02/24/2005: "Interesting Class for artists/writers"

Every summer Middlebury College has their Bread Loaf School of English program held here on the UAS Juneau campus, which is a big deal for us as it is considered very prestigious. The other three campuses they use for this program are in Santa Fe, Vermont, and Oxford.

This summer one of the classes they're offereing here looks right up my alley, I'm very excited by it and if the dates and funding works out, I'll be enrolled for sure. Below is the information on the course from the catalog, doesn't it look wonderful!??

Going Digital:Writing and Technology in the Twenty-first Century/

As anyone with a cell phone, an iPod, or a digital camera knows, in the last ten years we have seen far-reaching changes in the way new technologies have affected everyday communication and more formal modes of expression.

From MoveOn.org and Web blogging to digital poetry and embedded journalism, storytelling has never been so complicated and at the same time so multi-sensory. Clearly, digital technologies have challenged the page as the natural scene of writing, and this change is altering not only the way we write but also the way we read.

The purpose of this course is twofold: (1) to provide a conceptual framework for thinking critically about the relationship among art, technology, and writing; and (2) to introduce creative concepts and hands-on skills related to digital storytelling and essay writing.We will explore three different genres of multimedia writing: radio essay, photo essay, and interactive essay.

The radio essay will include transposing a written text to spoken language, recording a voiceover, and then mixing that narration with music—all on a computer.

The photo essay will explore ways of integrating visual objects (pictures and images) with a written essay, along with handling photo layout and manipulation.

Lastly, the interactive essay will examine hypertext as a nonlinear form of writing constructed for the Web. Each of these three assignments will involve writing a creative nonfiction essay, then converting it into another medium.