What I’ve Learned as a Writer
By Leo Babauta I’ve been a professional writer since I was 17: so nearly 24 years now. I’ve made my living with words, and have written a lot of them — more than 10 million (though many of them were duplicates). That means I’ve made a ton of errors. Being a writer means I’ve failed a lot, and learned a few things in the process. Now, some of you may be aspiring writers (or writers looking for inspiration from a colleague). So for anyone interested in writing, I’d love to share what I’ve learned so far. Write every damn day. And one thing I’ve learned, above all, is this: the life that my writing has changed more than any other is my own.
8 Ways Digital Storytelling Transforms Learning in 21st Century Education: The Research Evidence | The *Official AndreasCY* | Essential News – Web Services
Following the proliferation of technology and multimedia an evolution in making and telling stories has resulted in digital storytelling (DST). Here we get into the basics of DST and how research findings in the past decade suggest it works as a transforming tool for learning in 21st century education. What is Digital Storytelling? Digital storytelling is a constructivist approach to learning that emerged in the late 1980’s at the Center for Digital Storytelling (CDS) in California. This technique is a “modern expression of the ancient art of storytelling” (The Digital Storytelling Association 2011). Storytelling throughout the centuries has been a popular and compelling way to communicate and share knowledge and experiences, and has been used as a pedagogical tool long now. In today’s digitized world with teachers entering classrooms with digital natives (Prensky 2001), digital storytelling emerged as a consequence of a more systematic use of educational technology for learning. • Share
I Just Didn't Like Her: Notes on Likeability in Fiction - The Millions
1. In high school I had a zine with my friend Vanessa. It included our poetry and short stories, and for the cover of the first issue we used a label maker to spell out its title. After we’d put out one or two issues, I received a polite request from a man in prison, asking me to send him a copy. To borrow a phrase from Bennie Salazar, the record producer in Jennifer Egan’s A Visit From The Goon Squad, this is one of my “shame memories.” Lately, I’ve been thinking: If I were a fictional character, would readers hate me? In her essay “Perfectly Flawed” Lionel Shriver writes, “Surely if fiction recorded the doings only of good campers who anguish about climate change and buy fair trade coffee, novels would be insufferably dull.” Every couple of months there’s a new defense of unlikeable characters (see: Claire Messud‘s take) or likeable ones (see: Jennifer Weiner’s), and this conversation often returns to our cultural expectations of women. 3. 6. Susan’s reactions fascinated me. 7.
Transmedia: nueva narrativa fluida para una realidad líquida
El mundo del entretenimiento está dejando atrás la narrativa lineal. Las historias en la actualidad tienden a desbordarse, a superar el medio y el canal para el que fueron concebidas, y ramificarse a través de relatos paralelos que germinan en distintos soportes. Es la denominada narrativa transmedia. El experto en comunicación de la Universidad del Sur de California, Henry Jenkins, nos aporta una definición precisa del fenómeno de la narrativa transmedia: se trata de “un proceso en el que los elementos que integran una ficción son sistemáticamente dispersados a través de múltiples canales de distribución con el objeto de crear una experiencia de entretenimiento unificada y coordinada. Lo ideal es que cada medio o soporte realice su contribución personal en el desarrollo de la historia”. Pero transmedia no es contar una misma historia en distintos canales, por ejemplo, un libro, una película o una serie de TV. El fenómeno transmedia no es nuevo. Imagen portada: Transmedia Coalition
5 Tips For Getting Out of a Long-Term Reading Slump
D’you ever find yourself . . . just not reading? For weeks? Or months? Maybe years? I have gone through long-term reading slumps that have made me ashamed even to keep calling myself a reader. Never fear! 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. What tricks have you used to get out of a reading slump?
The Aesthetics of Game Art and Game Design
The Aesthetics of Game Art and Game Design By Chris Solarski What can we learn from the techniques of the Old Masters to help us create more varied and emotionally meaningful gaming experiences? To explore these questions, this article examines the psychology of shapes and dynamic composition, which are the focus of a series of talks I recently completed around North America (kindly supported by Gbanga, Swissnex, and the Swiss Arts Council, Pro Helvetia). Character shape Character animations Environment shapes Pathways Video games rely on the very same design principles -- perspective, form, value, etc. -- which classical artists employed to create the illusion that the television (or canvas) is a window into an imagined world. A better understanding of traditional art techniques, and video game aesthetics, will lead to richer gaming experiences, and may require a rethinking of established studio structures and the collaborative roles of game designers and artists.
Cool Stuff Librarians Do: Librarians Without Borders
When I was little I wanted to be a doctor, and imagined myself sweeping across continents providing invaluable medical assistance as part of Doctors Without Borders. I came to accept that I’m a writer, not a medical professional, but now I have an opportunity to realign those early dreams with my actual life: I’m interning with the coolest group I know of – Librarians Without Borders. Same basic concept, slightly different product. Librarians Without Borders (LWB) originated as a student project dreamed up by Founder and Co-Executive Director (and my lovely internship advisor) Melanie Sellar, who was then attending library school at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. Now coming up on its ten year anniversary, the nonprofit is on a mission to “improve access to information resources regardless of language, geography, or religion, by forming partnerships with community organizations in developing regions.” LWB’s tagline is: Putting information in the hands of the world.
The Ultimate Alternate Reality Gamified Transmedia Classroom Toolkit
New to the Blog? If you’d like to read about the implementation of the video game Gone Home in a high school English class, start here. Want to know how to turn your class into an alternate reality game, start here for an overview, or keep reading for the resource toolkit. Welcome to the Toolkit In the last post we introduced you to ARGs and reviewed some examples of how teachers are using them. Now you’re ready to turn your class into an immersive game, and everything you need is right here. Please write or comment with suggestions for additional resources or to report dead links, as this will be a living document which will hopefully grow and support any educator who wants to transform a class, a unit or the entire school year into an engaging, immersive and memorable experience. Basic Terms Before you journey too deeply into the ARG universe, you may want to learn some of the lingo. Initial Design and Structure Attribution:
