Wk7: E-learning task 2 What’s so Good about a Good multimodal text?

I do not have access to Adobe Premiere so I could not attempt to do a timeline analysis. I managed to capture still images of parts of the story and use them to help me explain my analysis but my first attempt of posting it resulted in blank boxes where the images were supposed to be. So I decided to remove them.

To start, I did a random select at the vidlit.com site. I was initially brought to a video on a sports-related story. I decided to skip that as I wasn’t interested much in that topic. Another random search brought me to this video story. It attracted me to view it because perhaps I could relate well to the title, being a woman and I was curious to know what place they were talking about though I could pretty much guess from the image what it was referring to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzoBJDFvyKE&feature=player_embedded

I think this video is supposed to be like a ‘sneak preview’ of what the book is about. The book is available for sale online. From the website, there is a link to bring you straight to place an order for the book. The clip was very short. It lasted about 1.22 minutes. The different modalities in this story are speech, writing, image and sound. Flash animation was used for the images presented. Three of the images were repeatedly shown. Writing was mainly type written words. Speech was in the form of a voice-over narration. Sound came from background jazz music and sound effects such as a bell being hit and something like a clock tick-tocking were used.

1) When I saw the first image, I thought the title of the story was “A great place for every woman”. This was the text presented on top of a smaller image. In this first image, I did not get the meaning or the purpose of “5 SPOT” at the top left side.

2) This first image quickly enlarged into the second image which was actually the smaller image on the first one but it was magnified to fit the whole screen this time. The image shows people, men and women, in a bar. Although it looks more like there is only 1 man in the bar and the rest are women. I can’t be sure of that. This image was not a still one. The people in the image were animated and moving about. I think as an icon (Pierce, 1992) it just stands for a bar a social place. But as an index, I thought it highlight the vibrancy of what was happening at that place. The general or social perception of what a ‘bar’ is supposed to be like – a place to hang out, a place to drink and make merry, a place to meet other people. So the purpose could be to also link to the initial title of a ‘great place for woman’ perhaps because women get to meet others and socialize in that place. I think here the images serve to set the orientation of the story, who is involved, where it takes place (Labov, 1997).

The use of the background jazz music was for associative reasons. I think that is the usual kind of music played in a bar. This created the mood for the orientation mentioned above. The jazz music continued on and slowly became softer when image 4 came on and the voice-over narration took over.

3) Image 2 was darkened and a smaller image appeared and was superimposed on it. I relied on my prior knowledge to come to the conclusion that it was a book cover because of the text that accompanied it. I interpreted the text ‘Ex and The single girl by Lani Diane Rich’ as a title of a book and the image next to it as the book cover. As I interpreted it as being a book, I also see the information that would be presented as being someone’s personal opinions/ideas on the topic. Thus, it could be sharing subjective information. I think the introduction of the book cover, title and author seems to set a different orientation for this story. Initially I thought the orientation was about people or women in a bar. This image seems to serve as an abstract to signify the start of the story (Labov, 1997)

The next image focused on the book cover. The narration actually started here. The narrator read out the title and author of the book. I thought the narration was effective to signal or to act as a cue for some readers who wants to read along or those who are slow would be able to know that they need to pick up speed if they want to follow the pace of the story. Otherwise they could just listen to the narration. The sound of the clock tick-tocking was also used as the background. This could be because the information about to be presented in sequence: 1, 2, 3 … like counting up/down. There are also 2 other sound effects used: before the narration of numbers and after narrating the excuse. The sequence is as follows:

· Sound: ‘Ting!’ This sound is usually used to signal the start of a new round in a wrestling match.

· Narration: 1, It’s not you. It’s me.

· Sound: ‘Thed!’ This sound is usually used in a game show when you have given a wrong answer.

I think the use of those sound effects is significant. I interpreted them as signals.

4) I also noticed here that the first image of the bar is minimized and placed at the top left corner. I’m not sure what the meaning or the purpose was but this was repeated throughout the whole story.

5) The next image shows a cover of another book. I could tell this as I can see the sides of a book. I think it is also probably trying to tell us that it is a rather thick book. I interpreted this as a dictionary – very thick with meanings of lots of words also partly because of the text on the cover of the book. What was interesting was this text ‘English to English’. I take it to mean that the dictionary provides meanings of words in English into English that could be easier to understand.

6) There was an animation effect that followed the next image. The book was actually flipped open to reveal a page – the next image of text. Unfortunately, here I do not know the significance of why the text was presented in that form of ‘word art’. As the text suggests ‘Top 5’, I anticipated that I would be presented with 5 different images of text.

7) I did not expect to see just the number ‘1’ to take up a whole page of image. I was expecting ‘1’ to be accompanied with text. I think the purpose of this was to create greater impact. Perhaps the text used earlier ‘excuses’ had other social connotations to it, like it is not really a valid or acceptable reason by societal standards. Thus to use large numbers was perhaps to signify the effects they have on the writer/creator. The use of numbers also is aligned to what is being shared ‘top 5 excuses’. So I think this was a clever use of numbers to do like a counting down/counting up effect.

8) Again, the animation of a page being flipped over was used and this effect was used throughout the story as well. The next page reveals a text within inverted commas, using knowledge of language this would mean someone’s speech.

9) The next image shows the text - Definition: “it’s you.” Here we know that our interpretation of the book being a dictionary is confirmed by the word ‘definition’. The dictionary would provide readers with a definition of what the words mean. Again, the meaning of the words is shown within inverted commas, it represents someone’s speech.

The story continues to reveal the other 4 excuses. The same sequence was applied to present this information. First the ‘number’, the text within inverted commas of the ‘excuse’ and followed by the text showing the ‘definition’ within inverted commas, too. I think this effect basically gives a lasting impression on the story reader/viewer. This consistency in format of presentation will also help to reinforce the message being communicated. (If you want to know what the other top 4 excuses are, go check out the attached link J)

10) After the 5 excuses have been presented, the book was actually closed. This was presented through the animation effect of the book being closed. The closed book gradually decreased in size to show the image of the cover of the book again. I think this is important as it indicates the end of the ‘book reading’ or the story telling.

11) Remember the image of the bar at the top left side of all images shown? This quickly expands itself out and took the size of the whole page. It is then darkened and a repeat of the image shown earlier was presented again. Then as for the ending, we are presented with the image of the bar with animated people in the bar with the background music of some jazz piece being played on a saxophone.

See if you catch this. I managed to capture in slow motion the image of a book cover of another story book by another author. It will zoom past very quickly. If you were to watch the video you may not have realised that image was somehow embedded into the transition. I don’t quite understand why this was done. I thought maybe it was an error in the program or could it be a marketing stunt or something?

The story ended with the last image fading into a blank white screen. I thought this created a dramatic impact. I interpreted the blank white page as an opportunity for the reader/viewer to now form their own opinions, conclusions or make a decision if the book is worth buying or not. But the coda for the story for me would be when the last image was shown, the book cover with title and author. This image has been repeatedly shown a few times throughout the story but acting as a coda it is appropriate as it helps to signal that the story has ended and brings us, the reader/viewer back to the point at which we entered the story.

The digital story maybe quite short but I felt that it was effective in serving its purpose. There wasn’t variety in images shown but the content of information shared was funny and it is easy for anyone to relate to it and see the funny side of it. I think the purpose of this story is mainly to entertain and provide a light-hearted introduction of what the book would be like.

There wasn’t much information about the interests and purposes of the authors. I checked the credits for the production of the video. The story consisted of original artwork by Emily Alexander and the score and sound design was orginal creations by Paca Thomas. I followed a link to check the book information and to find out more about the author, Lani Diane Rich. She has written a series of romantic comedy books. So I think this story sets out to get you to buy the book by giving you a brief yet entertaining review of it.

From this exercise, I also realised that to be able to understand and review a story, contextual knowledge plays a part too. As a reader/viewer, I also tend to select stories of topics which interest me and which I could easily relate to. So I’m now wondering how and what else can we do to ensure that our story reaches its targeted audience. Ideas anyone?

Wk 6: Creating digital info 1

Yes, I agree that we cannot ignore cultural and linguistic diversities in the classrooms or treat them as incidental to the core business of education. Having read Tan & McWilliam’s case study of the 2 Australian schools, I do wonder how much different is that from the real situation in Singapore schools? I think MOE and schools have the commitment – time, effort and pedagogical skills - to implement this ‘new’ framework but how much of a fundamental cultural shift in traditional school settings have we made? I think our IT masterplan caters to the educational objectives as spelled out in Tan & McWilliam’s paper too but somehow I can relate very closely to the first school where technology is put in place more to supplement and support learning. I think our Singapore culture has yet to ‘let go’ of its high emphasis and value on academic performance and achievement. How then can teachers and students fully use digital technologies in the school context? If I have to make a choice, like the Australian students who are fully aware of what CAN contribute to their life success, I too would make the same choice they did!! What about you?

Wk 5: Evaluating digital information

The e-learning task has given me an opportunity to read and look at other criterias for evaluating digital resources, namely Internet websites. The framework in Susser & Robb was so detailed that I thought it was quite hard to look at so many modules at one time to do the evaluation. As for the criterias spelled out in Towndrow, i remember we had a chance to practise using it during the previous lesson. So i thought of using the one suggested by MOE's Edumall site. i realised that most of these criterias are quite similar and there are overlaps here and there. What i also found out was that going through the websites, you need to have patience to really go through a few links to know and learn more about the particular site. Of course what was most important was not forgetting what we have learned in earlier lessons, to be aware and more careful of sources and types of information available on the net :)

Wk 4: DN vs DI

From our readings and presentation, I think the implication is that DI teachers are to acknowledge the difference in capabilities of their DN students and to tap on that. It is also important that we as teachers see the DNs as unique and that they come with different technological capabilities. Also like what Dr Towndrow said it's not just a matter of using new technology with the old mindset!!!

I think the DN-DI divide is just to create an awareness and the metaphor is to make a distinction between those with ICT skills and those without but as Lyna put it to us during the presentation, it is not a clear cut line as there are still some so-called DN students who display non-ICT skills.

Recently, Prensky (2009) proposed the concept of 'digital wisdom'. According to Prensky, this wisdom comes from and in the use of technology. It is not confined to certain generations and he quoted President Obama as an example of a DI who has digital wisdom. (I guess this came about with his use of IT in his campaign and all.)

So the next question would be how to link or bridge this divide so that the DIs could move along this learning continuum to get to where the DNs are and perhaps achieve digital wisdom along the way........What say the rest of my fellow DIs out there?

Wk 4: Grasping DL.....Singapore-style

Oh dear, I left this post in draft and totally forgot about posting it after almost a week!!!!

The discussion was on some of the more important activities carried out with digital technologies according to the singapore context. Su and I grouped our responses according to 3 broad categories, namely (1) communication, (2) education and (3)personal.

(1) For communication, it is a must to have a mobile phone in this time and age. But a basic mobile phone, (like the one Wilson has), will suffice. The mobile phone ensures you are reachable whenever wherever but we did agree that it would render useless if the battery is flat!!

(2) For education, word processing and presentation tools are a must for both teachers and students alike. It would be really hard if we had to go back to the typewriter for creating essays...imagine what it would be like editing those!!

(3) As for personal interest, we thought of the use of digital cameras. How it has enabled us to preview and retake the photo and not to miss the opportunity to capture that moment. We also explored the idea that for serious photography work, a conventional camera is still favoured. The battery can be easily replaced and the cameras are known to be able to produce better quality photos in terms of resolution.

I like the comment Lyna made in class that we Singaporeans expect everything to be done real fast.....yes, I think our govt has done well in terms of efficiency. I appreciate it when I travel and get to see the difference in systems across countries. But as Su pointed out, technology is culturally dependent and different cultures may operate on different frameworks.

I'm not sure if I will want to live somewhere 'slower' paced as some of you have noted in your posts and comments....but I know I don't want my kids to be left behind.....and I am pretty sure that the government here will not do us injustice in that area :)