Formal Assignments

Assignment 1: Non-Fiction Storytelling

We begin with storytelling generating from online news agencies, like The New York Times, CNN, and others. These are true stories that utilize the affordances of the web to immerse and involve readers. Several of them also experiment with structure in order to provide multiple perspectives when the facts of the story are not entirely known. We will being with NYT’s Pulitzer and Peabody prize-winning Snow Fall, published December 20, 2012, considered one of the first and most breathtaking examples of this genre. The other stories selected for this section include some of the most compelling non-fiction stories produced in the last decade.

For this activity, you will work together in teams of 3-4 students to develop your own non-fiction story for the web. Note that you will need to conduct research in order to find source material from a news agency with which to work. This is not a personal narrative.

Type?  Group project
What? Research a real incident or activity and create a web-based story about it
Platform? Hand-coded in HTML and other web languages; Word Press; or Twine
Content? Must include words, images, and sound
What else? Content must be original or from Creative Commons
Delivery? You will send a URL to me via email
Due? Class presentations takes place on Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Evaluation?

  • Unique approach
  • Story quality
  • Media appropriateness
  • Followed directions
  • Spelling, grammar, and usage

 

Assignment 2: The Interactive Narrative, 1986-2018

When Netflix’s Bandersnatch premiered in the series Black Mirror on December 28, 2018, it was lauded as a new, innovative way to tell a story. Those of us working in the field of born digital literature were appalled by the ignorance of critics because they seemed completely unaware of the fact that digital interactive narratives had been around since the mainstreaming of computers and the rise in popularity of video games in the 1980s. This section of our course takes a historical perspective of the genre by beginning with one example of Electronic Arts’ brief foray into interactive media before moving to more recent popular environments.

For this activity you will work alone to devise your own interactive narrative. You are not being asked to make your own game but rather prepare a treatment and storyboard for one.

Type?  Individual project
What? Create a treatment and storyboard for an interactive narrative
Platform? 100-wordtreatment: .doc; detailed storyboard that includes full story, .pdf
Content? Must include the words of the story and accompanying images; locations of sounds/music/voiceover must be noted
What else? Writing and idea must be original; other content must be original or from Creative Commons
Delivery? You will turn in .doc(x) and .pdf via email to professor
Due? Treatment is due Monday, February 17, 2020 by 5 p.m. via email; detailed storyboard on Monday, March 2, 2020
Evaluation?

  • Compelling approach
  • Story quality
  • Media appropriateness
  • Followed directions
  • Spelling, grammar, and usage

 

Assignment 3: Mobile Stories

The idea of portable stories is not new. Books have made it possible for us to carry stories conveniently around for hundreds of years. However, stories produced for mobile phones possess features that cannot exist in the print medium. We will spend the next two weeks exploring stories created for smart phones and tablets as both native and web-based apps in order to suss out the unique ways stories can be told in these environments. 

In this activity you and 3-4 teammates will explore the mobile environment to create a fully realized story using the prototyping software, Adobe XD. 

Type?  Group project
What? Create a prototype for a mobile story
Platform? Adobe XD
Content? Must include the words of the story and accompanying images; locations of sounds/music/voiceover must be noted
What else? Writing and idea must be original; other content must be original or from Creative Commons
Delivery? You will export and send it as a .pdf
Due? Monday, March 23, 2020
Evaluation?

  • Compelling approach
  • Story quality
  • Media appropriateness
  • Followed directions
  • Spelling, grammar, and usage

 

Assignment 4: Twine Stories

Twine has become one of the most common platforms for digital storytelling, whether it is presented as a hypertext web environment like Porpentine’s “With Those We Love Alive” or used for planning commercial interactive media works like Netflix’s Bandersnatch. Many of you already know how to make a Twine story, so this activity is aimed at giving you the opportunity to expand your skills by producing a more expansive one, perhaps, that serves as your capstone project. See the Formal Assignmentspage for exact details of this project. To highlight your work on this project, I am creating an online gallery that will feature each of you and your project.

Type?  Individual or Group (no more than 3 people) project (your choice)

What? Create a Twine Story and other necessary components that will be published in our online gallery

Platform? Twine

Content? If working alone, your Twine story can be text-based only. If you are working in a group of 2, your story MUST include text and image/video/animation; if working in a group of three, your story MUST include text, image/video/animation & sound

What else? Writing and idea must be original; other content must be original or from Creative Commons. Because your Twine Story is going to be included in an Online Gallery, you also need to produce a 100-word description of it, a 100-word bio of each team member; a 150 x 150 photo of each team member; and a 150 x 150 logo/title of your project. You should include a credits page if your story is created by a group; each group member’s role in the story’s production should be included.

Delivery? Finished projects: Images, bios, descriptions via email to Dene

Naming conventions:
<yourlastname>-bio.doc(x)
<yourlastname>-description.doc(x)
<yourlastname>-photo.doc(x)
<yourlastname>-story-image.doc(x)

Your Twine Story will be sent as a URL. Because your name appears in the domain name, I will know who sent it.

Due? will be delivered to Dene by Friday, April 24, 5:00 p.m.
Evaluation?

  • Compelling approach
  • Story quality
  • Media appropriateness
  • Followed directions
  • Spelling, grammar, and usage