Week 6

This week’s digital storytelling module was the most fun by far. We listened to podcasts, read compelling Twine stories, played narrative games, and in class constructed our own Twine scenario. I found the COVID-19 Twine by Megan Zahneis to be particularly compelling because of its ability to bring humanity and an understanding of lived reality to policy decisions and conversations about public health. Zahneis narrates the painful decisions of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty members, and staff members at universities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because the stories are written in a “choose your own adventure” format, readers are able to step into a multitude of different perspectives, seeing individuals process risks and tradeoffs as best they can while managing structural inequalities and an inadequate built environment. With your characters, you worry about your immunocompromised partner, entering into crowded elevators in your wheelchair, trying to follow masked class discussions with a hearing deficiency, and losing your job because you haven’t been able to get back into the country. It of course made me wonder about Twine’s usefulness in helping bring to life the consequences of recent U.S. policy decisions, especially on issues where empathy is lacking. In class, my partner and I tried to humanize last year’s destruction of the global aid sector and U.S. Agency for International Development. I wanted a way to express the twilight zone I and my colleagues have been living in – losing careers, losing homes, dealing with the trauma of government surveillance, doxxing, and use of force, and confronting public indifference and hostility. It was difficult. I was too close to it and too focused on policy and my own experience. My partner, who was less close, was able to more quickly identify narrative threads. To write a compelling narrative, we decided to focus on decision-making that highlighted the character’s emotional experiences. And we stuck to short first-person phrases, in a similar style to Zahneis’ COVID Twine. I felt my own limitations as a creative writer – even re-reading this blog, I can see how a career in government programs has shaped my writing. Doesn’t make for compelling narratives, to say the least. Like anything else, good digital storytelling takes practice. 

Walking through Adventures in Illuminating, the potential of digital storytelling for history teaching was also very apparent. In just fifteen minutes, I had walked through the decisions I might have taken as a novice artist in 13th century Paris, preparing materials to paint, illuminate, and bind a manuscript. What skills might I need? How much might material cost and where would I find it? I was able to see the animal skin scrapped day after day to make a fine parchment; make pigments from lapis lazuli, cinnabar, and lead; and hire scribes among other things. Like the Twine examples, the game was illustrated selectively, fostering imagination. I was brought closer to the life of a medieval apprentice, seeing the stark differences but also similarities and through-lines with modern life. It suddenly made 13th century life relevant. That’s pretty powerful.