I guess I should have read the previous chapters of this book because I didn’t know there was a web storytelling 1.0. But, that’s not the point. What is important is my reflection on this information-loaded chapter from Bryan Alexander’s novel The New Digital Storytelling. Before I started reading, like i always do, I looked at how many pages I had to read. Wow….27? I mean, i enjoy reading, don’t get me wrong, but MORE reading? Little did I know that this chapter would actually be interesting and useful.I decided to write about the most important parts (in my opinion).
Blogging:
Just to be clear, the beginning was really confusing for me because this chapter was a little out of context for me. So many different ideas were being thrown around but I managed to get a hold of it all. So blogging… I didn’t know that people, or bloggers, could use blogs in so many ways. Keep in mind this is my first comp sci course and I’m only familiar with Tumblr which is lots of trolling and music. I’ve understood that blogging has become a big thing over this past decade but i wasn’t aware HOW big. Diary-like blogs, to me, have always been the main type of blogs around. Alexander showed so many different types of blogs. My favorite was definitely the Dionaea House. A blog that is that interactive and interesting is time-consuming. After reading about that blog it made me realize how small mine was. I also liked looking at the Character Blogging. Reading that title you would assume that there is one author of that blog and that author creates different characters. Well, i at least assumed that and was completely wrong. Usually I would be against having a co-admin to my blog but it really does add a different “sazz” to the blog.
Twitter:
How in the world can Twitter be used as a way to digitally tell a story that isn’t about a fight or current even? I mean, tweets can only have 150 or so characters so how can you fit it all? After looking at the example “@wotw2″ i was shocked. I actually had to look it up on twitter and was sad to see that their last post was in 2010. Anyways, point being, you can use twitter to tell a story. What makes it special, as Alexander says” is that each post is immediate. A then and there type story. Which is basically how everyone uses Twitter, just with different stories.
Wikis:
Wikis aren’t just Wikipedia. Ha. I always thought Wikis was a short name for Wikipedia but actually, as you probably know, Wikipedia came from Wikis. The idea of people getting coding (HTML ?) and adding their own information on top of other people’s information is odd. What if their information isn’t really important or you have something better? I feel that’s what Wikipedia is because you can change other people’s stuff if it’s wrong/ they’re trolling.
Facebook:
I was waiting for this section to pop up and was happy that it came at the end. When I hear the phrase “Web Storytelling”. Facebook lets you post so many different forms of media. Sometimes when i’m really bored i like to scroll through my Facebook storyline and just see what i’ve done over the years. Pictures, statuses, videos, articles, etc. They’re all so important to telling a story and leaving history on the internet. A lot of people believe that Facebook is stupid or awaste of time but look at your past through it and tell me it doesn’t amaze you.
Scene From The Wire/Facebook Page:
I’m not sure if i would consider scenes from the wire to be a form of digital storytelling. I think i’m still a little confused on the whole concept. But then again, if these gifs are a form of telling the story of The Wire then shouldn’t it count? From Alexander’s chapter, it’s obvious that digital storytelling isn’t just about writing. It includes all forms of media: writing, pictures, gifs, etc. So i’ve changed my mind. This is definitely a form of storytelling. The author of the page is recording these scenes as significant to himself so it is storytelling. If i can look back on this page in 5 years, i’ll scroll through al the gifs looking for refresher to the show. Next comes the Facebook page for The Wire. I’m sure this page was updated more frequently with posts/pictures about upcoming episodes or recaps of episodes allowing the audience to respond. As of now, the first thing i saw when i went to the page was a “TBT” picture. That’s when i believed that it was a form of storytelling. This page still exists and has a strong following count even after the show ended. So it’s a way for other people to go back and look through the posts and see how the show progressed. To me. that’s digital storytelling.
