Digital Writing 101

GREETINGS!

Browse the categories on the sidebar to find help pages on a variety of topics related to writing in digital environments.

For more info about the purpose of this site, see the About page in the top menu.

NOTE: Posts below are not shown in chronological order. The first dozen or so are sorted by popularity, and the remaining and sorted by topic.

Continue reading →

HOW TO – Put Journal Entries on a Page in Your Blog

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Use Your WordPress.com Blog

FYI: I wrote this handout for my Fall 2015 students, to help with the specific issue of using a page for journal entries rather than posts. For general info on …

Continue reading →

HOW TO – Use your WordPress.com blog for class

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Use Your WordPress.com Blog

RELATED RESOURCES: HOW TO – Set up your new WordPress.com blog (covers one-time steps in the setup process) RESOURCES – Get more help from the WordPress.com Help Center This …

Continue reading →

HOW TO – Set Up & Customize Your New WordPress.com blog

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Use Your WordPress.com Blog

RELATED RESOURCES: HOW TO – Use your WordPress.com blog for class (covers day to day uses) RESOURCES – Get more help from the WordPress.com Help Center This help page …

Continue reading →

HOW TO – Create a New Blog on WordPress.com

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Use Your WordPress.com Blog

RELATED RESOURCES: HOW TO – Set up your new blog on WordPress.com HOW TO – Use your WordPress.com blog for class RESOURCES – Get more help from the WordPress.com Help …

Continue reading →

MATERIALS for Sketching & Drawing on Paper

CATEGORIES: INSPIRATIONS & FYI'S

TAGS: drawing, sketching

Although my classes emphasize the use of new media tools for writing and creating visuals, I also encourage students to explore the use of physical materials for sketching and drawing, …

Continue reading →

HOW TO – Get Started with your Pixton for Schools account

CATEGORIES: RESOURCES: Animations & Comics

TAGS: Using_Pixton

NOTE: I created this help page for my Fall 2015 students. If you follow the tips below, you’ll get the hang of Pixton far faster than if you try to …

Continue reading →

HOW TO – Save a Document in PDF Format

CATEGORIES: TECH TIPS

TAGS: PDFs

MAC USERS If you can print it from your Mac, you can save it as a PDF. This works with nearly all applications, but it’s particularly useful for saving web …

Continue reading →

STUDENT SAMPLE – Grown Ass Woman

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - Turning Points & Epiphanies, SAMPLES - WRTG 3090: New Media Storytelling

Lauren reflects on the turning point moments on her journey towards becoming an adult woman. (WRTG 3090 – Spring 2015) Behind the Scenes Commentary How did the process of working …

Continue reading →

STUDENT SAMPLE – Breathing Canvas

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - WRTG 3090: New Media Storytelling

Shelby’s reflections on the healing power of body art. (WRTG 3090 – Spring 2015) Breathing Canvas (a Cowbird story) Behind the Scenes Commentary The interesting thing about publishing a story …

Continue reading →

STUDENT SAMPLE – Life's a Dime

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - CDS-Style Digital Storytelling, SAMPLES - Turning Points & Epiphanies, SAMPLES - WRTG 3090: New Media Storytelling

Rachel E. shares her story about “how death can make a child grow up, but even in death there is light.” (WRTG 3090 – Spring 2015) Rachel’s Behind the Scenes …

Continue reading →

STUDENT SAMPLE – You Can't Always Get What You Want

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - Turning Points & Epiphanies, SAMPLES - WRTG 3090: New Media Storytelling

Kat’s screenplay about a turning point experience in her childhood. (WRTG 3090 – Fall 2014) You Can’t Always Get What You Want (opens in Google Drive’s PDF viewer)

STUDENT SAMPLE – Eraser

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - Graphic Storytelling, SAMPLES - Turning Points & Epiphanies, SAMPLES - WRTG 3090: New Media Storytelling

TAGS: ComicLife

Shelby’s “turning point” story in the form of an autobio comic
Term: WRTG 3090 – Spring 2015
Tools: Hand drawn and inked in Photoshop

Shelby-Eraser-autobio-comic-preview

Continue reading →

STUDENT SAMPLE – Break

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - Graphic Storytelling, SAMPLES - Turning Points & Epiphanies, SAMPLES - WRTG 3090: New Media Storytelling

TAGS: ComicLife

A “turning point” graphic memoir by Rachel N.
Term: WRTG 3090 – Spring 2015
Tools: Composed in Comic Life

rachel-nickell-breakfinal-p1

Continue reading →

STUDENT SAMPLE – Bolts

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - Graphic Storytelling, SAMPLES - Turning Points & Epiphanies, SAMPLES - WRTG 3090: New Media Storytelling

TAGS: ComicLife

A “metaphorical” autobio comic by Sean
Term: WRTG 3090 – Spring 2015
Tools: Hand drawn and digitally inked in SketchBook Pro; laid out in Comic Life

sean-Bolts-final-preview

Continue reading →

STUDENT SAMPLE – Blessing in Disguise

CATEGORIES: SAMPLES - Turning Points & Epiphanies, SAMPLES - WRTG 3090: New Media Storytelling

Ali shares the story of how a turning point moment led her to pursue her interest in arts and crafts. (WRTG 3090 – Spring 2015) Blessing in Disguise from alichurchfield

HOW TO – Post Your Introduction to Your Blog

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Use Your WordPress.com Blog

Follow these steps when a weekly assignment page directs you to do so. TIP ON COMPOSING BLOG POSTS: You can compose posts directly in a new post editing box on …

Continue reading →

GUIDE – Finding Images & Other Media You Can Use in Public Projects

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Find & Edit Images, PLANNING & DRAFTING New Media Projects

TAGS: fair use, reusable, reusable media, reusable-content

RELATED RESOURCES: The RIGHT Way to Save Images from the Web How to Make Your Images Web-Ready POP QUIZ! Of the following statements, can you spot the only one that’s …

Continue reading →

HOW TO – Basics of Working with iMovie ’13

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Use iMovie

TAGS: Ken Burns effect

When OS 10.9 (Mavericks) was released, it came with a completely redesigned version of iMovie. I’m referring to it as iMovie ’13, but some users refer to it as iMovie …

Continue reading →

GUIDE – Examples of Showing vs. Telling

CATEGORIES: PLANNING & DRAFTING New Media Projects, RESOURCES: Digital Storytelling

TAGS: digital storytelling, narrative, scenes, show

Every writer has heard the phrase “show, don’t tell,” but figuring out exactly what that means can take a while. This guide provides a strategy for deciding what to show …

Continue reading →

HOW TO – Estimate Script Length for Audio Voiceover

CATEGORIES: HOW TO: Record & Edit Audio, RESOURCES: Digital Storytelling

Working on a project that will include audio voiceover? Here’s how to estimate how long the voiceover will be, based on the number of words in your script: Choose a …

Continue reading →

HOW TO – Add audio to a Cowbird story

CATEGORIES: RESOURCES: Writing for the Web

TAGS: audio, Cowbird

If you decide to publish a Cowbird story for your portfolio, you may publish the story as text only or as text plus an audio recording of you reading the …

Continue reading →

STUDENT SAMPLE – Dear Daddy

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

TAGS: ComicLife

A “letter never sent” comic, by Marisa
Term: WRTG 3090 Fall 2014
Tools: photos she found and modified and laid out using Comic Life

marisa-dear-daddy-comic2

Continue reading →

DESKTOP, MOBILE, & WEB APPS for Composing Comics

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

TAGS: ComicLife, Pixton, ToonDo, Web 2.0

Want to try conveying a message in the form of a comic strip or comic book “short story”? Check out the options below, but also do your own Google searches …

Continue reading →

HOW TO – Create your own avatar or comic character

CATEGORIES: NIFTY APPS & TOOLS

NOTE: This post is under development as of 2/16/15. My WRTG 3020 students will find the same info (minus my sample avatars) on their Class HUB. AVATAR MAKERS Cartoon Style …

Continue reading →

HOW TO – Make your own fake social media conversation

CATEGORIES: NIFTY APPS & TOOLS

The demos below were experiments for students who wanted to incorporate social media conversations in their projects but didn’t want to use their “real” accounts to do so. Turns out …

Continue reading →

DESKTOP & WEB APPS for Creating Screencasts (aka Screen Recording)

CATEGORIES: RESOURCES: Apps for Creating New Media Projects

TAGS: Camtasia, QuickTime, screencasting, Screenr

NOTE: For related posts, browse the tag archive for: screencasting A screencast is a video recording of whatever is displayed on the forefront of your computer screen. Screencasts can be …

Continue reading →

DESKTOP & WEB APPS – Composing with Video

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

TAGS: collaborative, iMovie, MovieMaker, Pixorial, remix, Web 2.0, WeVideo, YouTube

For most video projects, you will need to be able to make basic edits to videos you download or create, including cropping and trimming selections, adding title cards and transitions, …

Continue reading →

HOW TO – How to Download Videos from YouTube and Other Video Hosting Sites

CATEGORIES: NIFTY APPS & TOOLS, TECH TIPS

TAGS: YouTube

If you’re planning to compose a remix or video commentary, or you need a video clip for some other reason, you’ll probably want to download a copy of a video …

Continue reading →

GUIDE – Using Narrative Strategies for Digital Storytelling

CATEGORIES: RESOURCES: Digital Storytelling

TAGS: narrative, narrative_techniques, storytelling

Related resource: GUIDE – Examples of Showing vs. Telling Digital storytelling falls under the larger category of creative nonfiction, which makes use of narrative strategies from fiction and filmmaking. This …

Continue reading →

Digital Writing 101

Greetings!

GREETINGS!

HOW TO – Put Journal Entries on a Page in Your Blog

HOW TO – Use your WordPress.com blog for class

HOW TO – Set Up & Customize Your New WordPress.com blog

HOW TO – Create a New Blog on WordPress.com

MATERIALS for Sketching & Drawing on Paper

HOW TO – Get Started with your Pixton for Schools account

HOW TO – Save a Document in PDF Format

STUDENT SAMPLE – Grown Ass Woman

STUDENT SAMPLE – Breathing Canvas

STUDENT SAMPLE – Life's a Dime

STUDENT SAMPLE – You Can't Always Get What You Want

STUDENT SAMPLE – Eraser

STUDENT SAMPLE – Break

STUDENT SAMPLE – Bolts

STUDENT SAMPLE – Blessing in Disguise

HOW TO – Post Your Introduction to Your Blog

GUIDE – Finding Images & Other Media You Can Use in Public Projects

HOW TO – Basics of Working with iMovie ’13

GUIDE – Examples of Showing vs. Telling

HOW TO – Estimate Script Length for Audio Voiceover

HOW TO – Add audio to a Cowbird story

STUDENT SAMPLE – Dear Daddy

DESKTOP, MOBILE, & WEB APPS for Composing Comics

HOW TO – Create your own avatar or comic character

HOW TO – Make your own fake social media conversation

DESKTOP & WEB APPS for Creating Screencasts (aka Screen Recording)

HOW TO – How to Download Videos from YouTube and Other Video Hosting Sites

GUIDE – Using Narrative Strategies for Digital Storytelling

Welcome!

HELP & HOW-TO

RESOURCES

STUDENT SAMPLES