Digital Storytelling

I have looked at the website for “Through Our Parents’ Eyes,” several times since starting the IRLS program and each time I am surprised how much that I overlooked before. Now looking at it from a digital storytelling perspective it is as if it is all new to me. I wish I had time to review it all, but my available time limits me, so I'll have to add more in a later post. For now here's ~

Finding a Place in America – A Collaborative Conversation

As I looked through the texts for this project the content reminded me of the Capture Wales site that we looked at in class. They are short messages about self and community, and understanding ourselves and our place in this world. I think that adding images and audio to this project would give this project more depth and dimension. While reading the text is valuable, written words don’t convey the nuances that speech provides. The written word doesn’t show what the tone of voice or tense that gives different value to the words when spoken. When Kevin Courtney talks about growing up “off Broadway” in New York City, and he writes about his friend Al from “the Carolinas” it would be great to hear the his voice imitating his friend’s drawl. While his words create a vivid picture it would be amazing to add images of him and Al and New York that would give us his perspective of the experience which he relates. In another “conversation,” Joan Allemon shares her feelings about art. She says “I try to imagine a world without Art; without pictures, stories, songs, dance, theater, architecture. I cannot. It is a glorious place to go to. It's my space travel, my religious experience, my spirit trip, and probably the primary force behind why I make pictures or at least why I keep returning to my empty canvases." While text only is not an empty canvas it can be like viewing rainbows in black and white. The addition of audio and images or video each adds colors and dimensions to these stories that would give them personality and life. I wonder why this project wasn’t continued. It would be interesting to see this project start again and develop it with an emphasis on digital storytelling.