Digital Storytelling WSUV Syllabus Fall 2023

Assigned Reading
Required textbook: Strunk and White, Elements of Style, any edition

Assigned stories:
Portal, Rob Swigart
No World 4 Tomorrow, Lyle Skains
Dictionary of the Revolution, Amari Hanafi
Modern Moral Fairy Tale, Deena Larsen
We Descend, Bill Bly
King of Space, Sarah Smith

Point System
So that you can fit this class around your life, think of this as a game with many strategies to win the
300 points needed for an A+. You could either write more of your own stories or you could read and
analyze stories written by others. Points more or less represent a half an hour of work, so expect to
spend around 150 focused hours on this class this semester.

All work will be graded on a pass/fail basis (all points or no points). If your work fails the rubric, I will
explain why and you will get one more chance at that assignment. If you attach a written justification
for why you should get bonus points (for example, coruscating creativity, incredible insights,
scintillating stories, or any other awesomeness), then I will either award bonus points or explain why
I do not think your justification is valid.

Class prep assignments and assigned reading due dates are noted in the schedule. You can do all the
other assignments at any time. However, I will only accept one assignment per week after the mid-
way point (October 23), and that includes extra credit assignments. I will grant exceptions only in
exceptional circumstances. Your best bet is to frontload this class and do as much as you can before
October 23!

Points:
Class participation:
We will take class notes, write a class story, and upload metanotes in a shared environment. I give
you credit after each class.
• 5 to 15 points for your metanotes for each class assigned story (depending on complexity).
• 1 point for each completed class prep assignment (total 30 points)
• 1 point for class story in each class (at least two nodes and two links done in class)
(total 31 points)
• 1 point for class notes in each class (at least two nodes and two links done in class)
(total 31 points)
If you want to post your notes in the class page anonymously, put the author as anonymous and
then send me the screenshots for your grades. You can still make up these points if you miss the
class. Just read everyone else’s assignments, notes, and stories and summarize the main ideas and
links. Put your summaries in the class notes and send me a screenshot.

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Your own story

You could get all of your points from writing multiple stories.
30 points for first draft of your own digital story with metanotes (But I will subtract 10 points if you
do not do a revision by December 4, so get this story in before October 16 so you have time to
revise!). Stories should comprise at least 10 nodes and 20 links.
15 points for the revision of your own digital story with revised metanotes

Other people’s stories

You could get all of your points from reading and analyzing other stories. However, I will only accept
large works/Wikipedia articles until November 27, so that if that assignment fails, you have at least a
week to try again. So plan accordingly.
30 points for each close read of a larger work with metanotes and draft Wikipedia article
5 to 15 points for your metanotes for a digital story other than the assigned stories. (5 points for a
simpler work to 15 points for a complex work. Talk to me).
5 points for your metanotes and constructive criticism for each student’s story.

Extra Credit Points

Negotiate point values with me, as these points will depend on the level of effort you want to
expend. You can also suggest other projects to me.
• Prepare a lecture to describe sounds in digital works for Monday November 25.
• Help out the Wikipedia Project for Women Electronic Literature Writers. Participate in our
Third Thursday researchathons. Research and write an article. Or?
• Work outside of class on our class story. Add images, sounds, generative text engines.
Organize into a structure. Or?
• Provide new examples for Fundamentals at https://deenalarsen.net/fundamentals/
• Teach a digital tool that you know after class.
• Work on a netprov from the Center for Digital Narrative

Scoring:
300+ = A+ / 285 - 299 = A/ 270 - 284 = A-
255 -269 = B+/ 240 - 254 = B/ 225 - 239 = B-
210 - 224 = C+/ 180 - 209 = C/ 150 - 179 = C-
Below 150 = Really? Let’s talk. Before November 20.

Policies
All policies from WSU will be strictly adhered to in this class.

Plagiarism (claiming anybody else’s work as your own) is theft and I will treat this as a serious
offense. Cite your work. See https://www.citationmachine.net/artificial-intelligence. If you need to
cite AI derived work, use https://www.scribbr.com/ai-tools/chatgpt-citations/. You can use any style
you want, but be consistent.

You do not need to send me prior notice of your absences or tardies. You can make them up with the
point schedule as noted above.

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Office Hours
M/W 3:00 to 4:15
Coffee hour: M/W 5:40 – 6:40 in the cafeteria
Other times available by request.

Metanote template
Audience(s)/Purpose(s)
Message(s)
Structure and navigation /Your reading strategy
Digital elements (what they are and how they work within the digital story)

Class Schedule and Prep Requirements

Class structure: Monday and Wednesdays from 4:20-5:35. We will spend the first 10 to 20 minutes on
our mutual story, using the insights from the previous day’s topic. Then we will review with the
examples you create in class for a few minutes. And then we are onto the class topic.

Date Topic Class Assignment/DUE DATES

Monday, August 21st
Wednesday, August 23rd
Monday, August 28th
Wednesday, August 30th
Monday, September 4th
Wednesday, September 6th,
Monday, September 11th
Wednesday, September 13th
Monday, September 18th
Wednesday, September 20th
Monday, September 25th
Wednesday, September 27th
Monday, October 2nd
Writing, syllabus
Rob Swigart Guest Lecturer Read portions of the Portal to discuss with Rob Swigart
https://www.scribd.com/document/20914087/Portal-A-
Dataspace-Retrieval-Rob-Swigart
Audience analysis Bring an example of any writing that needs to work for at
least two audiences
Audience analysis Bring your favorite hat to class
Purpose analysis Re-read Rob Swigart's Portal and list ways he reaches his
audience.
Purpose analysis Bring your favorite shoes to class
How to write Read your Strunk and White, and list 5 insights into
writing that you did not know before.
How to use tools (Wikidot Register to be a Wikipedia Editor and make one editorial
and Twine) change to one article.
Images Explain how an image in the new VR works within Rob
Swigart's Portal
Images Bring a picture from the WSU campus to integrate into
our class story
Lyle Skains Guest Lecturer Read Lyle Skain's No World 4 Tomorrow and bring in your
metanotes filled in with audience and purpose for Lyle
Skain's CO2 and You (at https://youandco2.org/NW4T/)
and Rob Swigart's Portal.
Messages Add the message metanote for Lyle Skain's CO2 and You
and Rob Swigart's Portal.
Links Report on 3 links from Lyle Skain's CO2 and You. Why did
you follow them? How did they add to the story?

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Wednesday, October 4th Random readings in class
(Tokoro Gorge, Miss-
Communication) no prep
needed
Monday, October 9th Amari Hanafi Guest
Lecturer
Wednesday, October 11th Spatial placement
Monday, October 16th Reading strategies:
Navigation
Wednesday, October 18th Reading strategies:
Context-dependent
meaning
Monday, October 23rd Reading strategies:
Navigation dependent
meaning
Wednesday, October 25th Reading strategies:
Multivocal
Monday, October 30th Bill Bly We Descend (Guest
lecturer)
Wednesday, November 1st Reading strategies: Default
paths
Monday, November 6th Reading strategies:
Layering
Wednesday, November 8th Reading strategies:
Contradiction and
inconsistency
Monday, November 13th Reading strategies: Game as
story
Wednesday, November 15th Reading strategies:
Discovering stories
Monday, November 20th Sounds
Wednesday, November 22nd HOLIDAY
Monday, November 27th Hidden elements: Jane
Spaces and Easter Eggs
Wednesday, November 29th Accessibility
Monday, December 4th Class story: Review digital
storytelling strategies and
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Bring a random element generator to class (a pair of
dice, a cootie catcher, etc.) We will read parts of our class
story in a random order.
Read Amari Hanafi's Dictionary of the Revolution and
provide metanotes for audience, purpose, message,
links. https://www.qamosalthawra.com/en
Add spatial placement to your metanotes for all assigned
readings so far
Metanotes for Deena and MaJe Larsen's A Modern Moral
Fairy Tale https://www.deenalarsen.net/mmf/
Explain two possible reading strategies in your story
Give one example of a node in any of our readings that
could have more than one interpretation, depending on
context.
AFTER THIS WEEK, I WILL ACCEPT ONLY 1 OUTSIDE
CLASS ASSIGNMENT PER WEEK. ASSESS YOUR POINTS
AND CALCULATE YOUR WINNING END GAME. You
should have 150 points by this point for an A.
Explain your reading strategy for any digital story work
you have read so far.
Metanotes for Bill Bly's We Descend (NEXT Lab)
Note differences in a default path node and a text node
in We Descend.
LAST DAY FOR FIRST ATTEMPTS AT YOUR OWN STORY
Note one inconsistency from any work
Metanotes for Sarah Smith's King of Space and contrast
with Rob Swigart's Portal approach. In ELL.
Describe a story from a game you love.
Student-led discussion of sounds in your works or works
we have examined or works you know.
LAST DAY FOR FIRST ATTEMPTS AT WIKIPEDIA
ARTICLES
Explain a hidden element in any work.
If you put a hidden element in your story, confess it. If
you did not, imagine what hidden elements you might
have added.
LAST DAY FOR FINAL REVISIONS OF YOUR STORY.
Explain one way you made your story accessible.
 Digital Storytelling WSUV Syllabus Fall 2023

revise our collaborative

Wednesday, December 6th
Monday December 11
FINALS WEEK
Wednesday December 13
FINALS WEEK
story to use these
strategies
Class story: Review and Bring a picture of yourself and bio for the authors page in
revise our collaborative our collaborative story.
story
Class story: Review and List 4 insights you gained in this class
revise our collaborative
story
Class story: Review and List 2 things (insights, stories, advice, etc.) that you could
revise our collaborative share with others about digital storytelling
story

Resources and Good Quotes

What is Digital Storytelling?

“Digital technology makes it possible to leave the static nature of the page to write in other
dimensions, whether in the form of a blog feed, a podcast, a filmed diary or, in my case, audio-
visual writing. With it, I don't just write with text: I write with sounds, silences, the rhythm of
images... I write in movement on living matter. Probably because there are not yet any fixed forms,
rules or authorities, the creative freedom it offers seems immeasurable to me.” Marine Riguet
https://www.sorbonne-universite.fr/en/portraits/marine-riguet

I have argued for nearly 25 years now that our urgent goal must be to invent forms of writing that
are “better than books” (Bernstein, 1999). The codex we know does not meet our needs, and never
has; it is neither divinely ordained nor the end-product of two millennia of development. It finds itself
, as it always does, at the rapidly-changing intersection of numerous economic, intellectual, and
social force (Bernstein, 2023b) (Bernstein, 2023a). Mark Bernstein, 2023. Writing on the Wall, Text In
Virtual Reality. In “The Future of Text Special edition on ‘VR before Apple's Reality Strikes’

(PDF) eLITE-CM Project: Developing Enriching Interactivity in Children’s Digitized Literature and ELit
(researchgate.net) eLITE-CM Project: Developing Enriching Interactivity in Children’s Digitized
Literature and ELit
November 2020
In book: Mind the Gap! Thinking Electronic Literature in a Digital Culture (pp.456-476)Publisher: Les
Presses de L’Ecureuil
Authors:
Maria Goicoechea
Complutense University of Madrid
This paper presents some of the products and experiences carried out as partof the research
project eLITE-CM on Electronic Literary Edition, in particular thoseaimed to address some of the
concerns regarding the future of reading education in theface of the increasing use of
interactive screen media by children. It discusses theproduct design and the reading
experiences carried out with children aged 7-11 of twointeractive works: an enriched digitized
edition of an old children story (“Plaga dedragones”/ “A Plague of Dragons”) and a piece of

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interactive fiction (“El Cambiazo”/“Switcheroo”). We explored how each textual modality required
different strategies toproduce engaging forms of interactivity

Sound Effect
Please Answer Carefully by litrouke (itch.io)
Fading – The New River
Dolphins in the Reservoir
A Sign in Space - A Sign in Space is an interdisciplinary project by media artist Daniela de Paulis, in
collaboration with the SETI Institute, the European Space Agency, the Green Bank Observatory and
INAF, the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics.