Welcome to DTC 354: Digital Storytelling!

DTC 354 / Digital Storytelling focuses on how the practice of narrative storytelling has adapted to the tools and environments of the digital computer. Beginning with narrative traditions that predate the digital will provide a strong understanding of storytelling as a meaning-making process with a long history. The rest of the semester builds on this foundation in looking at storytelling with different modes – textual, typographic, visual, ergodic, ludic – ultimately integrating all of these in a final hypermedial Twine narrative.

The course explores these concepts through creative experimentation with digital environments, lectures, discussion, blog posts, and major projects. Each of these avenues provide opportunities for students to respond to and apply core ideas from the course in their own practice-based research, with the final project (Twine narrative) as the final demonstration of their individual approach to the affordances of digital storytelling.

Syllabus

Version 1.0: Please note that this version of the syllabus is live and subject to change. Richard will notify the class of any major or minor changes to the text of this document that will affect students. Examples of changes: altering office hours, renegotiating grade percentages, or editing the text of an assignment in order to clarify expectations.

Catalog Description: Nonlinear, multi-linear, and interactive narrative using elements of creative writing such as character, dialog, setting, plot and image.

Slack Messaging

Slack is an essential program for students in DTC classes and especially DTC majors and minors. You can contact me directly on Slack and you should feel free to use the space both in and out of class to support one another, ask questions, etc.

If you are already on the DTC Slack, I will add you from there. Otherwise, please look for an email from me in the first week of class with a signup link.

Please be aware that anything you post to the main Slack channel will be shared with the class.

Course Objectives

Students in this course will:

Learn and experiment with a variety of online and offline software environments that support digital storytelling.
Survey selected Western and non-Western narrative traditions and their history for the purposes of crafting their own digital stories.
Experience and critique digital stories with a deep understanding of modes, media, and their affordances.
Create digital stories in a variety of media, with a focus on the affordances of text, image, and interactivity.
Experiment with ludic, networked, nonlinear, and multilinear narrative designs in Twine.

DTC Student Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this course, students will:

Demonstrate competency with technology for designing and distributing digital works in various mediums. (SLO #1)
Demonstrate competency with design principles through both the production and analysis of media objects. (SLO #2)
Demonstrate and articulate an understanding of the ways digital media and information function and circulate in multiple cultural contexts. (SLO #3)
Demonstrate an understanding of the history of technological development, from local to global perspectives, and its implications for a variety of media. (SLO #4)
Effectively communicate through writing and speech why and how digital media texts make meaning. (SLO #6)
Recognize various forms of language processing and their implications for media authoring. (SLO #7)

SLO = Student Learning Outcome

Textbooks

Please be aware that you will need Aristotle right away. You can take a few weeks to locate a copy of Understanding Comics. Contact me if you have any issues getting these resources.

The Poetics, Aristotle, Dover Thrift Edition (Bookie)
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud (Amazon & other booksellers)
Movie Rentals: West Side Story ($3.99), Man with a Movie Camera (Free, YouTube)
Other selected online readings and short films (see syllabus)
Pry, Tender Claws ($2.99 in App store or check-out an iPhone/iPad to read sometime during course

Course Assignments & Grading

Blog Posts (20%): A mixture of high- and low-stakes assignments that will be completed outside of class time, combining reflections, analyses, and creative endeavors. Students are encouraged to augment the standard text of blog posts with images, video, audio, and other forms of embedded media. Though blog posts are more relaxed in tone and structure than traditional academic papers, students are expected to produce polished, professional work in blog posts.

Project 1: Personal Narrative (counts as a blog post): Students will create a personal narrative blog out of your own life experiences. It can be “based on a true story” and perhaps exaggerated but it should not veer totally into fiction. Students will craft this story using one or more of the narrative traditions we’ve discussed in the first three weeks of the course (Module 1). The narrative should include at least one image, even if just to set the tone. Students will not be graded on length, but you should write a minimum of four paragraphs for your story, plus a final paragraph offset from the story in which you explain your use of concepts from the course to develop it. Be specific for this section: make sure you identify the exact ideas and concepts by name. Due 9/14 at 5pm. Submit your blog link on Canvas before the due date.

Project 2: Typographical Narrative (15%): Using source material you have gathered so far (or other any other remixed source material), construct a typographic narrative using ideas/strategies from Drucker’s Diagrammatic Writing and any other typographic work that inspires you. You may use Illustrator, Photoshop, Prezi, iBook Author, even video. But Keynote/Powerpoint is best because of the ease of manipulating text blocks and exporting to pdf or video. There should be at least 3-4 panels or pages with a story structure following the Western three-act plot or the Japanese four-act (kishotenketsu) plot. You may use color, various fonts and graphic elements (arrows, borders, basic shapes), but please do not use images. Let the text fragments, their arrangement and typography guide your composition of the story. Provide a one-paragraph, professional artist’s statement that explains your choices and connects them to the course content. Due 10/12 at 5pm. Host or link to your project on your blog, add your artist’s statement to the post, and submit the blog post’s link on Canvas before the due date.

Project 3: Visual Narrative (15%): In this assignment, you are to use images to tell a story. The images may include symbols, shapes, colors, drawings, graphics, photos and/or video. Your images may be accompanied by minimal text, but images should drive the story. In other words, you aren’t illustrating a script. Instead, investigate new ways to organize images–on the single page and from page to page– in order to get across your particular visual story, drawing on the approaches to visual narration we’ve covered in Module 3. Remember, the pictorial frame and the user’s navigation of the frame(s) are elements of visual storytelling. Provide a one-paragraph, professional artist’s statement that explains your choices and connects them to the course content. Due 11/9 at 5pm. Host or link to your project on your blog, add your artist’s statement to the post, and submit the blog post’s link on Canvas before the due date.

Project 4: Final Twine Narrative (30%): Over the course of the semester, we have repeatedly returned to Twine as a platform that exemplifies many of the affordances of digital storytelling. For this project, you will draw on what you have learned in all four modules to create a final Twine narrative. You should aim to include at least 35 polished, networked lexia in your final submission. In an accompanying artist’s statement of no fewer than three paragraphs, you will explain how the project demonstrates your mastery of concepts from Module 1 (by using/adapting/subverting traditional forms), Module 2 (by using text, typography, and hooks), Module 3 (by incorporating static and moving images), and Module 4 (by introducing linking, nonlinearity/multilinearity, and branching user choice). Concept and plan due in class 12/3. Rough (but complete) draft due in class 12/10. Final submission due 12/14 by 5pm. Your finalized Twine narrative should be hosted online (contact Richard or Greg with any questions about this process) and a link to the live narrative provided on your blog, followed by the artist’s statement. Submit the finished blog post containing these things to Canvas for evaluation before the due date.

In-Class Work & Participation (20%): Low-stakes in-class work or (occasionally) homework that demonstrates and applies knowledge of course materials in preparation for larger challenges. Any weekly quizzes or discussions will also go into this category.

Late Work: No late work will be accepted without explicit prior approval. If your work is not submitted as instructed by the due date you will receive zero points. That said, I am very understanding about how life works when contacted ahead of time. If you are unable to complete an assignment in time, contact me in person or via email before the due date and we will work something out. Contacting me after missing an assignment – without a university approved absence – will not alter a failing grade.

Course Information: We will be using Canvas for assignment submission and grades only. We’ll use Slack for day-to-day communication and office hours, and the course website features the schedule, syllabus, and assignment details.

Grades

Mid-term and final grades are determined from your attendance, participation, and success earning points for various graded course components minus any deductions for lack of attendance or participation. No curving, averaging, grade bumps, or other manipulations are utilized. No extra credit opportunities are planned. Incompletes are not available. + and – grades will be used at instructor’s discretion. Completion of any course component does not guarantee the highest grade. Consider the level of performance expected for each grade. I encourage you to discuss your progress, performance, questions, and concerns with me. I will exercise caution and fairness in assessing your work and assigning grades but remain the final authority on all matters related to assessment and grading. Remember: the highest grades are earned by the best performance and participation. Final grades are based on this scale. Notice that the grade of “D” is not offered; reverts to “F.”

A	90 and above	Exemplary work	Goes beyond requirements and expectations; Shows a high level of engagement by student
B	80-89	Good work	Good work, but not exemplary
C	70-79	Acceptable work	Meets minimum expectations and requirements but does not go beyond them; Shows acceptable, but no more, engagement by student
F	70 and below	Minimal work Failure	Little effort, engagement, participation Failure in any or all aspects of course expectations or requirements

WSU Email Policy

Beginning Fall Semester 2015, university policy states that all email communication must be sent to student’s official WSU email address. I will no longer reply to any correspondence from a non-wsu.edu email address.

Reasonable Accommodation

Students with Disabilities:. Reasonable accommodations are available for students with documented disabilities or chronic medical conditions. If you have a disability and need accommodations to fully participate in this class, please visit the Access Center website to follow published procedures to request accommodations: https://studentaffairs.vancouver.wsu.edu/access-center. Students may also call or email the Access Center to schedule an appointment with an Access Advisor; Phone: 360-546-9238; Email: van.access.center@wsu.edu. All disability related accommodations MUST be approved through the Access Center. If you have a disability and need accommodations, we recommend you begin the process as soon as possible. It is a university expectation that students with approved accommodations visit with instructors (via email or Zoom) within two weeks of requesting their accommodations to discuss logistics.

Recording Sensitive Topics

In this class, students are encouraged to both express and evaluate multiple points of view. A key aspect of a college education is exposure to and engagement with the complexity of various issues. Therefore, it is important that we listen and respect one another. We do not have to come to consensus, but we do need to agree to honor the privacy and educational processes of our classmates. Because this class is virtual, that commitment includes digital privacy, meaning that students are not allowed to make, remix nor share or post course recordings, nor in any way capture, manipulate, or circulate the likeness of a classmate.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is the cornerstone of higher education. As such, all members of the university community share responsibility for maintaining and promoting the principles of integrity in all activities, including academic integrity and honest scholarship. Academic integrity will be strongly enforced in this course. Students who violate WSU’s Academic Integrity Policy (identified in Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 504-26-010(3) and -404) will receive an automatic zero grade on the assignment, will not have the option to withdraw from the course pending an appeal, and will be reported to the Office of Student Conduct.

Cheating includes, but is not limited to, plagiarism and unauthorized collaboration as defined in the Standards of Conduct for Students, WAC 504-26-010(3). You need to read and understand all of the definitions of cheating: http://app.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=504-26-010. If you have any questions about what is and is not allowed in this course, you should ask course instructors before proceeding. If you wish to appeal a faculty member’s decision relating to academic integrity, please use the form available at https://studentaffairs.vancouver.wsu.edu/student-affairs/student-conduct. If you have any questions about the process on the Vancouver campus, please call Eric Scott at 360-546-9530.

COVID-19 Policy:

Students are expected to abide by all current COVID-19 related university policies and public health directives, which could include wearing a cloth face covering, physically distancing, self-attestations, and sanitizing common use spaces. All current COVID-19 related university policies and public health directives are located at https://wsu.edu/covid-19/. Students who do not comply with these directives may be required to leave the classroom; in egregious or repetitive cases, students may be referred to the Center for Community Standards for university disciplinary action.

Policy Prohibiting Discrimination and Harassment (Executive Policy 15)

This policy expresses WSU’s commitment to maintaining an environment free from discrimination, including sexual harassment. This policy applies to all students, faculty, staff, or others having an association with the University.

Discrimination, including discriminatory harassment, sexual harassment, and sexual misconduct (including stalking, intimate partner violence, and sexual violence) is prohibited at WSU (See WSU Policy Prohibiting Discrimination and Harassment (Executive Policy 15) and WSU Standards of Conduct for Students).

If you feel you have experienced or have witnessed discriminatory conduct, you can contact the WSU Office of Civil Rights Compliance & Investigation (CRCI) and/or the WSU Title IX Coordinator at 509-335-8288 to discuss resources, including confidential resources, and reporting options. (Visit crci.wsu.edu for more information).

Most WSU employees, including faculty, who have information regarding sexual harassment or sexual misconduct are required to report the information to CRCI or a designated Title IX Coordinator or Liaison. Visit https://crci.wsu.edu/reporting-requirements/ for more information.

Accommodation for Religious Observances or Activities:

Washington State University reasonably accommodates absences allowing for students to take holidays for reasons of faith or conscience or organized activities conducted under the auspices of a religious denomination, church, or religious organization. Reasonable accommodation requires the student to coordinate with the instructor on scheduling examinations or other activities necessary for course completion. Students requesting accommodation must provide written notification within the first two weeks of the beginning of the course and include specific dates for absences. Approved accommodations for absences will not adversely impact student grades. Absence from classes or examinations for religious reasons does not relieve students from responsibility for any part of the course work required during the period of absence. Students who feel they have been treated unfairly in terms of this accommodation may refer to Academic Regulation 104 – Academic Complaint Procedures.

Safety and Emergency Notification

Please sign up for emergency alerts on your account at MyWSU. For more information on this subject, campus safety, and related topics, please view the FBI’s Run, Hide, Fight video and visit the classroom safety page https://provost.wsu.edu/classroom-safety/.

Emergency Closure/Adverse Weather Bus Information for WSU Vancouver Campus:

WSU Vancouver VanCoug ALERTS: www.vancouver.wsu.edu/alerts
Weather Closure Media Web Sites: http://www.oregonlive.com/
During adverse weather conditions when C-Tran is operating on snow routes, the WSU Vancouver campus will not be served as the snow route ends at 20th Ave.
For more information on bus routes and C-Tran scheduling, please visit their website at:
http://www.c-tran.com/

WSU Vancouver Home Page (Announcements and Alerts):

http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/

WSU Vancouver Police:

http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/police
Police Services
Campus Safety Plan: http://admin.vancouver.wsu.edu/clery-act/annual-security-report
Campus Alert Information

Emergencies:

Hostile Intruder:

Campus Lock Down – Exterior doors will lock
Apply “RUN-HIDE-FIGHT” personal safety protocol

If sheltered or hiding; silence electronics, turn out lights, stay away from windows, barricade or lock doors, make a plan to fight if necessary

Active Shooter Training links: https://oem.wsu.edu/emergency-procedures/active-shooter/

https://oem.wsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1081/2015/10/active-shooter-training-2016.mp4?_=1

WSU Vancouver VanCoug ALERTS: www.vancouver.wsu.edu/alerts
Mass notification system: WSU Vancouver Home Page – myWSU (under the PROFILE Tab) to update info

Inclement weather policy: In the event that an adverse weather event (e.g., snow or ice) or natural hazard that poses a safety risk occurs, you should take personal safety into account when deciding whether you can travel safely to and from campus, taking local conditions into account. If campus remains open and your instructor decides to cancel the face-to-face meeting and substitute an alternative learning activity, you will be notified by your instructor via email or through Blackboard within a reasonable time after the decision to open or close campus has been made. Instructions regarding any alternative learning options or assignments will be communicated in a timely manner. If travel to campus is not possible due to adverse regional conditions, allowances to course attendance policy and scheduled assignments, including exams and quizzes, will be made. Students who attempt to gain advantage through abuse of this policy (e.g., by providing an instructor with false information) may be referred to the Office of Community Standards for disciplinary action. If a student encounters an issue with an instructor, the student should first talk with the instructor. If the issue cannot be resolved, the student should follow the reporting violations of policies outlined on the student affairs website. Finally, in case of class cancellation campus-wide, please check local media, the WSU Vancouver web page (https://www.vancouver.wsu.edu) and/or http://www.flashalert.net/. Individual class cancellations may be made at the discretion of the instructor.

Cougar Food Pantry: We know that it can be hard to make ends meet when you’re paying for college and living on a tight budget. If you are struggling to feed yourself or your family, the Cougar Food Pantry can help. The pantry provides free, nonperishable food items for WSU Vancouver students in need. The process is simple, anonymous and judgement-free. Learn more and request food at vancouver.wsu.edu/fooddrive or stop by the Cougar Center in the Student Services Center. Help your fellow Coug; refer a friend in need!

Reasonable Accommodation

Recording Sensitive Topics

In this class, students are encouraged to both express and evaluate multiple points of view. A key aspect of a college education is exposure to and engagement with the complexity of various issues. Therefore, it is important that we listen and respect one another. We do not have to come to consensus, but we do need to agree to honor the privacy and educational processes of our classmates. Because this class is partially virtual, that commitment includes digital privacy, meaning that students are not allowed to make, remix nor share or post course recordings, nor in any way capture, manipulate, or circulate the likeness of a classmate.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is the cornerstone of higher education. As such, all members of the university community share responsibility for maintaining and promoting the principles of integrity in all activities, including academic integrity and honest scholarship. Academic integrity will be strongly enforced in this course. Students who violate WSU’s Academic Integrity Policy (identified in Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 504-26-010(3) and -404) will receive [insert academic sanction (e.g., fail the course, fail the assignment, etc.)], will not have the option to withdraw from the course pending an appeal, and will be reported to the Office of Student Conduct.

COVID-19 Policy:

Policy Prohibiting Discrimination and Harassment (Executive Policy 15)

Accommodation for Religious Observances or Activities:

Safety and Emergency Notification

Emergency Closure/Adverse Weather Bus Information for WSU Vancouver Campus:

WSU Vancouver VanCoug ALERTS: www.vancouver.wsu.edu/alerts
Weather Closure Media Web Sites: http://www.oregonlive.com/
During adverse weather conditions when C-Tran is operating on snow routes, the WSU Vancouver campus will not be served as the snow route ends at 20th Ave.
For more information on bus routes and C-Tran scheduling, please visit their website at:
http://www.c-tran.com/

WSU Vancouver Home Page (Announcements and Alerts):

http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/

WSU Vancouver Police:

http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/police
Police Services
Campus Safety Plan: http://admin.vancouver.wsu.edu/clery-act/annual-security-report
Campus Alert Information

Emergencies:

Hostile Intruder:

Campus Lock Down – Exterior doors will lock
Apply “RUN-HIDE-FIGHT” personal safety protocol

If sheltered or hiding; silence electronics, turn out lights, stay away from windows, barricade or lock doors, make a plan to fight if necessary

Active Shooter Training links: https://oem.wsu.edu/emergency-procedures/active-shooter/

https://oem.wsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1081/2015/10/active-shooter-training-2016.mp4?_=1

WSU Vancouver VanCoug ALERTS: www.vancouver.wsu.edu/alerts
Mass notification system: WSU Vancouver Home Page – myWSU (under the PROFILE Tab) to update info