My Digital Story - It's short, it's quiet, but it's there.

Are we there yet?

Ever have that feeling like you're running towards something but it just isn't getting any closer? And then you realize you're in one of those hamster wheels? And then the problem of not reaching your goal becomes irrelevant and you are totally consumed with the fact that you are inside a giant hamster wheel? Welcome to my life. Without the hamster wheel part. Maybe it's a metaphorical hamster wheel. Anyway...

The digital story is done, but not ready to view. I finally made use of that car predicament over spring break and the result is, well, it's okay. It's there.

The literary world is getting close. I have a feeling I'm going to end up going in and making changes for a very long time, so let's just say the first draft is almost complete.

I finally gathered my courage and returned to podcasting. I'm still in the early stages, trying to ease myself back in so that I don't get mad and give up on it like I did last time. Cross your fingers for me.

So maybe I am getting somewhere, but won't be able to appreciate it until after the 27th. I think I finally realized why Allen always insists on asking me whether or not I'm going to survive finishing my freshman year: it's because I'm in his class!

The eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg

It's official. Podcasting is no longer the bane of my existence.

And the new champion is....digital storytelling.

More info later.

progress

The digital story ideas are coming along, but I have a sinking feeling that this is likely to turn out like the podcast fiasco. My problem is that I have a serious lack of pictures, and therefore, a lack of memories. I started making a sample based on a short story my roommate wrote, but since it's not my personal story I'm not sure if it counts. If it doesn't I'm afraid I'm tapped. I'm not sure this is going to be my most crowning achievement, but we'll see on Wednesday I guess. I think this is an idea that I could play around with more and really like, but it's hard to try and make a decent product at the end-of-the-year crunch time, especially with my literary world taking over my life.

Digital Storytelling

I visited some of the sites from Allen's email, hoping to find a decent idea of what digital stories actually are, because I wasn't too sure. After browsing for a while I came to a general understanding, and think that digital storytelling is a great idea for the classroom. It brings a sense of audience to student writing and, at least in all the examples I saw, the stories are personal and creative, something that students can identify with because they're putting a part of themselves into their work. I didn't take a look at any teacher-produced digital stories, thought I'd be interested to see what kinds of things teachers chose to discuss. My only problem is that I still have no idea what I should make my digital story about. Any ideas?

Ok, so this semester is winding down, and I am taking a look at the syllabus thinking I've got this covered. Then I look at my blog and realize, I most definitely do not have this covered.

Since there are a few aspects of the class that I neglected to blog about, I'll make up for lost time and blog about them now. The topic of today's fantastic blog will be: podcasting, the bane of my existence.

Podcasting was the one thing I didn't quite master out of this whole experience. Wikis? Check. RSS? Gotcha. But for some reason, podcasting just didn't stick. I'm not sure if it was the program I was using, (audacity felt the need to chop up everything I saved into tiny little pieces and then reassemble them in no particular order), my inability to become a member on the free podcast music site (two full hours of sitting in front of the computer, typing in every user name I could possibly think of, only to find them all taken...suspicious), or perhaps that was an off-week for me and I just couldn't quite "get it."

Whatever the reason, I am currently without any real podcast to speak of. Hopefully we can take those extra class days to do some catching up like we discussed, and someone can try to help me through this. Until then, I remain podcast-less and painfully ashamed.