Digital Storytelling class and thought I should share them here as well. Stories to Read Cowbird – …

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RESOURCES – "First Three Steps to Writing a Life Story"

CATEGORIES: RESOURCES: Storytelling Prompts

Re-posted from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/13/how-to-write-a-memoir_n_5440161.html The First 3 Steps To Writing Your Life Story These quick, one-time-only exercises can teach us about ourselves and what we want—and how we can tell our …

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WEB APPS for Composing Photo Stories

CATEGORIES: RESOURCES: Apps for Creating New Media Projects, RESOURCES: Digital Storytelling

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You can also use presentation tools to compose photo stories. See: WEB APPS for Creating Presentations & Slideshows The web apps available for composing photo stories are typically classified as …

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DESKTOP, WEB & MOBILE APPS – Frame by Frame & Cartoon Animation

CATEGORIES: RESOURCES: Animations & Comics, RESOURCES: Apps for Creating New Media Projects

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ABOUT ANIMATION: To learn more about different forms of animation, see this guide: Different Approaches to Animation For more animation apps, see: DESKTOP & MOBILE APPS – Stop Motion Animation …

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HOW TO – Set up your class blog on Blogger

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Use Your WordPress.com Blog

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Below are a few tips I put together for those of you using Blogger/Blogspot. I’m assuming you’ve already set up your blog on blogger.com because that part is pretty simple. …

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HOW TO – Enable Disqus comments on a Tumblr blog

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Use Your WordPress.com Blog

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As my Fall 2014 students found out the hard way, Tumblr lacks the kind of full-featured comment system you can find in other blog platforms like WordPress or Blogger. Once …

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STUDENT SAMPLE: Straight for Life?

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - Educational Visuals, SAMPLES - WRTG 3020: Rhetoric of G&S

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A Spring 2014 student made this comic to show how sexual orientation is fluid for some people. Her goal was to convey that idea mainly through images, using as few …

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STUDENT SAMPLE – Training in Pain

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - Graphic Storytelling, SAMPLES - WRTG 3090: New Media Storytelling

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Here’s a digital storytelling project a student made mostly with cut-out animation and a small amount of voiceover: Training in Pain, by Taylor Powers. (When I track down the info …

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STUDENT SAMPLE – Piece of You

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - Graphic Storytelling, SAMPLES - WRTG 3090: New Media Storytelling

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Here’s a digital storytelling project a student made in Photoshop, using characters she created and backgrounds she found online: Piece of You, by Claire. I had a few suggestions for …

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ABOUT the Sample Student Projects

CATEGORIES: RESOURCES: About New Media Writing

About the Samples I’ve been assigning digital media projects since 2010, and I try to select at least two or three from each semester to share here as samples. Most …

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HOW TO – Make Callouts in iMovie '13

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Use iMovie

I made the following demo for a student, who wanted to make “callouts” for the parts of her project that included screencasted web pages. The first part of the video …

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Reflecting on missed connections

CATEGORIES: RESOURCES: Storytelling Prompts

ABOUT THIS PROMPT: I gave the following prompt to my Spring 2014 students before they watched the stop motion film Bottle, which is about the emotional experience of a missed …

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HOW TO – Export a Web-Ready Video from iMovie '13 (comes with OS 10.9)

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Use iMovie

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Which Version of iMovie Do You Have? If you have iMovie ’13 (which came with Mac OS 10.9), follow the steps below. If you have iMovie ’11 (which came with …

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WEB APPS for Creating & Sharing Timelines

CATEGORIES: RESOURCES: Apps for Creating New Media Projects, RESOURCES: Presentations & Information Design

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Timelines offer an interesting way to present information about changes over time. Dipity.com From the Dipity web site: “Dipity is a free digital timeline website. Our mission is to organize …

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HOW TO – Edit Your Blog Post

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Use the Class Blog (Wordpress)

If you spot a problem with your blog post or simply want to add more material to it, you can easily open it again and edit it. FRONT END ACCESS …

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Applying Vonnegut's "story shapes" to your personal stories

CATEGORIES: RESOURCES: Storytelling Prompts

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ABOUT THIS PROMPT: I developed this prompt after students in the Spring 2014 class watched a segment from Kurt Vonnegut’s lecture on the Shape of Stories. CONTEXT In Kurt Vonnegut’s …

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Using images to prompt creative reflection

CATEGORIES: RESOURCES: Storytelling Prompts

ABOUT THIS PROMPT: I have no idea where I got this one from, but I’ve modified it slightly for readability. Many apologies to the original source! Some people are more …

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GUIDE – Composing Shots and Scenes for Cinematic Storytelling

CATEGORIES: PLANNING & DRAFTING New Media Projects

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Understanding Shots and Scenes Understanding Shots In the context of cinematic storytelling, a “shot” is a short clip of visuals in motion that you plan to cut together with other …

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ABOUT – Genres and Purposes for New Media Writing

CATEGORIES: RESOURCES: About New Media Writing

Here’s a brief overview of the features relevant to some of the most common genres used in new media writing. To learn more about the approaches to new media writing …

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WEB RESOURCES – On Developing Screenplays, Synopses, Storyboards, and Shot Lists

CATEGORIES: PLANNING & DRAFTING New Media Projects

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The resources below help you learn more about using writing to plan a visual project. But before you try these strategies, make to explore the variety of cinematic techniques available …

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GUIDE – Common Characteristics of New Media Storytelling

CATEGORIES: RESOURCES: About New Media Writing

Here are some characteristics that distinguish new media storytelling as a subset of digital storytelling. TOPIC: The story is based on an emotional truth from the storyteller’s personal experience (regardless …

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DESKTOP, WEB & MOBILE APPS – Apply Cartoon Effects to Video and Photos

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Capture & Edit Video, HOW TO: Find & Edit Images, RESOURCES: Apps for Creating New Media Projects

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Using these apps gives you an easy way to turn photos and video clips into custom content for your projects. DESKTOP APPS Cartoonize Video (for Windows — free trial available) …

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GUIDE: Rough Cut vs. Final Cut for Video Projects

CATEGORIES: PLANNING & DRAFTING New Media Projects

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Criteria for “Final Cut” Quality Definition: A “final cut” is the filmmaking equivalent of a writing project that’s ready to publish and distribute to audiences, which means that it’s gone …

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GUIDE – Borrow Cinematic Strategies from the Big & Small Screens

CATEGORIES: PLANNING & DRAFTING New Media Projects

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Before you start thinking about how to bring your story “alive” via multimedia, make sure you actually have a good story to tell. A compelling story told through stick figure …

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HOW TO – Embed a Video in a Blog Post

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Use the Class Blog (Wordpress)

EMBEDDING VIDEOS FROM YOUTUBE OR VIMEO Embedding a video from YouTube or Vimeo is super easy, as these are by far the most popular video hosting sites. For details on …

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STUDENT SAMPLE – Love One Another

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - Multimedia Commentary, SAMPLES - WRTG 3020: Rhetoric of G&S

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PSA video by Wylie (WRTG 3020 – Fall 2012) Tools/Approaches: images, audio clips, iMovie I’ve created this piece for both Christians and non-Christians alike. I want to show how negative …

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STUDENT SAMPLE – The Search

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - Graphic Storytelling, SAMPLES - WRTG 3090: New Media Storytelling

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Pitch: A young girl is separated from her dog when her mother is arrested for child abuse. Story by Sheena (WRTG 3090 – Fall 2013) Tools: Pixelmator, PhotoPuppet (iPad app), …

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STUDENT SAMPLE – And Then Came Fireworks

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - Audio Narratives & Essays, SAMPLES - WRTG 3020: Rhetoric of G&S

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Sometimes surprising things happen when you kiss another woman. Playable Audio Audio Essay by Nicolette (WRTG 3020 – Spring 2011) Rhetorical Analysis My target audience for this project is other …

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STUDENT SAMPLE – Liberating Encounters

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - Graphic Storytelling, SAMPLES - WRTG 3020: Rhetoric of G&S

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Comic strip by Hannah (WRTG 3020 – Fall 2011) Hannah used Pixton.com to create this free-form comic about what she learned about gender and sexuality through her sister’s journey. To …

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STUDENT SAMPLE – The Rush: A Digital Poem

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - Graphic Storytelling, SAMPLES - WRTG 3020: Rhetoric of G&S

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A Kinetic Typography Poem by Dustin (WRTG 3020 – Fall 2011) Topic: The rush of energy and excitement that comes from being at a gay bar for the first time …

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STUDENT SAMPLE – Deafness is SEXY

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - Educational Presentations & Web Sites, SAMPLES - WRTG 3020: Rhetoric of G&S

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Web Site by Zoel (WRTG 3020 – Fall 2012) My website is called ASL Gender and Sexuality Terms. It is about American Sign Language (ASL) and its representation of gender …

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STUDENT SAMPLE – Manly Men Can Bake Their Cakes and Eat Them Too

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - Educational Visuals, SAMPLES - WRTG 3020: Rhetoric of G&S

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GENDER SUPRESSED SKILLS by glen.gomez on GoAnimate Animation by Glen (WRTG 3020 – Summer 2011) Comments by Amy: What I particularly like is how the animation allows the student to …

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WEB SITES for Hosting Content to Share by Link or Embed in Blog Posts

CATEGORIES: RESOURCES: Apps for Creating New Media Projects

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A “hosting” site is one that allows users to upload and publish their own content, so that they can easily share the content with others by distributing the link or …

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HOW TO – Insert an Image or PDF File into a Blog Post

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Use the Class Blog (Wordpress)

IMAGES: Must be in a web-ready format: jpg, png, or gif Please also resize the images for the web, as described on: HOW TO – Make an Image Web-Ready PDFs: …

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STUDENT SAMPLE – SVT (or, The Day I Flatlined)

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - CDS-Style Digital Storytelling, SAMPLES - WRTG 3090: New Media Storytelling

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Pitch: A story about the day a young boy flatlined. View on YouTube Story by Christian (WRTG 3090 – Fall 2013) Behind the Scenes To recreate this story I went …

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STUDENT SAMPLE – Fluffy Little Protector

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - Audio Narratives & Essays, SAMPLES - WRTG 3090: New Media Storytelling

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Honey PLAYABLE AUDIO Audio Narrative by Natalie (WRTG 3090 – Fall 2013) ABOUT THIS STORY This story is a reflection of some of my past experiences, both good and bad, …

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STUDENT SAMPLE – Bathtub Hopping

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - Audio Narratives & Essays, SAMPLES - WRTG 3090: New Media Storytelling

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PLAYABLE AUDIO Audio Story by Trent (WRTG 3090 – Fall 2013) Description This story is about a time that I woke up in my bathtub and the events that caused …

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