Junior Seminar: Digital Storytelling





Professor Jamie Skye Bianco

Spring 2013, University of Pittsburgh

Mondays, 6-8:30PM, G26 CL

ENGLIT 1900-1180 (#23968)

Office Hours: here

Office Location: 501m CL (enter through 501)



Course Description
Course Schedule
Course Blog: Post-Print Fictions
Course Expectations
Student Websites
Students Home
Spikenlilli Home





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COURSE DESCRIPTION:



digital storytelling

Digital technologies have made new forms of storytelling. these forms rely on software, computation, informatics and algorithms. what becomes interesting is that once folk began experimenting with writing with computers, writers also began to experiment with analog computation, informatics and algorithms in print texts, testing the limits of language and meaning. Writing under contraint or writing with language rules. in This course will explore both: print and digital storytelling that rely on a computational or digital logic of language and storytelling.

Students are encouraged to contact Prof. Jamie Skye Bianco in advance of the course regarding software requirements (see below under required materials) and to consult her website at www.spikenlilli.com.

this course is the one of two capstones of your studies in the english major. it will operate at an advanced level of study. the workload is extremely heavy and expectations for your productivity are very high.



Requirements:

Attend ALL classes and arrive on time.

Complete all assignments as assigned and on time. Assignments described in the schedule.

Meet Prof. Bianco as requested and as scheduled for your mid-term evaluation, if requested.

Present your final Project Portfolio as scheduled. You may NOT miss the Final Presentation, so do not schedule a departure from campus prior to our Final class.

More on expectations, grading, and the quality of your coursework...



PROJECTS:


weekly entries on the class post-print fictions Blog

weekly reading reviews & blog assignments

reading presentation: written and oral

technical tutorials

readings: print & digital

creative critical digital storytelling midterm Composition

creative critical digital storytelling final project

Integrated Final Project presentation



REQUIRED TEXTS:




Hall, steven. raw shark texts













safran foer, tree of codes














more MATERIALS:

Adobe master Suite 6 web Collection
*Available to students from CSSD (105 Bellefield Hall) at a seriously discounted price.
*This collection provides the web development software in the Adobe creative Suite 6.
*There are limited work-around alternatives, including use of our classroom lab during its specified hours and use of the Pitt Campus Computing Labs.
*I guarantee you we will use the following Adobe applications (though others may be used depending on our progress): Photoshop, DreamWeaver, Soundbooth/audtion*, premiere, Media Encoder, & Media Player.
***Please Note: if you use any other software for this course, you are on your own for tech & tutorial support. This software is required for the assignments for this course.***

domain and website host
*while Pitt offers students free domains and hosting service, this service is extremely limited.
*I recommend to most studets that you invest in your own domain and private hosting service. we will discuss this in class.

Memory Stick/Portable External Drive
*You will need a minimum of 16G of memory.
*This memory stick will be used exclusively for this class.

Regular Access to Digital Camera
*Camera needs to have the capacity to shoot short video clips.
*Cell phones are fine, but may provide lower quality imaging.
*Make sure that whatever camera you use (especially if you borrow a videocamera) that you have the software to access the image files *and download them to your computer or memory key.

access to a microphone or sound recording instrument
*While most computers have a built-in microphone , experience has proven that this is not sufficient for different types of recording situations.
*cell phones can be used but will produce a bad, tinny quality.
*radio shack sells a very cheap clip-on mic that works well (if you purchase any mic, make sure it is compatible with your computer.

*ask me about the ear bud trick.



IMPORTANT TO KNOW:


Pitt Policy on Academic Integrity ... let's not bore each other with intentional plagiarism, but we will discuss remix and mashup culture and their relationship to fair use

 
Resources:
 

The Writing Center

M-2 Thaw Hall
412-624-6556

Academic Resource Center

G-1 Gardner Steel Conference Center
412-648-7920

Disability Resources & Services

216 William Pitt Union

412.648.7890

Counseling Center

334 William Pitt Union
412.648.7930

Sexual Assault Services

Call Safety ASAP at 412.624.2121

412.648.7856