It's a sad day in social media land with the aquital of Lori Drew

Yesterday, Lori Drew was aquitted of three counts in the case of Megan Meiers. For those who don't remember, Megan was a 13-year-old girl who was dupped into "friending" an ex-friend's mom (actually posing as Josh). Megan had confidence issues like most young teenagers, was clinically depressed and taking medication but was working through her issues and excited about this new relationship with Josh. Josh was new to the area, and seemed to connect with Megan on so many issues. Megan wanted to meet Josh, talk to Josh, or just do something with Josh. It never happenned. Why? Because Josh was not real, and simply a ploy for Lori to check in on Megan and make sure that she wasn't saying mean things about her daughter.

Things got out of control, and Lori didn't know how to end the fake relationship with Josh, so she started saying mean things to Megan. Guess what? That also got carried away as she used mean words to break the relationship and encourage Megan to "go away" forever. Megan did as she committed suicide. Two plus years later and the courts have ruled to aquit Lori Drew of the crime of breaching a service agreement. Perhaps the prosecuted the wrong thing. Perhaps we'll never know the truth. It's a sad day in social media land.

Words Matter...Take two. . .

Play video -- Words Matter.

This is the second version of the video "Words Matter," presented through YouTube. By cleaning up some of the images, adding transitions, and adjusting the video so that it does a better job of presenting the problem, and then the solution, the video plays more smoothly and does a much better job of presenting the story. 

Take II, take III, take IV. . .

The process of digital storytelling is more complicated than we are willing to admit. Before we had easy access to good tools such as cameras, editing software, and mediums to share our stories, the barriers to entry were significant and eliminated most. Today, these tools along with generational learning and changes enables an "ease of use and access" that gives almost anyone an opportunity to share their story.

The question is. . . will this create better stories, or enable more bad stories to enter the marketplace?

Reflection for Words Matter.

Words Matter

There was a childhood phrase growing up that I never fully understood. "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." I'm not sure where it came from, but the older I get, the more I realize that it's not true, and that words do matter, and can hurt much worse, and much longer than physical pain.

This story is about an interaction between my son and I, and demonstrates that many times learning is modeled from both parties.  

O' -- a kidnapped audience member, water, fire and engagement

I had the remarkable opportunity this past week to go to Vegas for the BEA/NAB convention as a part of a panel discussion on the ethics of social media. Our Fielding team discussed aspects of social media tied to engagement and use, as well as how ethical issues and opportunities are changing the way that we use technology to construct meaning. 

One evening, my wife and I were able to slip away from the conference and attend the Cirque de Solie show O'. It was riviting. It was non-stop. It was unpredictable. It was amazing. It was an hour and a half of non-stop narrative that included multiple stories -- some developed, some not, against the backdrop of a stage and theatre crafted specifically for the show. And then to have a live music and voices to add depth and character. The experience was overwhelming.

As I walked away from the show with my wife that night, I began to think through what caused me to think so differently, and become so engaged in this show. Below are a few thoughts that rose to the surface.

1. My presupposition was set based on the variety of material that I have been subject to, both through promotions and through word-of-mouth. Could the show really be that good? Could my expectations be met?

A. Ten minutes before the show began, two clowns, one with a duckie, and one with a rubber water raft wondered out into the crowd, and began interacting with them. They would take things, and redistribute them. They would have people stand up, then sit down, then stand up, then sit down. Occasionally they would squirt water at certain members. It  was funny, and began to reset my expectations. The activities brought the audience together, and let us quickly reframe our mind and spirit so that we were cleared of the daily baggage and clutter. 

At five minutes prior, a single clown made his way to the front of the stage and began to encourage clapping -- first fast, then slow, then loud and then soft.  As this was going on, several other Cirque members appeared, walking toward the lower middle section. A young Japanese man was heading to his seat when he was approached by a group of Cirque members. They took his drink and popcorn, and then handed him a red scarf. He tried to push back, but they insisted that he follow them to the stage. A bit concerned, and obviously nervous -- he tentatively wandered up to the stage, in front of the giant red curtain. The clown disappeared and the young audience member was standing in the middle of the stage, wondering what was next. A certain level of uneasyness was felt throughout the audience when an arm, reached out and began motioning for this person to come close to the center break in the curtain. The scarf, and then audience member was grabbed and pulled behind the curtain and then reappeared with a clown now standing next to him. He was holding a piece of paper. A cordless mic was handed to him, and he began to read a number of statements -- "Welcome to this performance by Cirque de Solei of "O." Please refrain from smoking. . . . and so forth and so on." In addition to helping the audience get rid of our stuff, I was a bit uneasy and vulnerable as the past ten minutes included a much higher level of audience participation that I perceived. Nonetheless, I was  fully engaged and ready for the unexpected. 

2. The theatre, and it's arrangement was set for the best possible audience experience, from any place in the theatre. It was clearly designed with two things in mind, first an important experience for the audience and second, the opportunity for the cast to use every aspect of the theatre to present their story, and show. Again,  this was very unique to the way in which we've been accustomed to watching movies, shows, and other experiences. 

A delayed post from March 30, 2009... The wonderful world of Disney

From Nemo, we headed to one of the oldest and most "near and dear" rides at Disneyland, "It's a Small World." Recently renovated with lots of controversy involved (that we will not get into), "It's a Small World," was developed for the New York State World's fair in 1964/1965, and was then reopened at Disneyland Park in 1966. 

While traveling in a boat to the catchy theme song, "It's a small world," fans of all ages are treated to different scenes, which rotate between the right and left side of the boat in for an average of 4-6 seconds per engagement or theme. The song continously runs throughout the ride, with the main transition occuring as the boat enters different areas for new and innovative presentations of different types of children, from different cultures and locations signing, "It's a small world."

What's remarkable is the LACK of difference in the fundamental principles of engagement and storytelling. From 1964 to 2009, almost 45 years later and Disney is still using the 4-6 second window for engagement and storytelling. Perhaps we've always had a framing for soundbytes that speak in 4 to 6 second segments. Technology has simply added bells and whistles that exagerate the sensory environment that surrounds the engagement. 

A delayed post from March 30, 2009... The wonderful world of Disney

So -- I'm catching up from posts that I've filed in my head, and now need to put to my blog.  As we continue along the journey of story-telling, I had an amazing experience on my birthday, March 30, 2009 that relates to story-telling and today's culture.

I had the opportunity to take my family, all six of us, to Disneyland for my birthday. We spent the night down near the park so that we could arrive early. As we walked to the park, I wondered about Disney's ability to look at live from a "story" perspective, and wondered about the history of story-telling from Disney's point of view.

Our first visit was to "Finding Nemo, Submarine Voyage," the newest of Disney's adventure rides. Finding Nemo incorporates the story of the film, "Finding Nemo" into a live-action adventure on a real submarine that goes "underwater." Once underwater, we viewed the underwater scenes and engagement through a portal that would transition through different scenes every six to eight seconds. Each scene, along with the narrator would describe a short-story that fit within the context of the whole ride. The experience had differing levels of engagement, that would keep the viewer interested and curious about what was coming next. 

McKee and me...

Spending the day with McKee and his text, Story. FI appreciate his candidness regarding the difficulty in telling good stories, and his humor as he shares from his experience. I can't help but think that the crucible of time (a.k.a. experience) is a critical component, along with the normal aspects like skill, technique, and timing.

Gladwell's book Outliers demonstrates similar stories as it relates to success. Gladwell presents the 10,000 hour rule -- stating that for us to become an expert, it usually takes 10,000 hours of work. 

Let me see -- for this doctoral program -- (20 hours a week x 52 weeks x 3 years) + research hours (200) + comps ( 200 hours) + dissertation (1500 hours)= More than 5,000 hours. So I'll be halfway there! Then, the real fun begins!

A journey toward completing my first video project

Take II -- My doctoral journey by David Peck: click here to view

Produced by: Maddening and insane projects

This is an amazing project, and I don't want to tell you how many hours I have spent, learning both through failure, and through a few successes along the way.

I need to state again for the record that I am fairly adept at technology, I have a good understanding of filmed stories, and a good eye toward what works together. The difficulty lies in the mix of my expectations and ability to get out of this box and screen what I know can be produced and what is actually being presented.

With all of the learning from my first draft, and comments from the academy reviewer, Dr. Ohler -- I took a step back and started from the beginning. I spent an evening recording the VO, again. My expectation was that it would be seemless, and I would not have any issues. Incorrect statement #1, as my headset was giving me troubles. I'll be going back to Best Buy today.

I was more successful in my narrative pacing, but then created an issue with a need for more images, as I had increased the length of the video. 

From there, I removed some of the music, added some additional background effects, and began to go through the details of aligning all of the different pieces up. AHHHHH! An adjustment with the VO, would cause an adjustment with the picture, and then the sound effect would be off a half a beat.  

Several hours later, and now completely jadded toward my project, I have posted Take II, for all to see. I think it's a bit better, but am at the mercy of technology and time as I have again exhausted the allocated time for today. But it's just a three minute video... yeah... right. :)

Outliers. In life, they are people who are unusual, abnormal or different. In statistics, they are data points, or small sets of data that are outside the normal curve, and yet can present significant meaning or relevance. For Malcolm Gladwell, they identify  unique stories of success that tie to people, behavior, opportunities, and hard work and sometimes being at the right place, at the right time. So, what does that have to do with storytelling you ask? Nothing. . . and everything. Everything in that stories tend to be about the way we frame a question, problem or issue in a manner that helps us to identify a problem, and then transition to a solution. Outliers by nature tend to be different, or sometimes are identified as problems.  Problems tend to have solutions because people like to solve problems, as compared to people solving things that are already solved. Make sense? If not, check out Outliers, as it's a great book and an interesting read. 

What sticks and why?

Heath and Heath present a facinating look at ideas and why some stick, and others don't. They identify six key principles or qualities to creating ideas that stick. They are:

Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotional, and stories. While I'm in the process of reading through this book, I find it interesting to compare Heath, Olher and Haven's different and yet similar perspectives on the elements that come together to create a great story. One of the key learnings identified early in the book is the manner in which we frame things from our perspective, and are blind to looking at anything from an external perspective. I wonder if this is tied to humanity, or if this is a western thought and behavior? So what is the key to this posting? S.U.C.C.E.S. is presented through simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, and emotional stories. It's the stories and the way we present them. They are the critical component. 

A reflection about the creation of "My doctoral journey"

What an amazing project! It's amazing to consider the amount of time and effort that it took to create this 2:30 media piece and the learning curve that accompanied it. 

I have a new level of respect for editors, voice over specialists, special effect artists, as well as all of the usual suspects (actors, directors, producers, musicians). 

My history with movies has always been on the distribution side, or as an executive with some vision that was handed off to someone more capable and adept at crafting the story from an audiovisual standpoint. 

Linked is my review of this first project.  Click here for the media review.

click here to watch

It's done. The first video is done. Whew. What a task, and a great learning curve. I feel like I'm between the ages of 3 and 5 and all of those synapsis' are all firing at once. There's so much to comprehend, so much to discover and some much to get done. So, here it is... My Doctoral Journey. 

Enjoy and remember that it subscribes to the 80/ 20 rule. 80 % of this project took 20% of the time. The remaining 20% of the project, took at least 120% more time. O.k.... so the 80/20 rule didn't apply for my first project. Perhap for the next project.  

My first project...An autobiographical media experience

For my media project, I have been asked to create an autobiography. I need to create a story map, and then a script. From there, I have been tasked with creating a digital story using the tools and techniques presented in the literature and through our session. The script was more difficult than I thought, as I had to rework it so that it was written for the viewer, as compared to being written from my perspective. It has been a great learning experience, and has definately challenged me to test and try things out, and to not be aftraid of making mistakes and or using new applications that I previously had not used. Applications like imovie, photo booth, and Google docs. My doctoral Journey script has been linked through Google doc's. It is listed here. My doctoral Journey Script.

Stories, meaning, and life. . .

It's 9:43 a.m. on a Saturday morning in Southern California. We've been on storm alert for 24 hours -- receiving several inches of rain in a short amount of time. Today however, the sun is shining and everyone is out and about in the village. From listening to live music at the local guitar store to walking dogs and kids -- the coffee shop where I study is buzzing with activity. With each passing person, I wonder what their day holds? What their weekend will be consumed with and most importantly. . . what is their story?

For that matter. . . what is a story? Kendall Haven, in storytelling fashion isn't about to easily give up his definition or provide a few tight sound bytes on his summary. Rather, he is interested in walking us through the context of storytelling, and at this point. . . what it is not. It's an interesting process and goes against the grain of today's immediacy and urgency for information. I wonder, are soundbytes downsized stories that will present any lasting memory? Are they crafted for the urgency in the moment? Only time will tell.   

In the era when many believe that everything is a story, Haven provides an interesting statement which he calls the "Blanket Myth." It's quoted from an epiphany that a writer, Nora Ephron shares. He quotes her as she states, "the beginning of my understanding that just about everything was a story" (Haven, 2007, p. 14). Haven answers her response stating, "Everything is not a story -- but it could become one" (2007, p.14). 

     

Social media story telling and Twitter... Is there a link?

I recently stumbled upon (a friend sent a link) a short presentation on the constructive uses of Twitter and learning. It's facinating to think that a hyper-connection site like Twitter could create and organize a learning mechanism around story telling. Check out the link to Google docs as this blogger posted this presentation on the different uses. The narrative use of Twitter.

I've now jumped into Kendall Haven's book Story Proof: the science behind the startling power of story and am really enjoying the desconstruction and reconstruction of the foundations and argumentation of stories. Haven does a great job of transitioning the simple perception of what is meant by the word "story" into a more thoughtful and engaging conversation about its deep and rich meaning as it relates to the way that it is described. Haven challenges us to think broadly about our definition stating, "If stories are uniquely effective inside the human mind, then let's use the recent advances in cognitive sciences, developmental psychology, and neural biology to understand the specficis of how the human mind processes, understands, creates meaning from, and remembers incoming narrative information. We will then use the elements of that process as the foundation of our definition of story" (Haven, 2007, p. 19). Wow, good stuff to challenge as he aptly shares our grey matter or goo so that we transition from an older framing of one's childhood memories of storytime into a more robust discussion about a rich and full definition that includes all of the complexities of the process. 

Storytelling...what's the so what?

I'm often caught in the awe of technology, and the options presented. I can frequently get lost in the shuffle of opportunity as compared to the basics, and answering the fundamental question, purpose or the question. . . "So what?"

In Digital Storytelling, Ohler refers to this as the 80/20 rule, or hitting the wall. The production values, the glitz, "pop and sizzle" and yet I like the response that Ohler gives, asking the following question?

Is it worth spending 80% of the time and energy to produce the last 20% of a finished piece? Typically I say no, that is, when the production wall looms, say "good enough." (Ohler, 2008, p. 34). 

The details of spending time on the script, transitioning from the story map to the script and looking at the story from the audience's perspective is worth the time so that the audience is engaged, has context, and clearly understands what is being communicated. Ohler shares, "Simply put, a story resonates when others can relate to it. While it may involve experiences that are completely foreign to listeners, it can still act as a lens that helps listeners see themselves more clearly (Ohler, 2008, p. 23)."

A Story map. . . a script. . . and books to read. . .

Over the past several days I've been reading, mapping, scripting, re-reading, scripting, searching, watching, and then reading again. I guess I enjoy the process of reading and engagement, but then like the clarity of knowing what I am doing and how I am going to get something done. 

First blush, I've enjoyed the Digital Storytelling book by Ohler. It does a good job of breaking things down into small bites of information that are digestible and palatable. I also really enjoyed reading through the blog of the previous class, and reading through a few of the blogs posted by the class from 2008.

It's also been a good challenge as I sometimes have the perception that perfection is required out of the gate. I'm not sure who penned the thought, but I like the one word challege that is often cited and provided. "Begin." It says so much, in such a short period of time. It's actually refreshing. And so, today... I begin.

 

The beginning. . . . .

January 23, 2009: The Journey begins: 

Sitting in my favorite coffee shop on a rainy Saturday morning -- looking at a stack of great books and wondering -- where do I begin?  I am quickly reminded of the an underlying thought that Ohler shared with us and that is that it doesn't matter, just that we begin.  

I am excited to embark upon this journey, reading texts like Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath, as well as Story by Robert McKee, Story Proof by Kendall Haven, and last but not least, Digital Storytelling for Classrooms by Jason Ohler. 

I guess part of the journey is becoming comfortable with the medium, and learning to play in the medium without the fear of getting stuck, breaking it, or doing something that I don't know how to "undo." It is a Franklin Delanor Roosevelt quote from his first Inagural address where he said, "There's nothing to fear, but fear itself." 

Of course, in no way would I want to compare my being "digitally naive," coined by Marc Prensky to the significant issues that Roosevelt and the country dealt with during the Great Depression and the pending issues of Germany as our country approached the unrest brought upon us during the end of the 1930's. 

And so, back to the blog. Today the Journey begins. My hope is that I can create, learn, share, and then involve my family over the next few months with the goal of incorporating some new learning for them as well (of course for them, it will be teaching their parents about all this great stuff that they stumble upon, and have no problem negotiating with."