The Digital Storytelling assignment we had to
do was very unique in a multitude of ways. I have been part of group projects
before, but not one that the entire class collaborated on. The fact that we
wrote the story as a class made it have so many different perspectives on how the
story should play out. One group wanted everyone to live happily ever after and
pushed the story in that direction, but ultimately everyone ended up dying
because that is how the last group decided to end it. Doing the project as
a group also forced us to be able to collaborate with others, possibly even
people we have never talked to before. It made us obtain the ability to shoot
down a stupid idea and run with the great ones. Personally, with the page I
wrote, had I written it by myself it would have been very different and a lot
less dramatic. But I like the way our page turned out more than if I had
written it alone. My fellow group members brought a lot of interesting ideas to
the table. I think that if we each had had to write a page for the story it
would be a lot harder to have an actual plot because there would be so many
pages. The story would probably be more predictable because most of the time
that element of surprise comes from many people working together.
I approached writing our page in an incredibly
different way than I approach writing research papers. Research papers require
sophisticated sentences and ideas, but this story was much more relaxed. With
research papers I have to think analytically, which was the total opposite of
how I thought when writing our page. When working on the digital story, I thought
creatively, throwing out random ideas as they popped into my head. There are
not many similarities between writing a research paper and creative writing
except that they are both a kind of writing. The way you think is completely different.
With a research paper you have to obtain all of your valid information from
credible sources and cite them when they are used. With creative writing, all
of the information comes from your head, with maybe a little bit of help from a
prompt or something like that.
Digital
medium is different from any other type of media in that you can’t physically
hold it. You can’t touch what you have written the way you can touch a notebook
or a printed out paper. Also it is much easier accessible to the world,
depending on the privacy settings. In theory, a person in Japan could get
online right now and read our digital story. In order for this same person to
read the book in my backpack, I would have to package it up and send it across the world. Internet also
feeds humanity’s desire for instant gratification. The Internet is such a
convenient place to share things and so easily accessible to anyone, who would
ever want to use airmail again? Ultimately, no one would. I think that the ease
of using the internet will force physical copies of all types of media to
become obsolete in the future.
I also think it was cool to do the story with the whole class! In high school, we wrote a group essay, but it was very different from the way we did this assignment. We each wrote most of it and then picked out the parts we liked. I like how this assignment you could work off someone else’s thoughts, creating an even better idea, instead of just combining two average ideas. You are right about that if we each wrote on our page, the story would have been very long and probably not as interesting. I can’t wait to read it! (Even with the tragic ending)
ReplyDeleteI agree that the collaboration of the entire class was helpful for our story. At times it made it hard because everyone had a vision of how the story should go and everyone had to compromise on something. But being able to take bits and pieces of the story each person saw made it so much better because not everyone would think of the interesting details. I like your comment on the element of surprise coming from working together and I agree; working with others forces people to think differently and change their perspective, ultimately making a much more awesome story.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Megan that at times it was difficult to write the story because every group has a vision of how they wanted it to go, so it was pushed in many different directions in a short period of time. Being a part of the group that supplied the tragic ending (sorry!) I must say that it was especially difficult to end the story because it had been built up through all 6 pages and we only had 1 page to conclude it. However, looking back, it did make for a very interesting story, and as you said, much more interesting than if we had written it individually.
ReplyDeleteI must say though that I disagree with you that no one wants to send things through the mail anymore. I personally love getting hand written notes and I also love sending them. There is just something more personal about it and it feels good to have a note written in that persons own handwriting. That's just my thought though.
As one of the members of the very first group I had many different thoughts of where the story could go, but I never thought they would end up dying. I believe that's where the surprising elements that groups bring to the table come into play. I agree with all of you that by having the class collaborate together the story was only strengthened not weakened. Having so many ideas collide and create one suspenseful story is tribute to the great things groups can achieve when working together.
ReplyDeleteI must say the story also tested the ability for the small groups to work together to create a part of the story that not only makes sense but also adds to the story. In the beginning it was extremely hard because not only did we have to write the introduction to the story, but find a backdrop that left enough mystery and questions so that other groups had plenty of room to work with. Overall though, I believe the story turned out great and each group did an amazing job on their part.
While I did like writing the page with a group, I hated how hard it was to get everyone together. In the end, our page was not written by the whole group. I did enjoy how each group wrote a different page so everyone's ideas got out there. I was surprised by the ending. If I had written it, I know I would not have had to end the same way.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anna that I enjoy getting letters in the mail. I love to surprise my boyfriend by sending him a letter instead of just always talking through text or facebook.
I also enjoy having physical copies of books. Its different than reading on a nook. I bought a nook and do not use it as much as I thought I would. There's just something different about reading an actual copy of a book than reading it on a handheld device.
I think that it would be interesting to study what each group had planned for the story when they wrote their own page and how the actual story turned out. For example, Im sure the very first group thought up a story that was incredibly different from the final product. This is one of the things that makes this style of collaboration in group work unique. It brings together a wide variety of styles and mixes them together in a very open environment.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the digital storytelling project really forced groups to work together. If each one of us had written one page, the story would be very different. But like others said, the story was really interesting and unpredictable because of the group collaboration. I think this group project was something really helpful that was incorporated in the class. I cannot think of many times I have worked with a group to write a paper, so it was neat to see how others went about their creative process. I agree with Anna and Kelsey, because sometimes digital medium overwhelms me. It is really nice to be able to turn the pages of an actual book, or write out a note to someone. I think in some cases, digital medium can disconnect us, but this project showed me that it can help a group or classes really connect.
ReplyDeleteThis project did make us interact with people in the class we may never have spoken to before. It made us break out of our comfort zones and like you said reject and idea we did not like and support the good ones. It also is interesting that each group did not have to write individual stories but as a whole class came up with one story. It made the project more complex. For example, like you stated some groups wanted a happy ending but my group wanted to kill everyone off and maybe that surprised some of the other groups.
ReplyDeleteThis creative writing project was very interesting. When that many people contribute to one final project, the story is going to have so many unique and individual styles. This, however, does not always yield a smooth final piece. In this case, I notice two main things that contribute to this. First of all, when writing in a group, I feel as though the person on the keyboard most likely will dominate the writing style. Second of all, when this many groups come together, people want different things. This causes the plot to dramatically change and it makes for a bumpy story.
ReplyDelete