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Welcome to Digital Storytelling ds106 (CPSC 106)

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Hello and welcome to the online, Spring version of Digital Storytelling (CPSC 106). If you are receiving this email, it means you are currently enrolled to take this course in Spring 2024.

Please read this post in its entirety!

The purpose of this post is to orient you to how this course will be run, and to make you aware of the commitment that this course demands.

In short, you will be required to:

  • set up and manage your own web domain

  • create digital works in a variety of media

  • work collaboratively with your classmates on projects

  • narrate the process of all work – blogging several times per week

  • comment on classmates’ work – several times per week

  • do all of this on the open web

 

All of this work will require a significant commitment of time and effort, but it is easily manageable with good time management. Procrastinate at your peril.

This course is somewhat different from most online classes in that you will be required to narrate your process of learning over the course of the semester. You will be required to setup and manage your own domain and web hosting space (details forthcoming). We plan to experiment with various fediverse services, potentially including Mastodon, PeerTube, etc., so be prepared to create accounts there as well. Note that even though we are running this course on the open web, you are not required to expose any personal information there. Feel free to use a pseudonym if you want. You will be expected to regularly update your own web spaces where you will be installing, designing, and customizing your own site. More specifically, you will be asked to use these spaces to create digital narratives both individually and collaboratively over the course of the semester—so please be prepared to work together.

Also, it is very important to keep in mind that a lion’s share of the course work, and by extension your grade, will be focused around the regular updating of your own site as well as commenting on those of your classmates. We cannot stress strongly enough how essential both posting and commenting are to your success in this course.

Another issue that comes up again and again with this course is the time commitment. We will be creating a variety of narratives across a wide range of media, experimenting with everything from digital photography to digital audio to web video. These forms are often quite complicated and time consuming, and while the students who have taken this class in previous semesters enjoyed the process tremendously, they almost all noted it demands a significant amount of time. If you took this class as a 100-level filler and expect to get by with minimal work or engagement, you will quickly realize that it’s far more than that—and the dangerous part of the course is you will greatly enjoy the work. Don’t be seduced!

The main sites for the course are located at http://ds106.us and https://ds106.ai/. Please go there and take a look around to get a sense of the chaos. The syllabus is online in Canvas. If you have any questions let us know.

Something to keep in mind about that course site is that it may not only include the posts of students from UMW, but also from others beyond the boundaries of our school. ds106 may be taken by people from outside UMW as well as at UMW. Your work as a class will happen alongside other people with a wide experience and interests—some of whom have no association with UMW whatsoever. This serves as a microcosm of the web, we will not be working within a siloed learning management system for this class, rather we will be doing our business out on the open web.

This course is designed to get you to both think about and interact within the digital landscapes and networks that everywhere surround us. Narratives and storytelling provide the frame we need for exploring and experimenting with emerging forms of creative expression in the digital realm as well as means for interrogating the digital environments we are increasingly dependent upon. To this end you will be asked to steward your own website, and one of your first assignments will be to setup your own domain —and by extension your own digital identity.

Before the semester begins you will receive another missive with a link to instructions for getting your own web host, domain, and installing a couple of open source applications. You will also be expected to get accounts on some other sites (details forthcoming) as soon as possible. (Note: we think we all know there are problematic people on the web and on social media. While we haven’t had a problem with them in ds106 in the past, you are perfectly welcome to use pseudonyms for this course if you have privacy concerns.) Additionally, we will be explaining more specifically how this particular version of ds106 will work.

Finally, if you have significant issues with any of the above listed points—which we’re sure some of you do— feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] and/or [email protected].

Best regards,

Paul Bond and Jim Groom

“How… creative”

Earlier today Michael Branson Smith brought his Dr. Oblivion bot to life on the web. Cogdog had the doctor produce an ode to HTML:

Which was great. We had talked about having students submit their work to Dr. Oblivion for feedback, so here was an opportunity to try it out:

That little pause between how and creative is perfect. OK, but what more could I do with this? Well, I could find an open source backing track from bensound that sounded appropriate for beatnik poetry and put it all together:

Something tells me it will be an interesting semester.

Zine vs machine

I hadn’t paid much attention to zines until recently. The Gettin’ Air episode with Dr. Anne Pasek talked about a zine-based conference raised my interest, and then some criticisms of our library brochure led me to slap together to above zine thing.  Today I heard about the HTML Zine Club and thought it had possibilities.

I wonder if we might use this with ds106. There is a category for code assignments, but I’ve never done anything with it due to my ineptitude. It could also work under web assignments which I’ve given minimal attention. There is a primitiveness to the zine concept, a punk-rock anyone-can-do-it aesthetic, that suits a basic HTML page.

I was thinking it might work in AI106 as a rebel action – fight back against the machine by taking control of the inner workings, or something like that. It might be a Luddite move, or a way of infiltrating a Luddite group.
If we do it late in the semester it could be a way of bringing together previous work and creations in a low tech way, a handmade web page substituting for a handmade zine, presenting some sort of narrative. It’s something to think about

BOOM!

The good people at Metafilter introduced me to NEEDS MORE BOOM today, which will apparently script Bayhem into any movie scene. My first thought was to see what it would do with Nicholson’s “You can’t handle the truth” scene, which came out okay.

So what might it do with Radio Raheem?

The output is below. Not really what I expected. It somehow feels happier. I’m wondering how this might be used in AI106. Could this be built upon, illustrated and visualized? Sweded? Or made into an audio production?

The Love and Hate soliloquy scene with Radio Raheem in Do the Right Thing
directed by Michael Bay
INT. SAL’S PIZZERIA – NIGHT

The neon sign outside the pizzeria flickers, casting a menacing glow on RADIO RAHEEM’S face as he enters, wielding his BOOMBOX like a weapon.

Raheem’s music clashes with the rock ballad playing inside, causing an eerie dissonance. He’s a tower of a man, decked out in rings. A DRONE shot reveals two rings: one that reads “LOVE”, the other “HATE”.

RAHEEM
You see these? These are my rings.

Sal looks disinterested, wiping down the counter. Raheem turns up the volume on his boombox, causing the chandelier to vibrate.

RAHEEM (CONT’D)
This here is LOVE. And this…HATE.

Suddenly, a low angle shot shows the LOVE ring activate, glowing bright as it projects a holographic story. It’s a modern Romeo and Juliet tale, except with more explosions. Laughter, love, then tragedy.

RAHEEM (CONT’D)
Love always wins. Always.

Sal rolls his eyes. Raheem steps closer, the floor creaking under his weight. The HATE ring activates, projecting an equally explosive war scene filled with missiles and robots.

RAHEEM (CONT’D)
Hate is everywhere. But love? Love is stronger.

Suddenly, the Italian opera aria crescendos, and the ceiling fan spins out of control, then EXPLODES. Everyone ducks for cover.

Sal raises an eyebrow at Raheem, dusting plaster off his apron.

SAL
So what? You a philosopher now?

RAHEEM
Just speaking truth, Sal.

A close-up of the LOVE ring glowing, Raheem slams his fist on the counter. The BOOM causes the plates on the wall to quiver.

RAHEEM (CONT’D)
Love is a powerful thing.

Suddenly, the ground rumbles, and a CAR bursts through the wall, chased by a ROBOT DOG. The two tumble out into the street, causing a fantastic EXPLOSION.

Sal and Raheem look at each other, then back at the wall.

SAL
Well, that was unexpected.

As they walk outside to assess the damage, a small PIZZA BOX near the counter ticks ominously, followed by a tiny, yet impactful EXPLOSION, sending bits of cheese and tomato sauce flying.

FADE OUT.

“When a plan comes together”

The best part of co-teaching, the most fun, is seeing how different ideas come together. As we’re planning AI106, I get to see all the genius conceptions gel, and hopefully make more of my thoughts than I could on my own.

I had a couple ideas coming in. One I touched upon earlier comes from reading Sontag, and Sacasas as well. Storytelling is a fundamental human activity. It is necessary in that it is how we understand the world, and essential in that it is something we’re driven to do. While it may be possible for a tech app to string words together in the form of a story, any deep meaning in the story would come from the human reader rather than the machine generator. When I had ChatGPT create a story outline, it put forth something workable. But it was also too familiar, lacking in any twists or surprises. The output is like an averaging of storylines, squarely targeting mediocrity. I’m not sure how to work this idea into the run of the course, but it may fuel ongoing discussion.

In many iterations of ds106 students created characters that they used to interact with the course and build stories around. We have floated the idea that in AI106 their characters could be human or bots. My second idea borrows from role-playing games. We could have a list of character archtypes, like

  • Innovator  – interested in making new things, trying new things, open to risk and disdainful of guardrails
  • Regulator – interested in stability and security, approaches risk with great caution
  • Luddite – militantly values people over property and technology
  • Mad genius – feels entitled to rule the world by virtue of intellectual superiority
  • Documentarian – tracks the facts and tells their story
  • Technician – dedicated to making things work and keeping things running
  • Artist – sees all tech as paintbrushes and palettes, tools and media for self-expression
  • Evangelist – dedicated to spreading the good news and preaching the potential, disinterested in drawbacks
  • Philosopher – works to bring clarity to truth, meaning and ethics
  • Investor – feels entitled to rule the world by virtue of financial advantage

and have the students fit their characters into one. This could give the students some inspiration and direction, and sets the stage for interaction and plot development while giving the class a lot of latitude to determine where the story goes.

Perhaps in honor of Oblivion U I will bring an Oblivions set to ds106radio one of these days. The music may not be for everyone, but some of the attitude might suit the course.