Reflection final project

After the presentation of this final project, I realize how large and ambitious this project actually was. Because after all the work that I have done: thinking about the plot, writing the story, drawing the original illustrations, edit digitally the originals, create the interactive digital story and print the illustration for the paper version of this book. I felt that even though I have accomplished my original goals I need to keep working on it to improve a couple of thinks to get the best of it. For instance, I would like to ask a professional writer review and edit the story in order to simplify ideas and expressions that might help the story to be more clear and attractive.
I also will like to register the story and images in order to be able to publish it.

After all I am very pleased with my final project because not only was I able to make this idea become real but also I believe that this book might help kids and adults (parents and educators) to discuss and learn about important thinks like friendship, self-confidence and human relation ship.

Regarding the multimedia for educators class, I really enjoyed everybody presentations and I have learn about many possibles options that could be used to improve education in different levels and environments.

Thank you Selila!

Interactive Narrative

I google the words interactive media and the result to my request was a list of links to different pages with information about multimedia storytelling. I visited the web sites in particular this one http://www.interactivenarratives.org/ were you can find a list of other sites with multimedia material from news papers like The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, etc. The articles and the multimedia material was interesting but it was not what I was spectating.

I thought that I will found a list games like the one that we discussed in class where the player interact with a male and female couple in a everyday situation on real-time 3d interactive drama answering questions and adding comments to build the direction of the interaction. In this case was really interesting the programing behind the interaction because it seems like all the possibles answer that the player would write were already taken under consideration for another possible answer that will keep building the interaction of the game. So I went to wikipedia to get more information about the interactive narratives unfortunately there was not much information about it. I went back to google and searched for interactive narratives games and I found this interesting web site with a list of on-line games http://jayisgames.com/archives/2008/12/the_majesty_of_colors.php

I played with The Majesty of Colors, by Gregory Weir. It is an expressive interactive story about choices and consequences. You play the part of a nightmarish Lovecraftian beast from the undiscovered ocean depths, as it creeps to the surface and encounters the human race for the first time. A first-person narrative provides context, and helps guide you through your emotional encounter with this confusing new world.
I was interesting and i never like video games or computer games that much but after this new approach I would like to keep visiting new sites with information, reviews and comments about new games and interactive stories in the future.

Wikis Presentation

What's a wiki? The word "wiki" comes from Hawaiian language, meaning "quick" or "fast."
A wiki is a web site that lets any visitor become a participant: you can create or edit the actual site contents without any special technical knowledge or tools. All you need is a computer with an Internet connection. A wiki is continuously “under revision.” It is a living collaboration whose purpose is the sharing of the creative process and product by many. One famous example is Wiki-pedia, an online encyclopedia with no “authors” but millions of contributors and editors. http://www.wikipedia.org/
http://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english

Who uses wikis? Wikis are used by people collaborating on projects or trying to share things online, such as family information and photos, technical information from users of a product, data from a research and development project, clubs, or collaborative projects.
College and university courses seem to be using wikis far more than the K-12 community right now. In K-12 education, wikis are being used by educators to conduct or follow-up after professional development workshops or as a communication tool with parents. The greatest potential, however, lies in student participation in the ongoing creation and evolution of the wiki.
Uses of a wiki
http://www.wikia.com/wiki/Uses_of_a_wiki

What is the difference between a wiki and a blog? A blog, or web log, shares writing and multimedia content in the form of “posts” (starting point entries) and “comments” (responses to the posts). While commenting, and even posting, are open to the members of the blog or the general public, no one is able to change a comment or post made by another. The usual format is post-comment-comment-comment, and so on. For this reason, blogs are often the vehicle of choice to express individual opinions.
A wiki has a far more open structure and allows others to change what one person has written. This openness may trump individual opinion with group consensus.http://www.wikispaces.com/ http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2006/08/how-i-use-wikis-what-do-you-do.html

How to get started
http://pbwiki.com/ more info about academics http://pbwiki.com/academic.wiki
http://www.wikispaces.com/
http://www.wetpaint.com/ more info about it http://www.wetpaintcentral.com/
My wikishttp://artplusdesign.wetpaint.com/http://artplusdesign.pbwiki.com/


Wiki ideas for Education:
Design a collaborative project and shear resulting reports.
Collaborate with other schools.
Common problems and collaborate on how to solve them.

How do I use wikis with my class(es)?
Wiki ideas:
An online writer’s workshop or poetry workshop with suggested revisions from classmates. Start with drafts and collaborate. Make sure students use the notes tab to explain why they make changes.
Literary analysis of actual text on the wiki- with links to explanations of literary devices, a glossary to explain vocabulary, etc. You will be amazed how much they will find and argue.
Collaborative book reviews or author studies
A virtual art gallery with ongoing criticism and responses regarding artwork found online or originals from your art classroom.
Collections/montages of examples of an abstract concept, such as “surrealism”- why do you can this surrealist?- explain/refute.

Wikis just for teachers:
Visit the TeachersFirst wiki to add your own wiki ideas and successes!
How do I use wikis with my class(es)? How to get startedBefore you start your wiki with your class(es), make some basic decisions:
Who will be able to see the wiki? (the public? members only?)
Who will be able to edit the wiki? (the public? members only? vary by section?)
Who will be able to join the wiki? (students only? parents? invited guests? the public?)
What parts of the wiki will you “protect” (lock from changes)?
Who will moderate the wiki for appropriateness, etc?
Who will have the ability to reset changes?
Will you, as the teacher, be notified of all changes?
Will the wiki have Individual or global memberships? (by individual students if you want an individual record of who made changes, or with one log-in per group or class?)
Once you an envision how your wiki will work and be used, it is best to get your principal or supervisor's approval if you are one of the first teachers using such a "new" web tool. Recent news stories about social networking sites have administrators on edge. Your school's Acceptable Use Policy may have some specific rules about using tools like wikis.

You want to find out the following:
Is it permissible to post student work to web?
What is the policy on posting student names (initials? pseudonyms?)
What is the policy on posting pictures of students or class scenes?
What is the policy on posting any information that might identify the wiki class?
Can these policies be met through security settings, parent and student agreements?
Does the district filering prevent access to the wiki tools from school? If so, will your administrator facilitate UNblocking of the wiki's exact URL?
Buy a wiki softareLooking for more information about wikis? Want to learn the basics about Confluence?
http://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence/wiki.jsp#whyuseawiki

Ross Mayfield Interview, founder of SocialText, which is the first Wiki company. He’s been at the center of a bunch of trends, including Web 2.0, blogging, social media, and boom and bust cycles. We hear what SocialText is up to, and what Ross is seeing from his office in downtown Palo Alto.
http://www.podtech.net/scobleshow/technology/1255/inside-the-first-wiki-company-socialtext

What benefits are there from student wiki participation?
Creativity
Build creativity skills, especially elaboration and fluency. Build creative flexibility in accepting others’ edits!
Introduce and reinforce the idea that a creative piece as never “done.”
Engagement
Increase engagement of all students.
Interpersonal
Develop interpersonal and communication skills, especially consensus-building and compromise, in an environment where the product motivates interpersonal problem-solving.
Develop true teamwork skills
Writing
Improve the most challenging phase of writing process: revision, revision, revision!
Increase flexibility to consider other ways of saying things.
Build an awareness of a wider, more authentic audience.

Links
http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2007/09/12/02wiki.h01.htmlhttp://animation.wikia.com/index.php?title=The_Simpsons&diff=3572&oldid=3571
http://arted20.ning.com/
http://asbvisualarts.wetpaint.com/page/Links+to+Cool+Places
http://avalonit.net/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.HomePage
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Visual_arts