This class has been eye-opening to all the different approaches to presenting history. These big open-ended discussion questions are mindboggling and illuminating.
This was my second introduction to Twine. I took HIST390 Intro to Digital History with Dr. Otis during undergrad and my group made a choose your own adventure game that was set during the Reformation in England. I appreciate the skills we learned, but like those that knew GIS was not for them, I know that creative historical storytelling is not for me. I could see myself creating a Twine experience that explores many branches of an event or time period, but I will leave the imagination to others. Maybe the time crunch of the 20 minutes we had to create our own got to me, when I learned it was supposed to be historical, I reluctantly scrapped the which snack do you wanna pick from the junk food cupboard Twine I was making as we got our demo.
I think it would be interesting to use this methodology to present many different perspectives on a significant event. There are a few court cases we are planning to use on the Judicial Learning Center website with a lot of testimony that I think this approach would change things up for the 8th graders engaging with our site.
I knew that RRCHNM produced podcasts, but I had never listened to any. I chose to listen to Dr. Miles Kelly’s Appalachian Trial podcast episode about the sign on top of Mt. Katahdin. I don’t generally listen to podcasts, just because of being so busy, but I found these well done. They were much more engaging than the video listed in this week’s schedule. Both history delivery systems consist of a mountain of work, but personally I would rather just listen than watch too.
It was interesting to hear the differences in the other podcasts. It was easy to tell that The Green Tunnel followed a strict script and was heavily edited, but it was also only 15 minutes, so it makes sense that the hour-long ones that my group members listened to were more conversational.
Andrew, I agree the time crunch of coming up with the Twine in such a short time span almost got to me in class as well, but now that I know how the software works, I do want to experiment with it a bit, and the way you propose to use it as an interactive learning tool sounds really interesting!
Release the junk food cupboard cut! Just kidding, we were definitely also feeling the time getting to us in creating a demo. We only a had two slides when time was up, and we hurriedly made six more as Dr. Otis was showing some of the other demos, haha. I think your idea of using Twine for public history education sounds awesome, I bet 8th graders would love to be able to play a game like that to engage with history!
Hi Andrew–
I like your “which snack would you pick” concept; I was similarly planning a “day in the life of my cat” game in my head before I heard it was to be historical. Even though Twine games might not be your favorite historical medium, I appreciate that you recognized the potential applications of creative historical storytelling and digital games, especially for engaging younger audiences like those at the JLC. A choose-your-own-adventure game from the perspective of a judge or jury foreperson could be interesting!
Best,
Alexa
Andrew,
I would love to hear more about which cases you think a program such as Twine would be suited for. I personally think it is a perfect tool to elevate the experiences of visitors to the future exhibits you have planned, as well as strengthen audience connections to landmark cases within Fairfax.
Our Friday meeting for the CML, featuring Jim Ambuske, was an extremely helpful way to end the week, especially since I had just listened to Worlds Turned Upside Down. His discussion of the balance between authenticity and creative elements really showcased how considerations surrounding narrative and audiences are at the forefront of podcasters’ minds and honestly should be in the minds of everyone creating historical projects.