Digital Bibliography

I ran across this recently, and can’t stop thinking about it. Although I think the questions proffered by the talk itself are interesting in their own right, that’s not what makes it interesting for this blog. I’m interested in just how much MORE compelling a good idea can become when paired with relevant and engaging visual images. RSA (Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts) has been working on a whole series of these sorts of animations.

What I find so compelling about these videos is their simplicity and intelligence. Black, white, red. Marker, whiteboard. Digital video and audio recorder. Editing software. You could make this video with relatively inexpensive equipment. You could easily buy everything retail (software included) for less than $300. FlipVideo ($125), USB mic ($75), Adobe Premiere Elements ($69). Not cheap, but then you’d be set for all sorts of other projects you might want to do.

But this isn’t to say that everyone could make this kind of a video. It takes two skills/characteristics that take a long time to acquire/cultivate: insight and patience.

Insight. Because it’s one thing to be a smart person. It’s another thing to know enough about something to at least recognize the work that needs to be done. And it’s an entirely new sort of work to be able to contribute knowledge that you know fits into a conversation and to articulate it clearly and concisely enough to

Patience. I’m sure that it took dozens of hours to get that drawing right. Several drafts. Storyboarding. Mistakes.

But insight and patience, I think, are two characteristics that can be taught/learned/acquire/cultivated. And so I see this video as incredibly inspiring. And now I’ve got to get back to work so as to make enough time in my schedule for more creative endeavors like these.

I’m co-teaching a Digital Storytelling course this semester at Bellarmine Universtiy in Louisville. It’s a blast so far. My co-teacher, Tony O’Keeffe has been such a great collaborator. Not only is he an excellent digital storytelling in his own right, but he’s absolutely top-notch in talking about his production process. However, while I’d love to keep explaining all the ways that Tony is amazing, that’s not what this post is really about. It’s about bracing for the inevitable chaos that will be our classroom tomorrow afternoon. Here’s why.

Tomorrow will be our first day using video capture hardware. Basically, video cameras. But here’s the kicker. No body’s going to have the same equipment. Some people will be using video cameras like the FlipVideo and Sony Bloggie (at least, I think). Other students will be using the video capture on their phones. Some will be using the webcams on their laptops, and some will be bringing an external webcam to plug into the lab’s desktop machines. We’re in a Windows lab, so no iSight cameras for us. And it get’s even more challenging. There’s no video editing on software on the machines. That might be the biggest problem. Wish you could be there for it? Yeah, I bet.

It. Will. Be. Awesome. I’m serious.

It’s not going to be easy. Certainly not smooth. And it will be interesting to see how our students (and we) end up dealing with the stress, anxiety, and frustration of this sort of thing. Read the rest of this entry »

Sitting down tonight for a night of writing that’s a little different. Thinking about narrative. And digital technologies. And my narrative. Or narratives.

Sitting on the couch in my office. Soft light from a japanese lamp on the end table covered with books. And a glass of merlot. A small fan. My 13″ Macbook Pro. And Ommwriter. One of those “zen” word processing programs. Cheesy, chimey music. The house is empty except for me. Roommate gone for a week. Friends busy. Just me. And these words. And this wine.

Spent some time today re-reading a book on digital storytelling by Joe Lambert (of the Center for Digital Storytelling in Berkeley). I’m co-teaching a class this summer with Tony O’Keeffe at Bellarmine University. Mostly, it was Tony who proposed the class out of his interests sparked at the Digital Media and Communication Institute at Ohio State.

And I’m thinking about some elements of narrative which are particularly important to me. Point of view. Conflict. Character. Setting. Complexity. Resonance. Image.

And I have the impulse to produce another story. Read the rest of this entry »