- How has your colleague’s experience differed from yours? And how do you know?
In his reflection, Juliano writes that he has used Twine in his classroom before so he is familiar with the program. Funnily enough, we both used ancient civilizations as a theme for our stories. My Twine has the user exploring ancient Egypt and Greece and he explores ancient Greece! This must be because we are both upper intermediate teachers so ancient civilizations are in our curriculum. We both have pictures in our Twine, but he went one step further to include sound effects! I found the sound effects really added to the experience of using Twine. I will definitely learn how to add those in my next story.
- What web authoring tool have they chosen to manifest their work?
Juliano has chosen to use UBC blogs to share his work. He has a link to his Twine at the top of his post, a clear and concise reflection, and his references are listed at the bottom.
- How does their tool differ from yours in the ways in which it allows content-authouring and end-user interface?
On Juliano’s blog, there is a “leave a reply” link that sends the user to the bottom of his post where you can leave feedback. This is very user friendly and is beneficial for both him and myself, as I can leave comments directed at the post and he can review them easily.
- What literacies does their site privilege or deny in comparison and contrast to yours?
I notice that Juliano’s posts are all listed on the same page, with the most recent first. On the side bar there are links to each individual post so you don’t have to stroll all the way to the bottom to see his first post. On my blog, each post has an individual page. I can see the benefit of having them all on one big stroll as they are all in one place. However, it is advantageous to have the sidebar, like he does, so you can easily jump from post to post.
There are a few features that deny the user ‘ease of use’ on his blog. One is that the “Home” tab at the top of his blog doesn’t direct the user to a different page. Seeing as all of the posts are on the same page, that is considered the “home” page. Essentially this makes the “home” tab redundant. Also as you move down the main page to different posts, the sidebar stays at the top of the page. This means you have to stroll back to the top of the page in order to click on another post. These are just some formatting differences I noticed between our blogs.
- What theoretical underpinnings are evident in your/your colleague’s textual architecture and how does this affect one’s experience of the work?
In his reflection, Juliano mentions that he finds it helpful to plan out his story before coding it online. “From previous experience, these stories tend to fall apart or lose connection when you are writing on the fly without a proper plan. I also made sure to write my entire story out first and dealt with the coding after my story was completed” (Juliano Ng). The architecture of Juliano’s Twine was planned out with intentional connections leading the reader from one passage to another. Before coding, Juliano knew which links connected to which side stories. His thinking mirrors Bolter’s thoughts that links on a word processing can be circular in nature. The links define relationships among textual elements and constitute the rhetoric of the hypertext (Bolter, 2001). Juliano also mentions in his reflection that the rhetoric of the hypertext has the potential to be a popular new style of writing to a younger audience.
- How do the constraints of the course design manifest in your architectural choices? How have you responded to the pedagogical underpinnings of this course design in your own web space?
In comparing our blogs, the main difference is the layout of the main page. Juliano has his posts in one location, ordered by when they were posted. I have tabs at the top of the page directing the user to specific posts.
In regards to the architectural choices for our Twine stories we have a similar theme, but Juliano has sound effects and his paths have more definite endings. In my Twine, the paths eventually lead you to either “The End” or the main page where you can continue to choose your adventure.
Reference:
Bolter, J.D. (2001). Writing Space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print. Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.