Adventures in Writing with Images created by Susan Davis from The Chinquapin School
INTRODUCTION
What is the relationship between stories and images? If you think about it, these media have interacted to create forms of expression throughout time. Both ultimately work together to create something that is not one or the other, but a new medium of expression. Cave paintings may have documented a momentous hunt, and perhaps provided the backdrop for relating a story to the tribe. Bed-time stories underscore our childhoods, with illustrations and text that sparked our imaginations and fed our dreams. Nowadays digital stories are created ubiquitously on youtube, yes, but also on Facebook and other social networks, and on blogs that are part of our personal and professional lives. The basic elements of text and photos are continuously combined and recombined into photoblogs, seemingly effortlessly, in what may be seen as new version of an old form of storytelling.
This adventure introduces you to the ways of thinking critically about the relationships between texts and images – an approach that grows out of the Literacy Through Photography curriculum developed by Fotofest. Three simple venues for exploring photoblogging (writing with photographs) are introduced: Tumblr for the vignette or brief anecdote, flickr for the serial story, and Voicethread for collecting community voices.
Adventure 1: An approach to reading photographs (Literacy through photography) Adventure 2: Introduction to Tumblr (Vignettes) Adventure 3: Introduction to Flickr (Serial Stories) Adventure 4 :
Introduction to Voicethread (Community Voices) Resources
ADVENTURE 1 An Approach to Reading Photographs (Literacy Through Photography)
Objective: This is an introduction to "reading pictures"
DIRECTIONS
The Literacy Through Photography curriculum introduces a way of reading photographs that begins with a conversation. The teacher presents an image:
A discussion begins with simple questions, and the teacher waits to reap the students’ responses:
What do you see?
What makes you say that?
We can add this question to help students begin to make the connections that lead to understanding narrative:
How do the parts of the story fit together?
As students begin to read photographs, they also begin to find more meaning in their own pictures and the stories they invoke. The concreteness of the images in the photograph lead to greater detail in writing, and the imagery in the writing leads to new connections. The entire process is one of making meaning.
E.M. Forster described the way connection adds compelling drive to a narrative: “’The king died and then the queen died’ is a story. ‘The king died, and then the queen died of grief’ is a plot.” The king dies; he queen dies -- these are random events, not really a plot. The king dies, and the queen dies of grief -- now we make meaning from the connections.
Objective: Setup a Tumblr account and explore Vignettes through Tumblr.
DIRECTIONS
Tumblr provides a venue for creating brief encounters or vignettes, stories that capture the moment. Its clean look emphasizes a large photo and a brief interlude of text, usually added above or below the photograph. Keep in mind that the elements of this photoblog but must be fed bottom up. In other words, if you want your text below your photograph, you must add it first, then add the image. You can also add audio, video, quotes, and RSS. Keep in mind that this is an open environment, but there is no comment feature on the blog. Here is a sample blog from a “Creative Media” class.
To create your first tumbl-log, go to Tumblr and sign on to this account:
Login: cofdemo1@gmail.com
Password: naiscofdemo
Click on http://cofdemo1.tumblr.com/ (also a link to the right on your Tumblr “dashboard”) to view your post.
ADVENTURE 3 Introduction to Flickr (Serial Stories)
Objective: Explore the world of Serial Stories through Flickr
DIRECTIONS
Flickr, like many other blogging formats (Blogger, LiveJournal, and others), provides a venue for creating serial blogs or stories. Flickr allows you to collect episodes into “sets.” On flickr, you can also create groups (networks of similar storytellers) and receive comments from viewers from around the world. Other notable features on flickr include adding notes to photographs, placing photographs on a map, tagging, and RSS. This is an unsecured space, but you can easily manage privacy settings. (Uploads are limited with the free account.)
To begin to experiment in Flickr, log onto this account:
ADVENTURE 4 Introduction to Voicethread (Community Voices)
Objective: In this adventure, you will have a chance to explore several rich resource sites for digital storytelling.
DIRECTIONS
Voicethread allows you to create a slideshow of images to which you, along with others, can add written text or voice comments to create a chorus of voices collaborating to tell a story. One interesting features is that commenters can draw on the images as well. The voicethread must be made public to be shared with others via email or on a blog, where it can be embedded. RSS is available. Check the education program for special pricing for some extra services (such as video downloads.)
To begin narrating your own voicethread, use the information below.
