Week 3 – Derek Yoshikane

After watching the videos for week 3, I felt like there were many educational applications for these videos.  High school students put more effort into work that is more personal in nature.  I thought of self-expression through a multimedia platform very engaging.  I was continually amazed at the way a story can be told in such a short amount of time.  The pieces all had the ability to take us on a journey to understand what experiences these different people had been through.

The Mapping Memories video is an invaluable resource to have “real life” experiences shared with students.  My first reaction was to try and bring this group to my high school.  The video made you want to hear their full stories.  It definitely hooked me in.  Having the group present their stories will have the greatest impact, but the great thing about technology is that you can present the speakers thorough Skype or just a video presentation in classrooms.  As an educator, I have seen the positive impact of having guest speakers tell their stories.  Delivering relevant stories to the classroom is becoming easier, but I do wonder if stories lose impact on students if the personal interaction(like a question/answer session) is taken away.

The interview project seemed more like a study in sociology.  I found it entertaining and at the same time, educational.  It is a new take on “reality television”.  In fact, it is what reality television started as.  I find it refreshing to see that the agenda is obviously to showcase people, as they want to be portrayed.  When normal everyday people are not “trained” on how to act, it gives you a genuine look at whom they really are.  It is like taking a stranger’s picture.  If you just walk up to someone and say, “Hey, can I take your photo?”  If they say, “Yes,” they will give you a big grin or silly face that will look contrived, because it is.  If you take a few minutes to chat with someone first and then take their photo, you would get a genuine, unforced smile or look in most cases.  There is a level of trust involved in capturing genuine emotion in photographs of people.  This is a general approach that I use and teach regarding portrait photography.  I am sure that this approach is used prior to filming, because the people looked comfortable sharing their stories.

The Center for Digital Storytelling provides their stories to the public via YouTube.  I am ecstatic that The CDS is sharing with people through the most widely used platform for video viewing.  I am again thinking of accessibility to resources, and love that the CDS chose to use YouTube.  After clicking on the “education” category, I watched two very moving videos. Reunion Story – A Digital Story by Cherlyn Boyce and The Joy of summer – A Digital Story by Lisa Garza.  “Reunion Story” moved me because it defined the reason why I became a teacher.  “The Joy of Summer,” really showed me that when you tell a story , it can have many dimensions.  Lisa Garza spoke of racism, her perservance, and the significance of her father.  I may create and assign a project similar to these videos for a final project in my photography class.  CDS provides a service to normal, everyday people that takes slideshows to the next level, and lets them tell their stories to everyone.

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2 comments to Week 3 – Derek Yoshikane

  • epriebe@uoregon.edu

    I think your musing on whether or not stories lose their impact if there is no personal interaction goes back to what we have been discussing for the last few weeks. If there is no follow-up, did the stories have any effect? This is where I thought the Mapping Memories project did a great job. Here is an organization with a clear mission, and they provide many avenues and platforms for getting involved. With this project, more than any other one we’ve looked at, there seems to be real opportunity for personal interaction (in a wide variety of forms) after the play button is pressed. They have calls-to-action on the their website and a wealth of information on their cause and projects. Mapping Memories does a great job of providing the context we crave.

  • dereky@uoregon.edu

    Thanks for the reply Emily. The first thought that came to my mind after watching the piece on Mapping Memories was, “How can I get this group to present at my school?” Their program is very organized and clearly educational. I think that the “real” interaction with the storytellers makes the most impact (Q & A session). I am really impressed at how they took personal refugee experiences and made it fit into a practical and simple message. The simple message is, “Take pride in who you are and where you came from, and open your heart/mind to different people and cultures.” As a parent, I would love for my child to be taught this lesson.

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