Reading Response: Digital Narrative Blog Tools

September 30th, 2014

        For my Unit 2 Production, I searched the Internet for a digital narrative tool to tell my story in a new way. I initially clicked on "Zimmer Twins" because it looked like the most simplistic tool and I am not very skilled with new technology. My first impression was that it was very "cartoony" like and might be a good choice to reach young audiences, or to explain a complex idea to older audiences but not intimidate. Zimmer Twins gives you an option at first to make a movie, watch a movie, or join. Joining required some simple and basic information that only took a minute- there was an option to be a paid member with access to bonuses as well. The only issue was that I had to download Adobe Flash Drive, which wasn't a problem. This tool gives great instructions on how to work the site if you click "How to make a movie." The whole concept of Zimmer twins is that the twins, Edgar and Eve, are twelve years old and psychic. So, the movie always starts out with the twins and allows the user to create the ending. For my story in particular, I don't think this tool is the way to go because I didn't plan on having these characters and did not realize at first that I had to include them. One cool thing about this site is you can share your movies and get ratings, and rate other people's as well so it is nice to get feedback. You can also earn points by making movies and giving feedback. The movies are supposed to last 1 minute, so this site might be a little too brief for getting my point across. Overall, exploring the Zimmer Twins site was interesting but it will not be effective for my audience. I would recommend using this tool for an audience of elementary school children and any internet user will be able to easily navigate, since it was designed for children.

Final Unit 1 Production

https://doc-0k-c8-docs.googleusercontent.com/docs/securesc/s196suh8epqbnnoe134argpm2mjf7428/cj941jus9930vc6mknr144stgamc12k7/1411660800000/06985102226499329488/06985102226499329488/0B-6j02Q4NiCWcGNHRG5EOGJkVDA?e=download&h=16653014193614665626&nonce=fq1i1nq35p1ik&user=06985102226499329488&hash=674fhvg2kcrdgj643ae80gt96lm5aq9b

Here is my final video on the Vision Crisis :) enjoy!

Unit 1 Rough Draft

 Here is a link to my presentation :)

<p  style=" margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block;">   <a title="View Blindness on Scribd" href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/240192682/Blindness"  style="text-decoration: underline;" >Blindness</a></p><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" src="//www.scribd.com/embeds/240192682/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&show_recommendations=true" data-auto-height="false" data-aspect-ratio="undefined" scrolling="no" id="doc_56909" width="100%" height="600" frameborder="0"></iframe> Draft

Draft Notes

       The point of my Unit 1 production is to raise awareness about the inadequate eye care for the less fortunate in our country and inspire them to make a donation to the American Optometric Association.

        My audience is middle-class to upper-class adults because they have the means to donate to the AOA. They can also be younger, if they are able to show their parents that this is a problem and get them to make a donation.

        I am trying to provide my audience with the experience of having blurry, poor vision and make them realize all the horrible effects, like not being able to succeed in school or athletics. I don't want them to take their good vision or good eye care for granted anymore.

        Setting a somewhat bleak and disorienting mood will help my audience realize the feeling of not being able to see. I don't want it to be too clear or bright because that's not what the world looks like through many people's eyes, and that's the point I'm trying to make.

         I am going to use visuals but not a ton on each slide; I want to have a smaller quantity of images but have the images I do use be very powerful. The colors will probably be darker, like dark blues, grays, and black. I don't see myself using Clip Art but would rather use real photos because my theme is not playful but serious.

         In response to the audience's experience, the call to action is to make a donation to the American Optometric Association at http://www.aoafoundation.org/vision-usa/.

Response to Chapter 2, 3, & 5

Hannah Chenoweth

Reading Response

September 10^th, 2014

                After reading Chapters 2, 3, and 5, I realized that to be concise is to be efficient. I have some trouble with this; I always find myself giving unnecessary over-explaining, details, metaphors, and using dramatic language. However, Chapter 5 was pretty clear about the fact that happy talk and instructions must die. I am going to keep my call to action straightforward because it’s not difficult to understand, but my usual tendency would be to over-explain. I believe following this advice will make my audience more likely to listen. I also need to make it clear that my call to action is clickable (a hyperlink) or else my entire presentation will be useless. The main message of almost all three chapters is that people whiz through things, so everything must be clear and purposeful. I now realize I shouldn’t include so many repetitive images of glasses, which I was going to include. One image will get the point across and keep the attention. I really liked the quote in Chapter 5: “Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”  Getting rid of noise was a main point as well. I have a lot of statistics about my issue, but in reality I should just pick a few that hit hard to be most effective. The rest will become just noise, knowing what we do about how the audience uses the web. What we know is that readers muddle through, scan, satisfice, etc. I plan to take what I learned to make my presentation as successful as possible.

Playing with Prezi

I had seen fellow classmates use the presentation software Prezi before but had always stuck to PowerPoint because it was what I was most comfortable with. The coolest aspect of Prezi is that you can zoom in and out on certain texts or images, which really emphasizes your point and creates focus. It is easy enough to create an account, with the only requirements being a name and email address. The website was remarkably easy to follow, and as a rare fluke of Gen Y I am remarkably handicapped when it comes to technology, so for me to say that is worth something. There are optional videos to watch on how to operate Prezi, but I chose to just go for it. You first choose from a wide variety of fun templates, with names like ‘Fork in the Road’ and ‘Journey to the Top.’ Once you choose a design, it is almost like PowerPoint in the sense that the slides are laid out on the side in the same way. There is also a ‘Click to add Title’ just like PowerPoint. This eased any anxiety I was left feeling for betraying my beloved PowerPoint. Prezi users have the option of inserting images, text, symbols, YouTube videos, and even background music. Next to the ‘insert’ section is a ‘customize’ section which additionally adds a huge amount of variety and options to design and color. I found the ‘share’ section also very easy to operate; clicking on it presents the user with a scroll-down option of sharing on Facebook, downloading as PDF, and more. It seems simple to convert and not one of those programs that has to reformat (read: ruin) your project by messing with the pixels. One comment I do have to make is that the Prezi images are a hundred times more professional looking than PowerPoint clip-art. Upon selecting ‘image’, you have the choice to either browse or use a recommended picture from Google, which are great quality and plentiful. Adding voiceovers is also an attractive feature of Prezi. I believe I can succinctly get my point across while also holding the audience’s attention with the help of Prezi; it’s “zoom-y” quality keeps the audience more engaged than just clicking through slides. The possibility of music is also in my mind as far as my persuasive narrative. For my presentation I feel that images are very important, and Prezi will help me to find the most effective visual aid possible. Overall, my experience playing with Prezi was surprisingly easy and I feel encouraged to use the software in the future.