Friday, January 31, 2014

pre week + week 01. this is where I stand.

The PRE-week before the semester, aka winter break allowed me time to look around at similar websites and apps replicating what I wanted to do for my senior degree project. Also, I started to read articles and a couple books about the technology, current design layout + interactive options, and storytelling in general. My main focus was on attempting to narrow what I specifically wanted my project to cover. I wanted to find the best way to get two different crowds of individuals to interact. What I really ran into though was the issue of not knowing people’s technology skills, as well as if these individual had a desire to join such a community.

I know that personally I am interested in community building, learning stories and interacting with individuals, many of which are often older than me. There is so much potential for information distribution between various age levels or generations and I want to find the best way to establish this connection.

Over the past 7 years in college, I have realized how much I truly crave that interaction, storytelling and connecting with those highly intellectual or dedicated individuals. Recently, I have started to wonder though, if it’s just me that has this need for that connection and if my project is aiming to an audience that does not exist.

I was initially interested in this project because of this friendship that I had created with one of my professors from community college. Through our correspondence, over the last three years, I have realized that not only has it been a friendship that has helped me but also him. He has been a bit of inspiration and motivation that has kept me constant over the past years. Yes, I have had other supporters, but he’s not family, so it’s even more important to me because it is entirely of his own will. We both have had our own share of scarring events in our life, but it’s the connection over those events even if not spoken in full story.

The main project forms have been website and annual/biannual magazine. My research has led me to look more into advertising award winners such as The One Show Interactive + Communication Arts Magazine Winners. I read Participate:Designing with User-Generated Content + I’m in the middle of The New DigitalStorytelling: Creating Narratives With New Media. I’ve been learning about different types of storytelling over the years as technology has developed, which has been making me question if my current focus is where it should be or if I’m far off.

The feedback that I have received when describing my project to individuals has been a positive one + seems as though people can see it moving in different directions, which has also been leading me to question if I am focused on the correct topic.

Similar websites that I have been looking at that are starting to be what I want is Remember, Cowbird, Blinkbuggy, Ancestry + Facebook's Timeline feature. Two iPhone apps that I was briefly looking at was the Lucid Dreaming App + Morpheus Dreams App. Now, I realize that neither are the storyteller that I was speaking about above, but it's another form of making connections + saving stories.

To Do.
This next week I need to figure out what my focus + audience is soon and research more. Keep myself on a solid track.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

the initial post. the question + sub questions.

my degree project question at this point is:
How can an interactive system facilitate + enhance individuals coming together to share stories and emotionally connect?

sub questions:
How can the addition of imagery, verbal and written word enhance the connection capacity between storyteller and audience?

How can you further connect with the storyteller after they told their story?

How can you keep both types of users (young + older/storyteller + viewer/commenter) engaged in conversations with the opposite?