The purpose of storytelling remains the same; to convey to the audience a message (Malita & Martin, 2010). This holds true to all formats whether it is engravings on the monoliths of the British Isles, the illuminated texts of the middle-ages, the pop-culture novels of the modern world or in the ever-changing texts in the landscape that is the digital storytelling realm.

When evaluating digital texts to determine what a ‘good one’ is it is, as mentioned above the message, the content that is paramount, with the addition of the unique affordances present in the digital realm (Dobler, 2011). Yokata & Teale (2014) share several questions to consider when evaluating a piece of digital literature including; are the digital affordances of value to the literature? Do the interactive features supplement the digital text without distracting the reader? And on completing the critical review of three different types of digital texts it is clear the complexities of evaluating such a diverse range of stories and storytelling devices. The use of well-defined and known categories is a positive step in the right direction. Below are a series of categories I have used to review digital texts to date;

  1. Literary content – is it a strong well written story/stories?
  2. Navigation – is the experience easy to navigate? Does the navigation of the text distract from its readability?
  3. Look and feel – is the digital text aesthetically pleasing? Does it add to or takeaway from the content?
  4. Functionality – Is the digital text functional? Are there limitations due to platform types or software? E.g. need for flash player
  5. Interactivity – Does the interactivity allow for a high level of participation by the reader? Does this hinder or enhance the reading experience?
  6. Overall effectiveness – Do all of the above elements within a digital context work together?

Skains (2010) tells us that best results for developing digital enjoyment for readers moving from print to digital texts is providing a novel that is consistent across the two media types. As an avid reader my experience of digital texts to date is dominated by the eBook. A collection of screens that tell a story (Lamb, 2011). I have had no trouble moving from print to digital texts and enjoy the instantaneous nature of purchasing eBooks by the, if I’m honest, hundreds and devouring their content. My foray into more interactive, participation based digital texts is a much newer journey. I have dipped my toe into the online gaming world of Skrym (Bethesda Softworks, 2006) and played open world games like Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games, 2017) and utterly enjoyed the unfolding narratives found in both. Through the eyes of a teacher I have accessed and used sites like the My Place student and teacher site to supplement the printed story with interactive adventures and film clips (“My Place Website”, 2018). I believe that digital texts, good digital texts, have only added to my enjoyment of stories and storytelling, they add layers of meanings, connections and allow for participation and ownership by the reader that were not present in printed texts.

The digital text that is 80 days is a complex choose your own adventure novel that allows the reader to create meaning, connections and in due course the story itself (Kitson, 2011). It lends itself to many areas of the New South Wales Key Learning Areas including English, Mathematics, Geography, History and Science (NSW, 2018). The language of the app and the choices readers make allow the study of inference and language features, prominent in the Stage 3 English syllabus (NSW, 2018), easy to integrate.

The Stage 3 Geography syllabus focuses on Australia and its connection to the world (NSW, 2018). The map and the journey undertaken in the app as the story progresses can be used to focus students’ attention on the distance between Australia, their home-towns and the countries and places visited during the journey.

The need for budgeting and time management in the app allow a teacher to integrate lessons in Mathematics on addition and subtraction, time and elapsed time, money and budgeting (NSW, 2018). One area I am very excited to incorporate is the area of real world data. Imagine a class of students mapping out their destinations and the day on which they arrived at said destinations, graphing and analysing this on an individual level, then as a group pooling their data and looking at the most visited places, the average length of time to reach a certain country, how many readers went to certain places, the least visited and most visited places, the possibilities are endless.

In a crowded curriculum this ability to integrate and create across multiple Key Learning Areas is a profound positive.

References

NSW, B. (2018). NSW Syllabus :: Home. Retrieved from https://syllabus.nesa.nsw.edu.au/

My Place Website. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/abc3/myplace/

Bethesda Softworks. (2006). The elder scrolls IV: Oblivion [Video game]. New York: Take 2 Interactive.

Dobler, E. (2013). Looking beyond the screen: evaluating the quality of digital books. Reading Today, 30(5), 20-21. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ps/i.do?p=EAIM&sw=w&u=csu_au&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA331003565&asid=21335f5ad0cac976491d1b84a5851469

Guerrilla Games. (2017). Horizon Zero Dawn [Video game]. San Mateo: Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Kitson, L. (2011). Reconceptualising understandings of texts, readers and contexts: One english teacher’s response to using multimodal texts and interactive whiteboards. English in Australia, 46(3).

Lamb, A. (2011). Reading redefined for a transmedia universe. Learning and leading with technology, 39(3), 12-17. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=f868dda3-677a-400f-98b8-61aa90aa2ae5%40sessionmgr103 

Malita, l. & Martin, C. (2010). Digital storytelling as web passport to success in the 21st Century. Procedia Social and Behavioural Sciences. 2(2), 3060-3064. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042810005057

Skains, R.L. (2010). The shifting author-reader dynamic: online novel communities as a bridge from print to digital literature. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 16(1), 95–111 DOI: 10.1177/1354856509347713. Retrieved from http://con.sagepub.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/content/16/1/95.full.pdf+html

Yokota, J. & Teale, W. H. (2014). Picture books and the digital world: educators making informed choices. The Reading Teacher, 34(6). Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/3886534/Picture_Books_and_the_Digital_World_Educators_Making_Informed_Choices