Digital Storytelling Multimedia Archive
Please review the following website:
The Digital Storytelling Multimedia Archive
After you reviewed thew site, please post a comment in which you discuss your reaction to this multi-campus research project on digital storytelling in higher education. Please try to be specific in your comments and include what you like, don't like, works great, doesn't work, needs more work, etc., any comments related to the navigation of the site, plus any other questions or suggestions you have.
Your comments will be sent to the developer of the site who has asked for our feedback.
Posts
8 comments:
The first thing that strikes me about this site is that it is visually appealing. The color scheme works well and is consistent across sites, the Grid section is stunning, and the whole site is visually interesting, yet professional.
I like that there is a large archive of stories, with credit given for creating them. Some of the discussion on the various pages is somewhat over my head and/or beyond my interest level. I presume this is because I am not the intended audience, but whoever is running this site might want to also have it reviewed by someone who IS the intended audience.
Also, forgot to say that the navigation works really well if you are familiar with the site, but the sub-menus not being visible until you have clicked on the main heading is a pet peeve of mine.
Alright, graphic design perspective. I like the gray, the subtlety and the professional look of the site. However, not too crazy about the light olive green or asparagus type color on the main link tabs. I takes all you attention away from the interesting content. I agree with Deidre about the Grid section. That is a very cool page. Flash really works well with that section. The green and gray color scheme also looks good there. I think because different hues of green are used. Nice! That is a really cool way of presenting findings.
I only wish that the main three links - Multimedia distinctive, Social Pedagogy and Affective learning were as impressive as the Grid section. I didn't like the scrolling down and the various embedded video screens. I'm sorry but I hate scrolling down on sites to see or to read. It's just a psychological thing I guess. But I truly wish there was another way to organize all those video clips. Maybe have some kind of a gallery that pops-up where you can see the video and little video thumbnails at the bottom to chose from. That is the only thing about the site that sort of bothered me. I agree with Deidre on the sub-menus, they are not necessary but with the use of breadcrumbs style navigation, they could be worked in on the navigation menu.
So summary of points is:
-The video links need to be organized better.
-There could be inclusion of sub-menus under the main headings.
-And the green color needs to be worked on.
I, like Deidre, thought the color scheme was appealing, tastefully done. It looks very professiona and isn't too colorful or busy. The "grid" is awesome. Compliments to the designer.
There were a couple of things that didn't work for me. First, there were no links to the sample digital stories on the introduction page. Also, some of the DSs from the archive didn't work, and I think they could've done a better job with the titles.
Well, I guess I am going to be the one that says I found the color scheme boring. The gray was not so bad, helps with glare actually but I didn't like it paired with the green. That may just be a personal preference though.
The grid was a nice piece of work but I didn't like the way the samples were listed and I do not like having to click on links within the page. I would rather see a drop down sub menu from the top.
The site is fairly clean, whether by design or lack of research on other topics/ links to include in the site. To adequately evaluate the site, it would be helpful in knowing what their goal/purpose was and who their intended audience is.
They also need to seriously do some proofreading. In the grid I am assuming that they mean to put the word "expertise" in the first column but it is not exactly spelled correctly. When you pull up the boxes too under that category there are some statement that do not make sense, like they almost didn't finish the sentence. The site needs to be proofread.
Most of my feelings to the website are positive, but the purpose of this discussion should be more critical, I think.
I was expecting to see some DS productions of these students in this "DS archive," but all the videos are interviews of students and faculties in the research process. I think these materials are all interpreted in texts and the videos clips archived are not well-organized, like Anita said. I think it's very cool to present these qualitative evidences of the research in this way, but I expect something more.
The findings of the research are basically derived from interviews of students and faculties, as far as I can see. In my point of view, however, is there any evidences from students' DS productions available to demonstrate the contention of the research. Take 2.2.2 Using Images in Digital Storytelling finding one for example, it states that "Images in multimedia allow students to convey ideas and emotions that they would have considerable trouble explaining in writing. Students are able to show complicated or difficult evidence or to arouse historical empathy in viewers through the use of still and moving images." Followed this statements, there are 5 interview clips to support, to persuade readers this point of view, but they didn't work for me. I anticipate more evidence from students' productions or other materials that can support this findings.
Over all, the researchers did a very good job in website development and I really like it.
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