weaving a virtual web:
practical approaches to new information technologies

edited by
Sibylle Gruber
NCTE, 1999

David Gillette's Ideas on Media Collages
 
 
Media Collage Tip #1 Media Collage Tip #2 Media Collage Tip #3

Media Collage Tip #1
How to evaluate non-textual student work

• Treat student Web work as a media collage. Examine how well the entire structure hangs together. The argument or point of the collage should be clear from the outset.

• Ask students to explain every aspect of their Web collage. Require cohesion and thoughtful purpose in their answers. Any answers not well founded or which fail to support the goals of the collage indicate the element in question is a weak part of the whole and must be re-considered.

• Keep track of how often you get lost. If you are lost too often, something is wrong and the collage is still not complete. Getting lost in a Web collage is not your fault, it is the fault of weak design and indicates there is still work to be done. 

• Require everything to work properly. Is there something you can’t read, see, or use in the Web collage? If so, the collage is still not complete.
 


 
Media Collage Tip #2

How to focus on narrative in non-textual media forms

Asking the following questions may help you and your students define and examine the narrative "interfaces" of media such as film, television, still photography, and the printed word.

• How does this media function as a storytelling device?
• How is this media different than the other ones we have studied thus far?
• What is the most powerful narrative aspect of this media technology?
• What is the weakest narrative aspect of this media technology?
• How does this media relate to or interact with its intended audience?
• How does this media deal with narrative representations of time? 



 


Media Collage Tip #3

How to arrange a semester of media seminars.

• Choose source texts, films, photos, and television productions with a similar theme. This is not necessary, but it does help focus class discussion if students can see how different media deal with the same topic. This also makes it easier to establish comparisons between the narrative interfaces used by each media.

• Be flexible with the class schedule. The range of fore-knowledge and comfort with different media formats varies from class to class. A class composed of English majors can move through a "Text and Codex as Narrative Interface" seminar much more quickly than can a class composed of computer science students who may not be as familiar with the history and development of the book and printed literature. Seminars on the narrative interfaces of still photography and painting can take longer than expected depending upon the level of art history students have been exposed to before taking this seminar.

• Reserve time for in-class work on the Web. Students need to have time, in class, with the instructor present, to work on their projects, ask technical questions about HTML, surf the Web, and show their work to each other. Students have to do a great deal of outside work for this course, so providing a good number of in-class workshops helps lighten the load. In-class workshops can also lead to impromptu lectures that may solve many problems quickly, by addressing concerns that would never be raised in a standard lecture/response/discussion format. 

• Discourage the use of too many media formats in a final Web collage. Students will want to experiment with each of the narrative interfaces you introduce them to in class. Experimentation is fine, but students also need to learn the basic artistic and writing dictum that "less is more." Help students understand the value of editing their work (both textually and visually) for precision and clarity.
 
 
 
 


|  |  |  | 


 


NCTE