Digital Stories with Jason Ohler

Probably the speaker I resonated the most with was Jason Ohler, Pictured below during his keynote address at ASTE 2008.  He talked about story telling and how we can use today’s technology to tell our stories.  I think this is very powerful stuff.  ‘we are the stories we tell about ourselves.” is how the saying goes. 

Every form of media has its own ‘grammar.’  The tools and conventions used for a full length novel are different than the tools used in a short story and the tools used in a blog are different than those used in a podcast.  These various media are not necessarily the easiest to use to put out a top quality to story and can not be used to turn a weak story into a good one. 

Throwing more money and ‘production’ into a weak story just makes its weaknesses all the more visible.  If our students are to be literate, then they need to be able to produce all the different types of media that they consume.

Holly had a class with him when she was in the MAT program at UAS and really enjoyed the class.  I can see why.  I’d love to have the time to put together a digital story with motion and sound in it.  AND it would be fun to have students do some cool projects too.