As we are ready to hand in the Digital Story and the essay, it is the end of the module. In front of the piles of assignments need to be revised, I manage to spare some time, reflecting on the course.
Firstly, it reminds me to think critically when coming across new stuff, like websites, programmes, videos and etc. Sometimes people are blindly think everything new is great, otherwise it cannot replace the old. From the discussions in class, I have got the sensation that it is necessary to assess the tools and information critically, which does not mean that we are picky and mean, but we can really benefit a lot from the process and use them effectively.
Secondly, this module is quite practical. All we talked about in class and readings after class can be applied in real classroom. It is a guiding to some of our behaviours in the class. And most importantly, it made me realize my mistakes as a teacher before and I have got the answers on how to be a better one in the future. There are not only theories but how to put them into practice.
Thirdly, I guess it is a course not only influencing out work but life from now on. When seeing some new technology, we will think how we can judge it based on what we have learned; how to use it in teaching and real life; how to have fun with it... Our way of thinking will be different on certain issues. It is an opening-up, at least for me.
Fourthly, we did have a lively and friendly studying atmosphere in the past 12 weeks. As it is the first time that I take classes in a foreign country with very different teaching methods, frankly speaking I was quite nervous. While, from the very beginning I got encouraged by our professors and colleagues. I did feel comfortable there working with everyone in the classroom. And that is what I will try to achieve both as a student and a teacher in future.
One semester is gone and more to go. Good luck to everybody.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Take care,Google!
google.cn is gone and replaced by google.com.hk. Ironically I googled for some reports on this issue. The reasons are quite complicated and the consequences are not predicable, as nobody can say that Google is never coming back to mainland China.
Among all the research engine users, 30% were using Google and 70% were fans of Baidu, as I once mentioned in class there was always a debate and a competition in China between them. Some people say this makes Google lose its confidence in winning Baidu and decides to leave, however, when it first entered China, the percentage belonged to it was only 13% and there was still a steady growth. To me, different engines serve different searching purposes. If you want to search information in Chinese, definitely Google cannot help you much; while, if you key in English in Baidu, it's easy to get some nonsenses. Thus in China, where English still only belongs to the elites, Google may not be the choice of the majority.
Another reason might be the different laws and rules in America and China. The first values much on freedom and human rights while the latter may care more about morality and regulations. There is nothing right and wrong on the attitude and choice, because it is determined by history, culture and the country's situations. When there is some information against the China government on the issues of Taiwan and Tibet provided by Google, it is obviously challenging the rules of China as this government has very intensive examination on online information. China has the biggest population and the largest number of web users in the world and still there are a huge number of websites, which all need to be monitored, otherwise, it is going to be out of order. But some may say, why aren't there such rules in America? I would like to say, people's quality may speak. In China, most of the things are still developing including people themselves.
The third reason I can think of is the localization of Google in China. People of a certain country or group have the unique searching habit and Google does not serve the habit of most Chinese well. The inadequate Chinese information is one thing and another one is the page arrangement, as for Google, if you want to browse the next page on the list, you always need to go back to the main searching list but Baidu can project a new page and the one you finished looking at cannot be lost. I think most of us have had the experiences not being able to retrive the useful information we just read. And people in China usually open several pages to compare the contents. It is because of the using habit that Twitter, Facbook, Myspace and Skype can never gain such popularity as QQ (a chatting tool) in China.
The consequences for the withdrawal of Google from mainland China may not be that obvious just as its reasons, which include politics, economy, etc. There will be great influence on some users in China who have been used and addicted to Google, especially English learners. It takes some time for them to adjust and find the alternative. On the other hand, it might be good news for some others, like Baidu, Sougou and 163, who just lost a strong competitor.
Just like what we once said in the class that technology is not equally distributed, so is information. What do you think of this issue?
Among all the research engine users, 30% were using Google and 70% were fans of Baidu, as I once mentioned in class there was always a debate and a competition in China between them. Some people say this makes Google lose its confidence in winning Baidu and decides to leave, however, when it first entered China, the percentage belonged to it was only 13% and there was still a steady growth. To me, different engines serve different searching purposes. If you want to search information in Chinese, definitely Google cannot help you much; while, if you key in English in Baidu, it's easy to get some nonsenses. Thus in China, where English still only belongs to the elites, Google may not be the choice of the majority.
Another reason might be the different laws and rules in America and China. The first values much on freedom and human rights while the latter may care more about morality and regulations. There is nothing right and wrong on the attitude and choice, because it is determined by history, culture and the country's situations. When there is some information against the China government on the issues of Taiwan and Tibet provided by Google, it is obviously challenging the rules of China as this government has very intensive examination on online information. China has the biggest population and the largest number of web users in the world and still there are a huge number of websites, which all need to be monitored, otherwise, it is going to be out of order. But some may say, why aren't there such rules in America? I would like to say, people's quality may speak. In China, most of the things are still developing including people themselves.
The third reason I can think of is the localization of Google in China. People of a certain country or group have the unique searching habit and Google does not serve the habit of most Chinese well. The inadequate Chinese information is one thing and another one is the page arrangement, as for Google, if you want to browse the next page on the list, you always need to go back to the main searching list but Baidu can project a new page and the one you finished looking at cannot be lost. I think most of us have had the experiences not being able to retrive the useful information we just read. And people in China usually open several pages to compare the contents. It is because of the using habit that Twitter, Facbook, Myspace and Skype can never gain such popularity as QQ (a chatting tool) in China.
The consequences for the withdrawal of Google from mainland China may not be that obvious just as its reasons, which include politics, economy, etc. There will be great influence on some users in China who have been used and addicted to Google, especially English learners. It takes some time for them to adjust and find the alternative. On the other hand, it might be good news for some others, like Baidu, Sougou and 163, who just lost a strong competitor.
Just like what we once said in the class that technology is not equally distributed, so is information. What do you think of this issue?
Friday, March 26, 2010
Self-assessment in Language Learning
Language learning is a complex process involving many different learning strategies and after finishing reading chapter 7 of Task Design, Implementation and Assessment written by Dr. Towndrow, I suddenly realized that self-assessment is a marvellous way of learning.
Simply finishing the task and waiting to be evaluated is a passive way of learning and sometimes the students do not care about the feedback from the teachers, whether it is good or bad, which part needs to be improved, which modality is not appropriate, etc. However, if the students are made to evaluate their own work, they have much more work to do. First, they need to fully understand the rubric, both the experiential and implied meanings. And then the rules of judgement should be applied to their work, which requires students to make correct judgement on their own work. It is a higher level of knowledge application, as "there needs to be a balance between description (what the student has done) and the critique and reflection." (Towndrow, 2007) It is not easy for students to realize the mistakes and problems in their own work and admit with no bias. Finally, they need to report the result of their self-assessment, either in written or oral forms, which can help practice writing or oral expression.
In my past teaching experience, I haven't adopted any self-evaluation strategy but peer-assess, assuming that students are not capable or willing to find their own mistakes. Well, if the rubrics and instructions are well designed, it's a great opportunity for students to benefit in a different way.
Simply finishing the task and waiting to be evaluated is a passive way of learning and sometimes the students do not care about the feedback from the teachers, whether it is good or bad, which part needs to be improved, which modality is not appropriate, etc. However, if the students are made to evaluate their own work, they have much more work to do. First, they need to fully understand the rubric, both the experiential and implied meanings. And then the rules of judgement should be applied to their work, which requires students to make correct judgement on their own work. It is a higher level of knowledge application, as "there needs to be a balance between description (what the student has done) and the critique and reflection." (Towndrow, 2007) It is not easy for students to realize the mistakes and problems in their own work and admit with no bias. Finally, they need to report the result of their self-assessment, either in written or oral forms, which can help practice writing or oral expression.
In my past teaching experience, I haven't adopted any self-evaluation strategy but peer-assess, assuming that students are not capable or willing to find their own mistakes. Well, if the rubrics and instructions are well designed, it's a great opportunity for students to benefit in a different way.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Dear all,
The draft ideas of my DST project are as follows and I am looking forward to your great opinions on it.
1. Genre and purposes
It is going to be a narrative, achieving two purposes: a) the struggling identity as a half-blooded child of two nationalities in one country; b) a tribute to my mom, a common but great Mongolian woman.
The nationality on my IC in China is Mongolian, however, my father is a Chinese Han and my mother was a Mongolian. The right to be educated in Mongolian was deprived by my father since I was born, as a result I could not speak a single Mongolian word, even though my mom and dad were both able to do so. But sometimes my brother and I were not very welcomed when we were young by cousins from my dad's side, because we were Mongolian, which I was kind of shamed of. However, gradually I realized it's so great to be a Mongolian and my father began to emphasis the good features of Mongolian people that I should learn, especially after my mom passed away from cancer. After reading books about the history, culture and people of the Mongolian ethnic group, I became very proud of being a Mongolian, however, I was shamed again, of not being a real one, who cannot speak the language at all. I have been struggled on my identity a lot.
2. Selection of multimodal artifact
There will be a Mongolian song as the background from the very beginning to the end of the story, which will "cast a mood" of the whole story as Hull and Nelson pointed out in their paper. And Mongolian songs are very typical to bring the views of the grassland and people's lives on it.
The images I will employ will be all still images that I took before and some pictures illustrating cultures, food, scenery downloaded from the Internet.
Narration will apply to relate the images to my own experiences.
However, I am still in the midst to figure out how I am going to pair the images and narration, as the images I have on hand cannot fully express all the meanings of the narration.
3. Arrangement of the DST
a) Title
The title is PROUD of Being a Mongolian, which indicates my attitude of being a minority. Color and font will be blue and white as the sky of my hometown, but I will see if it is going to work well with the rest images.
b) Narration
As introduced by Hull and Nelson that the essential parts of a narration include orientation, abstract and a coda, raised by Labov (1997). In my DST, the orientation will be short with 2 sentences, telling the viewers that who I am. The abstract will bring the issue of my struggling identity. The body part will be focused on my experiences and changes from being afraid of admitting of being a Mongolian to being proud of it. The DST will end to emphasis why I am now proud of my nationality, partially due to my mom.
4. Limitations
a). As the story will mention a lot of my past experiences and my mom, it's hard for me to source enough pictures. We did not manage to keep pictures as we moved a lot and my mom died at a young age. Thus the images I have may not go well with the narration.
b). The song I chose is more than 4 minutes long, however, I plan the story should go around 3 minutes. I will try to cut the song shorter, but worrying the effects after that.
5. The deeper meaning of the DST
Even racial problem is never that serious in China, still minorities face challenges of being assimilated by the dominant Han people. I am a typical example. But how many people in China can realize the seriousness of losing the unique features of the minorities. And the Han people can never understand why some ethnic groups are so against the nationalization, in the name of helping us to be civilized. Deep in our heart, we just want to live a life belonging to us. However, that fact is minority groups are so weak in China nearly in every aspect and that's why Tibetan people are struggling. I am not going to address the issue explicitly, but hopefully it may arouse a little bit sensation on that.
The draft ideas of my DST project are as follows and I am looking forward to your great opinions on it.
1. Genre and purposes
It is going to be a narrative, achieving two purposes: a) the struggling identity as a half-blooded child of two nationalities in one country; b) a tribute to my mom, a common but great Mongolian woman.
The nationality on my IC in China is Mongolian, however, my father is a Chinese Han and my mother was a Mongolian. The right to be educated in Mongolian was deprived by my father since I was born, as a result I could not speak a single Mongolian word, even though my mom and dad were both able to do so. But sometimes my brother and I were not very welcomed when we were young by cousins from my dad's side, because we were Mongolian, which I was kind of shamed of. However, gradually I realized it's so great to be a Mongolian and my father began to emphasis the good features of Mongolian people that I should learn, especially after my mom passed away from cancer. After reading books about the history, culture and people of the Mongolian ethnic group, I became very proud of being a Mongolian, however, I was shamed again, of not being a real one, who cannot speak the language at all. I have been struggled on my identity a lot.
2. Selection of multimodal artifact
There will be a Mongolian song as the background from the very beginning to the end of the story, which will "cast a mood" of the whole story as Hull and Nelson pointed out in their paper. And Mongolian songs are very typical to bring the views of the grassland and people's lives on it.
The images I will employ will be all still images that I took before and some pictures illustrating cultures, food, scenery downloaded from the Internet.
Narration will apply to relate the images to my own experiences.
However, I am still in the midst to figure out how I am going to pair the images and narration, as the images I have on hand cannot fully express all the meanings of the narration.
3. Arrangement of the DST
a) Title
The title is PROUD of Being a Mongolian, which indicates my attitude of being a minority. Color and font will be blue and white as the sky of my hometown, but I will see if it is going to work well with the rest images.
b) Narration
As introduced by Hull and Nelson that the essential parts of a narration include orientation, abstract and a coda, raised by Labov (1997). In my DST, the orientation will be short with 2 sentences, telling the viewers that who I am. The abstract will bring the issue of my struggling identity. The body part will be focused on my experiences and changes from being afraid of admitting of being a Mongolian to being proud of it. The DST will end to emphasis why I am now proud of my nationality, partially due to my mom.
4. Limitations
a). As the story will mention a lot of my past experiences and my mom, it's hard for me to source enough pictures. We did not manage to keep pictures as we moved a lot and my mom died at a young age. Thus the images I have may not go well with the narration.
b). The song I chose is more than 4 minutes long, however, I plan the story should go around 3 minutes. I will try to cut the song shorter, but worrying the effects after that.
5. The deeper meaning of the DST
Even racial problem is never that serious in China, still minorities face challenges of being assimilated by the dominant Han people. I am a typical example. But how many people in China can realize the seriousness of losing the unique features of the minorities. And the Han people can never understand why some ethnic groups are so against the nationalization, in the name of helping us to be civilized. Deep in our heart, we just want to live a life belonging to us. However, that fact is minority groups are so weak in China nearly in every aspect and that's why Tibetan people are struggling. I am not going to address the issue explicitly, but hopefully it may arouse a little bit sensation on that.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
What Have We learned from Creating the Storytelling?
We are in the midst preparing for our own digital storytelling, in the hope of popularizing it to our students. Thus in order to answer the questions like what do students need to learn; how do students learn with it and how to lead students motivation for academically rigorous work, we need to ask these questions to ourselves first. What have we learned from the process?
Even thought it's the first time for some of us to touch on the Movie Maker, I don't think it's the biggest problem because as far as it is about technology, there should be ways to solve the problems. On the other hand, I believe, most of us did spend some time on thinking what we were going to tell, what types of modality we would employ and how we would arrange them, when starting to think about it without worrying anything about how to use the Movie Maker. Technology is easy to be taught but thinking depends on our own experience and the understanding of other matters.
After the theme has been fixed, it's time to get the sources, which is easy as when we want to talk about a specific story, we should have been familiar with it. However, how to put them together is another story. The still images, the videos, the music, the narration and etc. should match in a coherent way. And among them, narration needs more efforts.
Thus from the process, we actually focus much on thinking and writing, but not the technology, and so do our students. What/ how to tell the story; modalities and transitions and writing of the narration and the explanation essay are what we as well as our students need to learn.
In the new digital classroom, we need to lead the students look beyond the technology to the essence of task, like what Dr. Towndrow mentioned in class, "where should we start?" For the DN students, technology is not a problem and once they master it, they will gradually lose the interest. So from the very beginning, we cannot seduce students with the technology, showing them the sound effects and the magic of the multiliteracies, which are too artificial. To let them understand the real meaning and importance is more attractive and abiding. Focus on meaning is the motivity and the form is just chosen as a tool to express the meaning.
Motivation varies from individual and individual and from time to time. However, motivation is a key factor in nearly any learning process. Some kids get motivated to avoid punishment; some are motivated because of a hope. While an inspiring teacher can still make students motivated. Students don't use computer for academic work sometimes due to the habit. They haven't got enough chances in doing so and they may not know that computers can be used in that way. So some in-class activities could be planned to get computers involved and some tests could be based on computers too. If the computer use is embedded in study itself, the major function of computers to students will not be having fun but learning. They will get used to studying with it and be highly motivated to use computers for academic purposes as computers have been a part of study. Just as nowadays computers have been an essential part at workplaces and a huge number of people claim that they cannot work without computers.
The digital storytelling project is just a start for us to think about the usage of multiliteracy in education, both in class and after class. And if learning can happen in different ways, why not?
Even thought it's the first time for some of us to touch on the Movie Maker, I don't think it's the biggest problem because as far as it is about technology, there should be ways to solve the problems. On the other hand, I believe, most of us did spend some time on thinking what we were going to tell, what types of modality we would employ and how we would arrange them, when starting to think about it without worrying anything about how to use the Movie Maker. Technology is easy to be taught but thinking depends on our own experience and the understanding of other matters.
After the theme has been fixed, it's time to get the sources, which is easy as when we want to talk about a specific story, we should have been familiar with it. However, how to put them together is another story. The still images, the videos, the music, the narration and etc. should match in a coherent way. And among them, narration needs more efforts.
Thus from the process, we actually focus much on thinking and writing, but not the technology, and so do our students. What/ how to tell the story; modalities and transitions and writing of the narration and the explanation essay are what we as well as our students need to learn.
In the new digital classroom, we need to lead the students look beyond the technology to the essence of task, like what Dr. Towndrow mentioned in class, "where should we start?" For the DN students, technology is not a problem and once they master it, they will gradually lose the interest. So from the very beginning, we cannot seduce students with the technology, showing them the sound effects and the magic of the multiliteracies, which are too artificial. To let them understand the real meaning and importance is more attractive and abiding. Focus on meaning is the motivity and the form is just chosen as a tool to express the meaning.
Motivation varies from individual and individual and from time to time. However, motivation is a key factor in nearly any learning process. Some kids get motivated to avoid punishment; some are motivated because of a hope. While an inspiring teacher can still make students motivated. Students don't use computer for academic work sometimes due to the habit. They haven't got enough chances in doing so and they may not know that computers can be used in that way. So some in-class activities could be planned to get computers involved and some tests could be based on computers too. If the computer use is embedded in study itself, the major function of computers to students will not be having fun but learning. They will get used to studying with it and be highly motivated to use computers for academic purposes as computers have been a part of study. Just as nowadays computers have been an essential part at workplaces and a huge number of people claim that they cannot work without computers.
The digital storytelling project is just a start for us to think about the usage of multiliteracy in education, both in class and after class. And if learning can happen in different ways, why not?
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Playing Video Games
I always believe firmly that playing video games is a waste of time, which maybe is not supposed to be the idea of modern relatively young people, as it is the same as the grandfather in the article. However, I think in this way because of my nephew,who has been addicted to some shooting game called CS and at the same time, he is doing very poorly in his study, which is blamed on the game he is playing. I am going to translate this blog into Chinese and send it to my cousin and hopefully it can make him feel a little bit better and change his attitude to video games and his son
Several ideas have been picked up from the article, Semiotic Domains: Is Playing Video Games A "Waste of Time", that I personally think need to be highlighted as follows.
1. Video game is a new LITERACY.
The meaning of literacy has been changed greatly since there are more artifacts that can convey meanings nowadays apart from words. However, because of the traditional understanding of learning, people deny that texts fall into different genres including video games.
2. Passive, active and critical learning
Most of the knowledge that children have learned from school is considered from passive learning, as the main purpose of the study is for passing exams without knowing the real meaning or how to apply the knowledge learned. Active learning is learning to experience the world in a new way, to affiliate with people and prepare for future learning. While critical learning refers to "how to think about the domain at a meta level as a complex system of interrelated parts". That requires the learners to know how to locate meanings of multimodality in various domains and learn both internally and externally.
3. How to learn from video games?
Not all the video games are helpful to learning because it's determined by the internal design of the game and the people around the leaner. Not all video game playing is considered learning as we need to see if the learner is engaged actively and critically.
From the above summary, we may need to think as educators or parents what kind of attitude we should keep toward video games. Definitely we cannot shout the children away from the video games, which will rouse the negative mentality to your instructions.
The selection of video games is the first step, as the internal design of games matters a lot on learning. I was once recommended a computer game called "big fish eats small fish", but I just played it twice, because for the second time, I was able to pass all the levels. It was too easy. The game is to test how quick you click your mouse without any mental activities. So we should guide the children to play those games with potentials for active and critical learning. I have seen some good games which allow you to form a group, to choose weapons, to have different theurgies, to travel extensively with different vehicles, to fight with another party, to chat online with the team members on the strategies, etc. I once tried to learn it, in vain, but my nephew has mastered it quite well. It's really complicated. And I guess it is the sort of game that can help with critical leanings.
The guide to the children is vital too when they are playing games. Sometimes they keep on playing because they want to come to the next level, then they can possess a better gun or something. But in this process, they cannot realize what they can learn from it, like experiencing the world in a new way and collaborating with people. The adults should make it more explicit to make them realize that they are actually using very good strategies solving problems and how they could adapt the same way in studying.
Time limitation to the games is another important issue. Video games could be a way of learning but it's not enough. Thus children cannot spend too much time on it without enough time on school study.
This article provides another way for us to consider games, learning and to some other matters in daily life.
Several ideas have been picked up from the article, Semiotic Domains: Is Playing Video Games A "Waste of Time", that I personally think need to be highlighted as follows.
1. Video game is a new LITERACY.
The meaning of literacy has been changed greatly since there are more artifacts that can convey meanings nowadays apart from words. However, because of the traditional understanding of learning, people deny that texts fall into different genres including video games.
2. Passive, active and critical learning
Most of the knowledge that children have learned from school is considered from passive learning, as the main purpose of the study is for passing exams without knowing the real meaning or how to apply the knowledge learned. Active learning is learning to experience the world in a new way, to affiliate with people and prepare for future learning. While critical learning refers to "how to think about the domain at a meta level as a complex system of interrelated parts". That requires the learners to know how to locate meanings of multimodality in various domains and learn both internally and externally.
3. How to learn from video games?
Not all the video games are helpful to learning because it's determined by the internal design of the game and the people around the leaner. Not all video game playing is considered learning as we need to see if the learner is engaged actively and critically.
From the above summary, we may need to think as educators or parents what kind of attitude we should keep toward video games. Definitely we cannot shout the children away from the video games, which will rouse the negative mentality to your instructions.
The selection of video games is the first step, as the internal design of games matters a lot on learning. I was once recommended a computer game called "big fish eats small fish", but I just played it twice, because for the second time, I was able to pass all the levels. It was too easy. The game is to test how quick you click your mouse without any mental activities. So we should guide the children to play those games with potentials for active and critical learning. I have seen some good games which allow you to form a group, to choose weapons, to have different theurgies, to travel extensively with different vehicles, to fight with another party, to chat online with the team members on the strategies, etc. I once tried to learn it, in vain, but my nephew has mastered it quite well. It's really complicated. And I guess it is the sort of game that can help with critical leanings.
The guide to the children is vital too when they are playing games. Sometimes they keep on playing because they want to come to the next level, then they can possess a better gun or something. But in this process, they cannot realize what they can learn from it, like experiencing the world in a new way and collaborating with people. The adults should make it more explicit to make them realize that they are actually using very good strategies solving problems and how they could adapt the same way in studying.
Time limitation to the games is another important issue. Video games could be a way of learning but it's not enough. Thus children cannot spend too much time on it without enough time on school study.
This article provides another way for us to consider games, learning and to some other matters in daily life.
What’s So Good about the Digital Storytelling?
Picture 1 Picture 2 Picture 3 Digital Storytelling had gained more attention in recent years as people begin to realize its narrative power in visual effects. As stated in “Semiotic Domains: Is Playing Video Games a Waste of Time?” that “…words and images of various sorts are juxtaposed and integrated in a various ways” and “in the modern world, language is not the only important communicational system.” (J Gee, 13) That is to say, ideas and meanings are conveyed in various ways nowadays. And various multimodality can work together, thus sometimes the weakness of stories can be strengthened by technologies.
Introduction
I Think of You is told by a mother named Ann Guido, whose son enlisted himself in the army service. The URL is http://www.storycenter.org/stories/index.php?cat=4 . Through this 2’37’’ video clip, the mom expresses her missing of her son, by presenting only 17 pictures, which means every picture stays a relatively longer time. There is a soft song, serving as the background music and the mom talks from the beginning to the end, just like speaking to her son directly, to tell him how the family miss him. Among the 17 images, six were taken during his army service, eight were from his childhood and the other three are a picture of his sister, a handrail on the stairs and a piece of torn newspaper without repetition. No video clips, other sound effects or even written words are employed by Ann; however, she successfully integrates the music, her own voice and pictures to make them a touching story.
The theme of the video is quite simple, the relation of an oldest with his mom. However, it may easily rouse response to the other moms whose sons are away from home for various reasons and to the boys who miss their moms too. I am touched by Ann’s voice and some of the pictures she presents. She does not cry or even show a sweeping voice, but she just talks in a kindly and smooth fashion with the even pace. The images touch me because they show a strong contrast between the son as a kid and as a solder. He was a very cute boy, playing by himself with fun, and we can predict a happy childhood; however, he is such a grown up man with a huge gun on his shoulder and some dirt or mask on his face. I don’t think he is as happy as he was young and maybe his mom feels in the same way.
The best part of a digital storytelling is that through the images, words, sounds, videos, meanings are conveyed to achieve communication purposes. The modalities used should be served to help viewers better understand the story, to make up what traditional storytelling cannot do. This piece is a good example. Sometimes we may see some video clips for a couple of times without managing to get what it is about, like some commercial ads, even though the pictures and sound effects are very attracting. I am going to analyze the video in terms of how the semiotic patterns relate to each other and their functions; how the images help the narration to present a clearer meaning; and how the generic structure of Narrative are defined.
The title---I Think of You
I kept thinking why Ann did not title her story I Miss You but I Think of You. The purpose of the video is to express her missing and worrying of her son, so I Miss You would be considered as a much more proper title, however, after a second though, I guess I Think of You shows more meanings. Missing is an abstract emotional feeling but thinking of shows the mom cares his son regarding his life as a solder, which means she does think a lot about him and it’s much deeper.
The title (picture 1)stayed on the screen for five seconds with a black ground, which shows the mood when Ann thinks of her son, being worried and maybe gloomy. The title is placed at the bottom of the screen as the “thinking of” is from the base of her heart. The size of the words are not very big and not all the words are bold and capitalized like I THINK OF YOU, because moms always think it is natural to do so and there is not necessary to make it in this way as to manifest to the world that I think of my own son. If it is a story told by a girl about the relation with her boyfriend, I guess I MISS YOU will be used.
The orientation
According to Masamichi Washitake “Orientation in a narration serves to create a context for understanding what is to flow in the subsequent stages of the genre and orient the reader to what is to follow.” (2004:176) The orientation of this story is presented by the first picture and two sentences starting with: “I think of you”. The first image show three solders sitting on the ground and with the narration goes on, one of them (the son) is zoomed and the image becomes bigger. I have the feeling that the mom is talking to her son directly to say “I miss you and I cannot stand it”.
The complication
The mom tells the thoughts from the families like his sister, his father and from the mom herself. The images change when she refers to different people and that determines how long the picture stays. For the 12 seconds his sister picture is shown, the intimate relation between a brother and a sister is revealed. “Your sister can only sleep with you under her pillow. She begs for your protection and a little whispers, hopes that you bring no bones.” The smiling picture of his sister helps us to image how much the little girl relies on her elder brother.
Two images are used when his father is mentioned. One is from the barrack and the other of his childhood. We may predict that his father always worries of his life as a solder and that relates to the time when he was at home, especially when he was young. This is the first time that his childhood picture is shown, and he is smiling; on the other hand, on the previous pictures taken with military uniform and gun, he looks serious. Maybe that’s why his dad said “he invaded his blank sleep”.
When talking about his leaving, the mom employs a picture of steel handrail on the stairs to illustrate “how hard that might be”, because it’s hard for a mom to accept the fact that her boy is going to the army and she prefers to think he has gone for an entrance ceremony. So the picture had a double meaning, being hard to accept the truth as a mom and his hard life as a solder.
Two pictures of the mom and son together present their past happy life with another two solo pictures (Picture 2 & 3), one with a gun and the other with a mask. The eyes show his gallantry and also his wish to return home.
The torn newspaper is the other no hominine image. The newspaper is about the army for which he is serving. We may see that how unwilling his mom was when he left for the service. And she could have been the one who tear the papers.
The coda
The story ends with two childhood pictures which response to the lyrics: “I simply cannot get you out of my mind.” The little boy looks at the distance on the last image, while he may not predict that his future belongs to the brigade. Her mom relates this picture to his life in the marines as “the aims without wisdom; fairs without thinking”.
Conclusion
The pictures of a happy child may not go along well with the image of a solder, if no relevant information is provided. However, this story sounds so natural and the contrast of the images helps us to better understand the inner struggle of the author. If we simply listen to a narration without music and pictures, we may not get the deep meaning of it, and the narrator may need to explain something out of the story. While when we put the modalities together, we can understand more by presented images only or words only. That is the power of narration with image effects.
Another feature of this piece is that all the pictures are black and white, which may reflect the mood of the mom and the life as a solder, which are both grey. There are certain times the image of the solder son is enlarged and zoomed to the face. I guess that explains the mom really wants to see her son and talk to him face to face.
Limitations
The background music to me does not contribute more to the effect of the whole story, maybe because it is too weak and plain without many high tones. Actually the narration and images together are clear enough for meaning. Thus personally I think it would be better if the music can help more with the meaning convey.
Another thing is the pairing with the narration and pictures. Sometimes the pictures stay longer than necessary. For example, the story has already changed to his father’s side, while the sister’s picture still stays for another three more seconds. (33-36’’) That could be improved to be more precise.
Introduction
I Think of You is told by a mother named Ann Guido, whose son enlisted himself in the army service. The URL is http://www.storycenter.org/stories/index.php?cat=4 . Through this 2’37’’ video clip, the mom expresses her missing of her son, by presenting only 17 pictures, which means every picture stays a relatively longer time. There is a soft song, serving as the background music and the mom talks from the beginning to the end, just like speaking to her son directly, to tell him how the family miss him. Among the 17 images, six were taken during his army service, eight were from his childhood and the other three are a picture of his sister, a handrail on the stairs and a piece of torn newspaper without repetition. No video clips, other sound effects or even written words are employed by Ann; however, she successfully integrates the music, her own voice and pictures to make them a touching story.
The theme of the video is quite simple, the relation of an oldest with his mom. However, it may easily rouse response to the other moms whose sons are away from home for various reasons and to the boys who miss their moms too. I am touched by Ann’s voice and some of the pictures she presents. She does not cry or even show a sweeping voice, but she just talks in a kindly and smooth fashion with the even pace. The images touch me because they show a strong contrast between the son as a kid and as a solder. He was a very cute boy, playing by himself with fun, and we can predict a happy childhood; however, he is such a grown up man with a huge gun on his shoulder and some dirt or mask on his face. I don’t think he is as happy as he was young and maybe his mom feels in the same way.
The best part of a digital storytelling is that through the images, words, sounds, videos, meanings are conveyed to achieve communication purposes. The modalities used should be served to help viewers better understand the story, to make up what traditional storytelling cannot do. This piece is a good example. Sometimes we may see some video clips for a couple of times without managing to get what it is about, like some commercial ads, even though the pictures and sound effects are very attracting. I am going to analyze the video in terms of how the semiotic patterns relate to each other and their functions; how the images help the narration to present a clearer meaning; and how the generic structure of Narrative are defined.
The title---I Think of You
I kept thinking why Ann did not title her story I Miss You but I Think of You. The purpose of the video is to express her missing and worrying of her son, so I Miss You would be considered as a much more proper title, however, after a second though, I guess I Think of You shows more meanings. Missing is an abstract emotional feeling but thinking of shows the mom cares his son regarding his life as a solder, which means she does think a lot about him and it’s much deeper.
The title (picture 1)stayed on the screen for five seconds with a black ground, which shows the mood when Ann thinks of her son, being worried and maybe gloomy. The title is placed at the bottom of the screen as the “thinking of” is from the base of her heart. The size of the words are not very big and not all the words are bold and capitalized like I THINK OF YOU, because moms always think it is natural to do so and there is not necessary to make it in this way as to manifest to the world that I think of my own son. If it is a story told by a girl about the relation with her boyfriend, I guess I MISS YOU will be used.
The orientation
According to Masamichi Washitake “Orientation in a narration serves to create a context for understanding what is to flow in the subsequent stages of the genre and orient the reader to what is to follow.” (2004:176) The orientation of this story is presented by the first picture and two sentences starting with: “I think of you”. The first image show three solders sitting on the ground and with the narration goes on, one of them (the son) is zoomed and the image becomes bigger. I have the feeling that the mom is talking to her son directly to say “I miss you and I cannot stand it”.
The complication
The mom tells the thoughts from the families like his sister, his father and from the mom herself. The images change when she refers to different people and that determines how long the picture stays. For the 12 seconds his sister picture is shown, the intimate relation between a brother and a sister is revealed. “Your sister can only sleep with you under her pillow. She begs for your protection and a little whispers, hopes that you bring no bones.” The smiling picture of his sister helps us to image how much the little girl relies on her elder brother.
Two images are used when his father is mentioned. One is from the barrack and the other of his childhood. We may predict that his father always worries of his life as a solder and that relates to the time when he was at home, especially when he was young. This is the first time that his childhood picture is shown, and he is smiling; on the other hand, on the previous pictures taken with military uniform and gun, he looks serious. Maybe that’s why his dad said “he invaded his blank sleep”.
When talking about his leaving, the mom employs a picture of steel handrail on the stairs to illustrate “how hard that might be”, because it’s hard for a mom to accept the fact that her boy is going to the army and she prefers to think he has gone for an entrance ceremony. So the picture had a double meaning, being hard to accept the truth as a mom and his hard life as a solder.
Two pictures of the mom and son together present their past happy life with another two solo pictures (Picture 2 & 3), one with a gun and the other with a mask. The eyes show his gallantry and also his wish to return home.
The torn newspaper is the other no hominine image. The newspaper is about the army for which he is serving. We may see that how unwilling his mom was when he left for the service. And she could have been the one who tear the papers.
The coda
The story ends with two childhood pictures which response to the lyrics: “I simply cannot get you out of my mind.” The little boy looks at the distance on the last image, while he may not predict that his future belongs to the brigade. Her mom relates this picture to his life in the marines as “the aims without wisdom; fairs without thinking”.
Conclusion
The pictures of a happy child may not go along well with the image of a solder, if no relevant information is provided. However, this story sounds so natural and the contrast of the images helps us to better understand the inner struggle of the author. If we simply listen to a narration without music and pictures, we may not get the deep meaning of it, and the narrator may need to explain something out of the story. While when we put the modalities together, we can understand more by presented images only or words only. That is the power of narration with image effects.
Another feature of this piece is that all the pictures are black and white, which may reflect the mood of the mom and the life as a solder, which are both grey. There are certain times the image of the solder son is enlarged and zoomed to the face. I guess that explains the mom really wants to see her son and talk to him face to face.
Limitations
The background music to me does not contribute more to the effect of the whole story, maybe because it is too weak and plain without many high tones. Actually the narration and images together are clear enough for meaning. Thus personally I think it would be better if the music can help more with the meaning convey.
Another thing is the pairing with the narration and pictures. Sometimes the pictures stay longer than necessary. For example, the story has already changed to his father’s side, while the sister’s picture still stays for another three more seconds. (33-36’’) That could be improved to be more precise.
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