NMC Campus Observer

Teachers Buzz Record Turnout for Storytelling

CDB Barkley (aka Alan Levine) : Feb 5, 2007 10:23pm

Maybe it was the topic of digital storytelling. Perhaps there was an allure of the mystery behind “Who is Gudand Hao?”. Whatever the draw, we were pleased at the crowd of more than 65 avatars who showed up for today’s NMC Campus Teachers Buzz Session.

We apologize for those who tried and could not get to our location…. there was some night before scrambling as we figured out the first spot we picked was in an area that would not take more than 20 avatars! This was reinforced as avatars came popping in by the bushel:

As hard as it is to track a fast and furious chat only discussion, we greatly appreciate the efforts of our guest Gudand Hao and the high energy discussions among our participants. A transcript of the session has been posted to our wiki.

The session started with individuals sharing their experience in digital storytelling (ranging from “lots”, “Just did a workshop on that”, to “Zero”). Gudand than started out with some background:

Just as a short intro, digital storytelling has two meanings– The first is a geeeral interest in new media and story that is both the issues of interactivity, and the ways the tools change communication in story. The other has come to be attached to a practice by our center in berkely that helps people produce small 2-3 minute personal films.

Gudand then continued to put his speculation on what form storytelling might take in Second Life:

I think in second life you could have media exchanges, as in sharing already created stories or you could have folks collaborate to create and perform stories here. My main interest is could you hold story circles here. Could you get people to reflect on a considered narrative and find a way to get intimate about the story? The issue for those folks who have taken our workshops is that we are trying to peel back layers of meaning and that I have believed requires reading body language as much as words and expressions. Can you do that in the virtual environment?

From here te discussion really took off, with threads on how expressions are generated in Second Life or how avatars present them, the almost therapeutic nature of the story process, stories shared of how people have found healing and support through groups in Second Life.

Participant Nethermind Bliss offered some interesting descriptions of the communication in Second Life, “As with most text chat online, there is metalanguage that we respond with, if we are ‘participants’ in the experience… I think the intimacy in SL is created first from the text, and underscored by the visual cues of avatars and a sense of ‘place.’”

This was followed by more discussion on the role of audio for communication in Second Life and the tools to create stories. Another form described by HVX Silverstar was “some third-party camera demos in SL where the camera-person takes video of themself… and has a talking animation.. close up.. it is very effective and would work well in a story.”

Khadijah Burali shared an experience:

On the night Saddam Hussein was executed, I went to the Reuters chatroom to see whether people would come there to talk about it. I had an extended conversation with a young Iranian grad student. He shared his memories of growing up in Iran during the Iran-Iraq war, and asked questions about Americans. We were able to talk to each other about things that are difficult to discuss in person.

There was a lot more exchange in the back channels, side channels, under channels etc. We heard that people have trouble following fast moving chat (many recommend opening the chat history window) and wished for more structure in the conversations. With a group this big, we had a challenge to keep it on the Buzz level of conversation (not lecture), and Gudand did a masterful job of making it interesting via the chat window. He offered this ideas and a suggestion for a metaphor:

I thiink the ideas of good storytelling, that is the ability to create empathy and emotional connnection is still a holy grail for interactive storytelling. Hypertext works made the issue of narrative closure abstract in the extreme, which was fine for postmodernists, but for most of us we enjoy the last kiss. I think there are models for interactive storytelling with emotional power.

Poetry may in fact be the best metaphor. In fact the idea of taking a little condensed snapshots of one’s learning, and one’s life is really at the heart of this process. It requires a great deal of work to condnese one’s ideas and to find the real connection to one’s own story, one’s own lived experience.

The conversations continued long after we ended the session, and we have plans for the next Buzz (February 19) to be a follow-up to this topic, and we’re willing to explore a small group discussion format. Gudand was also very pleased with the discussion, and we think we’ll see more of him and his colleague in our neighborhood.

See also:

• chat transcript
• Photos
• Audio interview with Gudand Hao (Jan 24, 2007)
• Center for Digital Storytelling
• BBC Wales Digital Storytelling Examples
• Random Story from NMC 2006 Summer Conference workshop on Digital Storytelling

Update: Blog mentions…

• Tell Me a Story (SLNN)

Story filed under: Teacher's Buzz, Teaching and Learning

See all stories by CDB Barkley (aka Alan Levine)