Chapter One - "Through the Looking Glass"
Raid One: MyStory
new media culture potentially supports and could be designed to augment and enhance individual and collective creativity: that a wired community in principle may be fundamentally 'creativogenic' (6).
-Gregory Ulmer - Internet Invention
-Gregory Ulmer - Internet Invention
Chapter Overview
When you disembark on your first journey, you feel the wave of freedom wash over you. You are in an unfamiliar place with a similar, but different set of objectives to complete. You pull out your journal and review your objectives: Find your identity; Learn about rhetoric; Reflect on your digital literacy; Write about your passion.
You find yourself thinking about identity. Who am I? What is my specialization? What are my personal objectives in the Rhetorical Inn? What do I want to learn? You remark on how identity can be a frustrating and complicated concept to understand, but you will think it through on this adventure. As you walk through your journey, you start to recall what you know about rhetoric and argumentative essays. As you approach the Rhetorical Inn you see a bard writing a song. You wonder...
You find yourself thinking about identity. Who am I? What is my specialization? What are my personal objectives in the Rhetorical Inn? What do I want to learn? You remark on how identity can be a frustrating and complicated concept to understand, but you will think it through on this adventure. As you walk through your journey, you start to recall what you know about rhetoric and argumentative essays. As you approach the Rhetorical Inn you see a bard writing a song. You wonder...
Raid OverviewWhat is digital literacy (electracy) and how is it different than regular literacy? What does your reading say about this subject? As described in session, (Digital) Literacy is the ability to comprehend, analyze, and (re)produce information (in digital mediums). Electracy, according to Ulmer, is "within the frame of 'apparatus,' to indicate that technology is one dimension of a three-dimensional matrix, including institution formation and individual and collective identity behaviors" ("electracy"). What this means is that you learn how to use technology based on behavior and genre formation. The Mystory is a way for you to both explore the use of technology as a creative tool and find something
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that you are passionate about. To explore the passion in a more comprehensive way, you will think about this passion through the following four institutions: Discipline, Family, History, and Entertainment. The Mystory will be digitally published using Adobe Spark and Behance, and comprised of images, video, sound, and text.
Raid Instruction
This Mystory is about finding a passion and exploring it through the four institutions: Discipline, Family, History, and Entertainment. There is a difference between liking/enjoying something and being truly passionate about it. Through the very act of thinking through the four institutions, you may be lead into a different passion. Don't settle for what is easy or the first idea you have; truly search within yourself. Once you have the passion figured out, you need to think of four individual narratives that you can explore through the institutions. Then, you need to bring in media--images, video, and audio--that will help articulate your passion. Finally, you are to do an analysis of the four institutions in your conclusion which will be looking for a "wide image" which is a repeating signifier in both your text and media components. Find the individual steps detailed out below:
Step One: Brainstorm
First, you should brainstorm and think about something you are passionate about which could be an area of study, a game, or a project. Through the invention process, you may change the object of passion or at least refine it. This should be an exploratory process that starts with your Journey Log #1. Really try to refine the core of your passion! Step Two: Institutions Next, apply your passion to the four institutions: Discipline, Family, History, and Entertainment. Each of these will be discussed thoroughly in session, but I encourage you to take it to the limits of each category. Think about how your passion fits into them and develop a narrative for each. It is possible that your passion can shift and take a different shape as you apply it to each institution, BUT THAT'S OK! A large part of writing is working through invention > drafting > revising. Each narrative should be at least 200 words. Step Three: Media Once you have the narratives written out, you now need to integrate media--images, video, and audio--into each institution. Since this will be done in Adobe Spark, you have options for how you use your images, but are pretty limited on the video integration. Remember to be creative. For each institution, you need at least two images and video/audio components. These should be all original, unless you can rationalize the sourced media (make sure to check your specialization requirements). Step Four: Analysis Now, once you have finished composing and revising, you need to closely read over your work and take notes on two things: how the passion has been shaped by the four institutions and what you see as a repeating signifier. First, after you have reread the narratives, write an introduction about what the passion is and how you see the passion being formed by the four institutions. |
For the concluding paragraph, you are writing about your repeating signifier. Ulmer says: "interlink the four sites in a way that brings out a pattern. The pattern emerges not at the level of meaning or theme...Rather, the pattern forms at the level of repeating signifiers--words and graphics--which is why each discourse level of the mystory must be documented with details that address the senses" (6). These details that you included both in text and media should represent some form of signifier in which you will discuss in the concluding analysis. Explain how you see the evidence of the signifier and what you think it means. Both sections should be at least 200 words each.
Step Five: Publish
Once you have finished, reread your composition for errors and then click publish on your Spark Page. Make sure you add it to Behance and title it: [Last Name - Specialization - Mystory].
Step Five: Publish
Once you have finished, reread your composition for errors and then click publish on your Spark Page. Make sure you add it to Behance and title it: [Last Name - Specialization - Mystory].
Requirements
- Works Referenced (websites, images, videos, etc.) at the bottom of the Page
- Image Requirements: At least two original images (can be rationalized) for each institution
- Video/Audio requirements: At least two original (can be rationalized) for each institution
- Use bold and italics for emphasis in your written work.
- Organize the composition by H1 and H2 headers.
- Each section (Intro, Discipline, Family, History, Entertainment, and Conclusion should be at least 200 words.
Performance Record
Your raid score will be based on the following (percentages are in parentheses):
- Structure (20): Did the player have an introduction, the four institutions, and a conclusion? Did the conclusion attempt at a wide image?
- Development (50): Did the player have a passion that was concise and well articulated through the narratives for the four institutions, as well as in the introduction?
- Correctness (10): Did the player proofread, include the media requirements, and publish their Mystory on Behance?
- Specialization (20): Did the player include their specialization?
Class Requirements
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Submitting Raid |
Must be turned in on Behance.
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This example is not exactly the same project, but it is organized in a similar way: https://spark.adobe.com/page/mLhInhlqgFO7s/