Week 8 - Digital Storytelling

Playing with Other Tigers 

 

1. What do you like about the digital story?  This story speaks to me from the a very real point of view.  While there is some staging as in the opening, the majority of it is just discussion and memories.

2.What did you learn from the digital story?  9/11 is a very emotional story, but this digital story brings the story into another level.  While the story is about 9/11 it is also about two boys, who became friends.  The marriage of cultures and influences and their influence upon their friendship.

3.What surprised you about the digital story?  This story had a very human element to it.  I did not feel a connection to the other stories, I do not know if that was the cultural differences or if it was the way the story was told.  I suspect the story of their friendship would have been different if 9/11 had not happened, but it still would have had challenges.

4.How did the digital story provide an example of how digital story telling can build self esteem, help young people voice an opposition to social problems, or create an alternative to stereotypes of adolescents typically portrayed in mainstream media?  The digital story is a way to open doors for communication.  An opportunity to watch and listen to a story from the first person is always more powerful than reading words on a paper.  The use of the key players in a story has a significant impact upon the viewer.  That said, there are also instances where the use of the primary character can present challenges, the first video I watched I could not follow.  I could understand enough to get the feel for his love for Brooklyn, but his dictation & dialect were difficult for me to follow.  It is a responsibility to be sure that the story gets told as it needs to be told, but still in a way that others can understand it.

5.How can digital storytelling promote critical media literacy? The digital storytelling as promoted in the reading allows the development of critical media literacy in a couple of ways, interpretation of media and creation of media.  In the interpretation of media students have the opportunity to study the context of the message that their classmates are presenting as well as analyzing the context that they are deliberately including in their own work.  For instance, when cropping a photo for use, why do they crop where they do and what is the motivation behind the selection of particular photos.  In the production of digital stories students are learning the critical skills necessary for using technology and in doing so they are learning what technology will and will not do, they learn to define the boundaries and therefore become aware of the boundaries and the ways in which those boundaries can be stretched or manipulated in their interpretation.