#2
Ed Tech Talk: Digital Storytelling
http://edtechtalk.com/taxonomy/term/618
This webcast reviews the use of hypertext storytelling software that makes it possible to read and write stories for the Internet in order to enhance student writing. There is a discussion between Marc Bernstein, the project manager for Storyspace, and Jeremy Ashkenas, the creator of Hypertextopia. The discussion is long, over an hour, and explores the highly technical, academic and abstract possibilities of hypertext. I got a little lost.
According to Bernstein, hypertext, begins with annotated text, and he describes hypertext as “…an important new kind of punctuation…” that “changes the way we write. Jeremy has studied the potential for writing on the web, and describes the link as a “fundamental difference that the web has ”. In developing Hypertextopia, his goal was to create his “ideal writing tool”.
As the discussion continues, Bernstein and Ashkenas discuss the way that Hypertextopia “inhabits the web,” and is “Imitative of books” in the way that it adds things to it like footnotes/annotations as pieces that arent’ essential. However, narrative coherence is preserved. They discuss examples of hypertext storytelling, such as “hickory garden”, “I have said nothing”, and “Patchwork Girl” , the girl sews herself together from scraps and bits…(like the form). They describe hypertext as an “atmospheric creation, less interested in plot, more interested in feeling, more poetic. He describes classical hypertext as more narrative, suitable for essays, conveying thoughts, etc.
When the discussion shifted to teaching writing, I could follow the discussion better since I taught writing for 20 years. According to Bernstein, teaching writing is first of all getting people to write; getting students to write blogs has been positive. He says that Blogs depend on links and high school students are already familiar with links. They begin discussing the “rhetoric of links…lyrical use of linking” and that the average high school students can not use this potential effectively. They discuss the link as punctuation, the link as rhetorical tool. Someone in the chat room commented that ” links are connections, not punctuation”…And this is where they really lost me. I couldn’t grasp the link as rhetorical tool business. A very technical discussion; I need more practical tips, sort of a hypertext storytelling for dummies.
The moderator shares his concerns about the use of digital storytelling in schools—“I worry that too much of digital storytelling ends up looking like info-mercials…the medium doesn’t grab me”…
They answer his concerns by stating that Digital stories should be authentic, true, personal, and biographical, however; “craft is viewed with skepticism” and becomes secondary, editing is limited. The notion that craft and editing are unimportant disturbs me because I think writing skills are important to life and job success. However, one caller, a 3rd grade teacher, “sees possibilities beyond pencil and paper storytelling.” The authors respond that hypertext storytelling could help writers learn about the revision process. This technology could help younger/developmental writers see they can pick things up and move them around—and that is a difficult skill to teach using traditional methods.
Overall, I was intrigued by the possibilities of using hypertext storytelling with students, but I’m still a little confused about the products discussed and how they work.