Pay Attention! Or, what is our brain on the Internet?

Reading everyone else’s blogs, I can see that I am not alone in worrying how to make a successful digital essay. I have a few poems in mind, but with each one I only see a cliche as the meaning, and that is what Professor Kaufman said not to do. Hopefully I can find a poem where I wont have to worry about the cliche.

Another issue that I am having is how exactly to make a digital essay. I had to make an ad campaign my senior year of high school, but I had other people to help me out. It was also a lot easier than interpreting a poem. I am hoping that I will be able to get my point across, and that my digital essay wont be cheesy or will not make any sense. I also need some tips on how to put a digital essay together.

For my digital essay I’m probably going to keep it simple. For a few reasons. First because I’m still a little lost and don’t want to overwhelm myself. Secondly, by keeping it simple I can try to focus more on conveying my thesis clearly. I was thinking about doing a stop motion video, but it seems like a lot of people do that, so I have to brainstorm a bit, and I also want to have an awesome song, something about being an artist, because it relates to my poem. Hmmmmm. what else… IDK my BFF Jill

I might put together clips of a movie, since I’m not a good actor.

The idea of having to complete a “digital essay” excites me yet daunts me at the same time. I’m glad we were assigned a digital essay because it seems intriguing and it’s a definite diversion from writing class normalcy. Writing papers bores me to death, so I’m looking forward to the challenge of having to take the intrinsically dull paper and add a dimension of digital-ness to it. However, I think it would be helpful if we could view some more examples of digital essays in order to obtain a clearer idea of what we need to do (and to get some inspiration).

Even though I am psyched at the prospect of creating a digital essay, I have a few questions: 1) How can we find the perfect poem to write about? 2) The writing portion of this assignment seems like it will ultimately rest upon a foundation of concrete analysis of the poem we choose. What are some ways we can analyze our poems without making our essays seem like balderdash? Is there a standard way of analyzing poetry that we should adhere to, or should we just pick some lines and interpret them? 3) Can you please explain the group aspect of this project a little more? If we choose to do the digital part of this assignment in groups, how are we supposed to come up with a coherent video if each group-member’s poem is different?

Even though I feel like this digital essay assignment is kind of ambiguous, I think it is a great way to end the semester. This project seems like it will be fun.

I think this digital essay to be a interesting way of presenting what you are trying to say in your essay. But since I don’t have a real thesis as of moment, I’m finding the digital essay to be quite challenging because, well besides the fact this is my first digital essay and that I have no software skills that was presented as examples, I’m unsure of how to deliver the theme and message through the audience through media or visually. Since I don’t know how to use the softwares or programs to make flash movies or effects, I find myself limited of what I can do to express my idea.

Another concern that I’ve been thinking is that my idea would be a cliche and since the poem I’m thinking of choosing is from the electronic literature collection, the star wars one, I feel that its redundant to try to express the idea in the same way. Also how long should the digital essay be? Should it be as long as the idea gets expressed or should there be a specific time limit?

I think if I get a better and clearer thesis on my essay that I would be able to write the digital essay. On the other hand, because I already have a image in my head, maybe doing the digital essay would provide a stronger thesis of what I’m trying to express.

And I think working in groups is a great idea becuase you are working along others that is trying to express a similar thesis and that everyone can contribute something in the work (digital essay).

     I didn’t remember we had to actually make a digital essay around the same time as this final paper. Maybe it’s because we talked about it in class a while ago or during the last class when I was absent. I think using the same poem I plan to write the paper about for this digital essay will actually be enjoyable and convenient.

     Back in high school, I also made a video for English Class. I was supposed to make an advertisement in digital form. To me, it was exciting, but looking back at the video is embarrassing. Hopefully, I can get a few friends to help me out with the recording and effects of the final product. I was thinking about how to make this digital essay and something popped into my mind. A 2-4 minute video kind of sounds like the length of a music video even though they’re usually around 4-5 minutes, but that’s how I think of this digital essay. I just have to think of a story like the poem and recreate it into a video.

When I first heard of digital essay, the first thing that came to mind was a visual that symbolized an essay. After seeing a couple of videos on our blog. I became to understand the purpose of the video. The video’s show a different message in each one and the thesis of each video is almost like it is hidden, waiting for the viewer to find out. It was fun to be able to see many different scenarios in the videos and how it represented each and every one of their arguments.

The major question in which I am struggling with would be how am I able to create a video based on a thesis or my paper that is based on a poem? How am I going to write a 5-7 page essay based on a poem that is not even a page long? How am I able to display this essay and turn it into an inspiring video? Several questions begun to circle around my head.Though I was very surprised on the digital essays in which I have seen so far.

My other major concern is how to be able to create the video itself. I browse through YouTube everyday but have no idea how they put all the images together or create effects. I think that the presentation on Tuesday will really benefit us because not all of us in the class is able to make a YouTube video. I think the major problem that is going to be held in the overall class would be how to connect a thesis statement to a visual, a YouTube video that would express much more.

I have never done a digital essay in any class before, and this was the first time that I have heard about it. I think a digital essay is a different way to tell audience about your essay other than on a paper, which means that your essay will be expressed in a media or digital form. Instead of reading the whole essay, audience should be able to understand the theme of your essay from that short video.

Since I have never done a digital essay before, I am pretty worried if I could make my theme clear within a few minutes and if the audience can understand what I am trying to express. Besides, I am not a very creative person. So, I don’t know how I can make the video interesting and catchy. However, I still haven’t had a clear theme on this paper, so I still don’t have any idea of how to make this video.

Preparation #2

  I wish my audiences will find my thesis as soon as they finish watching my digital essay. The thing is how I can make it impressive enough or noticeable enough to ensure all of my audiences understand my thesis by watching a short video which is going be only 3-5 minutes long. I’m not going to make it too fancy but precise and understandable. The BIGGEST concern I’m having now with regard to the digital part of this assignment is ‘how a thesis of poem can be effectively expressed in a 3 minutes video!?’

I think the guideline of this final project is kind of vague and I don’t have any clue about how should I start. But, by having a vague guideline, we will have more odds to be creative.

  The BIGGEST question I’m having now with the paper is ‘how we’re supposed to write a paper base on a poem. Since my chosen poem is only ten lines long, I’m confusing about how I should organize my body paragraphs base on these ten lines’…May be in the first body paragraph I will summarize and interpret the entire poem; in the second body paragraph, I will talk about my personal feeling towards the poem; in the third body paragraph, I will probably state how the thesis of my chosen poem relates to our lives. I don’t know how it will turn out to be, but I’ll do some research to read some sample papers written based on poems.