Okay, I'm sorry about all of the confusion that happened with Blitzkrieg Criticism. That's gone down a little funky, partially because some of you are behind. Ultimately, I want you to do what you can today by giving each other feedback, but don't stress out over it too much. I'm not going to worry about it, so neither should you.
Now that all of you are finished (or almost finished) with your writing, I thought you would probably appreciate this:
Now that all of you are finished (or almost finished) with your writing, I thought you would probably appreciate this:
Now, without further ado, I want to give you your final major project for this class!
THE ULTRA MEGA MULTIMEDIA PROJECT
This is a group project, so I've taken the liberty of dividing you up into three teams, and I've already created a collaborative space for you to start working. Get each other's e-mails, phone numbers, etc. If you want to meet in real life, great. If not, great. But this is a group project, and here are the groups:
Blue Team
Brook Alexander
Jake Nicolopulos
Dax Triplett
Onebeh Kim
Jake Nicolopulos
Dax Triplett
Onebeh Kim
Black Team
Mary O'Kelly
Thomas Jones
Ryan Cook
Sara Kennedy
Thomas Jones
Ryan Cook
Sara Kennedy
teamspace:
Red Team
Grace Arney
Elizabeth Rogers
Kit Smith
Daniel McCarthy
Elizabeth Rogers
Kit Smith
Daniel McCarthy
teamspace:
This assignment requires students to collaborate in groups of about 4 people and develop an extended argument using multimedia composition strategies. The argument should deal with an issue that is usually ignored by our culture, such as environmentalism, health, or depression. Wake us up.
You are going to create something related to a genre known as alternate reality gaming, or chaotic fiction, viral marketing, or transmedia storytelling. This beast goes by many names.
The Wikipedia article for alternate reality games might be helpful, or it might be confusing and overwhelming…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game. And this article actually is an all right overview: http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7045.pdf.
And a quick overview of how the genre works in general can be found here: http://www.giantmice.com/features/arg-quickstart/
In your groups, you will create a fictional narrative to address a real issue. It works, essentially, like a digital scavenger hunt, where one clue leads to the next. You have to create the nodes, or clues, and lead your audience from one to the next. Your own game projects need to include 5 nodes or five places that lead from one to another.
Here is an example project that creates a fictional world dealing with the No Child Left Behind policy: thegradgrindsociety.com. The creators of Halo, Lost, The Dark Knight, and BMW have made time-based examples. I made this example because there wasn’t that great of a permanent example out there in the world already, but I know that you can do even better!
Business cards, labeled with the website, were left in business journals and other clever places to lead people to the trailhead, the website.
I’m giving this away, but essentially this is how The Gradgrind Society game works. You still might want to play through it though to get a feel for it.
Okay, so, the business card led to the website. The website (thegradgrindsociety.com) used an old Nazi video borrowed from archive.org and audio from another educational video there put together with Windows Movie Maker, along with an e-mail, and a phone number set up using Google Voice. The e-mail auto-replies and also forwards to aletheia.imir@gmail.com, which also aut0-replies using gmail’s vacation settings. The e-mail from Aletheia--which is Greek for truth--sends you to Twitter account and a document hidden on an account at Dropbox.com. The document sends you to a Flickr feed which is the end of the hunt.
You will have several self-determined qualities to your final projects, but all of you must use the following components which can be split up among your group members:
· A Video: (I know, you’re totally freaking out right now, but it doesn’t have to be long or complicated.)
You can use iMovie if you’re a Mac person, Windows Movie Maker if you’re a PC person, or you can capture video with Picassa which is free software, or even using your laptop’s webcam through Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/my_webcam. You can also edit video with Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/editor.
· A Social Media site, such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, or whatever else…
· A Document Design: A pdf, Word document, Google document, or something else.
· Some form of website, which might be a blog, which you’re familiar with already. You can also create free websites at wordpress.com, wix.com, moonfruit.com, yola.com, webs.com, weebly.com, and sites.google.com, as well as other places.
· An e-mail account set up especially for this project.
I actually don’t care if you follow my format from The Gradgrind Society by replacing the content with your own. Just make some interesting scavenger hunts; you’ve got a week!
Think about what you care about. Then, think about what resources your group has and go from there.
Each student will write his or her own report detailing your project’s rationale and process, which should accompany the final product and will be due to me on midnight on the last day of class. Tell me what you did, why you did it, and how it was working in a group. This is also a place to tell me if one of your group members was a slacker. The report should be about 2 pages and does not have to be MLA formatted this time. Use whatever fonts you want!
The project will be shared with the class on the last day of our course.
And finally, have fun with this project! That’s always a goal of your education.
Finally, I’ll close with two quotations from individuals who led the way with digital media as a means of communication…
"A new form of 'politics' is emerging, and in ways we haven't yet noticed. The living room has become a voting booth. Participation via television in Freedom Marches, in war, revolution, pollution, and other events is changing everything."
-Marshall McLuhan, the patron saint of Wired magazine
“When people talk to me about the digital divide, I think of it not being so much about who has access to what technology as about who knows how to create and express themselves in the new language of the screen. If students aren't taught the language of sound and images, shouldn't they be considered as illiterate as if they left college without being able to read and write?”
-George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars
-George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars
Your Daily Assignment:
Group up and get started on this project! We've only got about a week to finish it!
I expect a little confusion as you begin this project, but please e-mail me with questions. I'll also be lurking on your Google planning pages to help and give feedback.
I expect a little confusion as you begin this project, but please e-mail me with questions. I'll also be lurking on your Google planning pages to help and give feedback.
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