Part C Critical reflection

Describe

INF533 Literature in Digital Environments explored digital forms of literature. This subject required looking beyond the usual and the known, (print books and ebooks) and highlighted the new and emerging possibilities of digital storytelling. I created a digital story for the first time, using the Microsoft tool Sway. This tool allows the bringing together of narrative text, images, video, sound and hyperlinks to create a digital story.

Creating the digital story deepened skills, such as searching for images on a variety of different platforms: Creative Commons, Wikimedia Commons, Flickr and Pixabay. I also deepened my knowledge of copyright, and how to attribute and reference images.

I read a variety of articles on the emerging field of digital literature and the possibilities for its use in public library programs or in the classroom.  I have a greater understanding and appreciation of the differences between digital storytelling and ebooks. I would not have been able to articulate the difference between the two prior to taking this subject

Interpret

Digital storytelling is an  emerging and modern expression of the ancient art of storytelling, although it goes so much further, it is narrative, often on non-fiction subject matter, with digital content, such as images, sound, video and hyperlinks.  The purpose of a digital story is the same as the ancient version,” to invoke an emotional effect or to communicate a message” (Malita & Martin, 2010, p.3061).

And as these stories are created online, they can be shared as narrowly or as broadly as desired: with one student, a whole class, school, community or beyond.

In a forum post (Hannah, 2020) I related my impressions of an excellent digital story I explored. Unlike other examples of digital literature discussed in that post, Firestorm (Henley, 2013) is still extant and is a professional and immersive journalistic account of bushfires in Tasmania in 2013. Seven years on, in 2020, Firestorm is still viewable. Whereas other examples of digital literature commented on in the forum post, appear to be unsupported, which suggests there are technological issues to overcome before this story genre truly secures its place in storytelling.

With technology an evolving reality in the lives of children, it is imperative that educators and librarians engage with and include digital versions of literature in classrooms and libraries: creating digital stories, and giving children opportunities to do so too (Croft, Nash, O’Connell & Fitzgerald, 2020).  One advantage digital storytelling offers in making children eager to write, is that having access to lots of visual images provides inspiration and ignites creativity, rather than the “block” that can occur when staring at a blank piece of paper (Tackvic, 2012, p. 427). Digital storytelling means critical and creative thinking is activated, as image use and design decisions must be made.

Evaluate

Digital storytelling can be included as another element in teaching and learning in the classroom. It can be introduced in small ways, such as by using Word or Powerpoint and having children gradually become more adventurous with what they add in, such as making recordings of themselves explaining something.  The digital storytelling projects can become more involved and complex and incorporate many different strands and types of media, requiring the development of skills in audio visual tools, sourcing relevant images and knowing how and when these images can be used, and how to give attribution to the original creator.  Children will not only be learning from the content of the digital stories they create, but also new technology skills.

Plan

With the new found skills and knowledge of platforms and tools that I have gained from this subject I plan to explore further the possibilities of creating online and interactive digital stories, with the intention of promoting good literature, reading and the library’s collections for children.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, public libraries cannot hold in-person programs, so creating digital stories which can be accessed via the library website or social media channels is an engaging, interesting and evolving alternative. The original stories of classic children’s authors, or myths and legends from ancient cultures around the world, would all be suitable material for the content of digital stories; these stories endure, they are often well-known by diverse groups within a community, for example, Hans Christian Andersen’s stories have been translated into 125 languages, and the creative challenge lies in making the digital story engaging, so that children and adults alike will find it enjoyable, will come away from it having learnt something, and will feel inspired to want to read. The aim is to present something pre-existing, in this case the stories of Andersen, in a new way that will hopefully ignite interest in children, who may not know of his stories.

References

Croft, T., Nash, L., O’Connell, J. & Fitzgerald, L. (2020). Gutenberg to Kindle [study notes]. INF533: Literature in digital environments. Interact 2.  https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/execute/displayLearningUnit?course_id=_47762_1&content_id=_3573713_1

Hannah, J. (2020, August 30). Discussion forum Module 3: Exploring digital forms. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_47762_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_94384_1&forum_id=_198787_1&message_id=_3211885_1

Henley, J. (2013, May 23). Firestorm. The Guardian.  https://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/may/26/firestorm-bushfire-dunalley-holmes-family

Malita, L. & Martin, C. (2010). Digital storytelling as web passport to success in the 21^st century. Procedia social and behavioural sciences 2, 3060-3064. DOI doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.03.465

Tackvic, C. (2012). Digital Storytelling: Using Technology to Spark Creativity. The educational forum, 76(4), 426–429. DOI: 10.1080/00131725.2012.707562

“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.”

– Emilie Buchwald

As someone whose work involves children’s services in a public library, it is important to delineate two differences between this work and that of a school teacher-librarian.  Firstly, in public libraries, staff help connect readers with the books they want, or with books they don’t know about yet, but which they may come to love; we do not see ourselves as teachers.  The second difference is that we connect not just with the child but with the adult who accompanies the child.  Children do not stay at public libraries by themselves, as they do at day care centres or schools.  They are with a parent or a grandparent.  In public libraries, often the most important connection we can make is with those adults, since we emphasise how beneficial it is for the very young, that the adults in their lives read to them; ideally every day (Djonov,Torr & Stenglin, 2018, p.2).

We see our focus as making reading enjoyable.  Unlike schools, we do not have to deliver a curriculum and tick off lesson plans. Library programs are not a structured “lesson” as such, with expectations that certain tasks be completed, but rather, the programs are about making a visit to the public library welcoming, fun or relaxing; and encouraging adult and child visitors to browse, borrow and continue reading at home together.

It is no small irony, that there is evidence that reading for pleasure is an important indicator of a child’s educational success, more so that the family’s socio-economic status (Clark & Rumbold, 2006 p.6).  It can be argued that while public library staff are not teachers and are not there to formally educate or assess, they are in a position to deliver an educationally beneficial impact on children (and families); thus reading for pleasure “lies at the heart of debates for the provision and development of public services such as libraries” (Burnett & Merchant, 2018, p.62). This role is growing even more significant in these COVID-19 times, as parents are not permitted to enter school grounds at the moment; whereas they can go into their local public library with their children and engage with library staff.  Think of the “have-to” reading culture children encounter at school; and then it becomes especially important that public libraries promote a “want-to” reading culture.   Furthermore, if another lockdown occurs, and children are sent home again and public libraries close too, then access to digital literature through the public library could once again become the only resource for new and extra reading material for children.

Often parents are not necessarily aware of all our collections and the depth of what we have, and so we can show them the huge variety of books in any public library.  During COVID-19 we are seeing behavioural changes occurring: less people are coming into the library and we are not running in- person programs at all, and the return of programs is not likely to happen any time soon. So there is now even more incentive to ensure that we connect with young families so that they are aware of digital books and that there are options to borrow these from public libraries.

As Burnett & Merchant argue there is a benefit for those who interact with children and youth to engage with the digital media that is so much a part of their lives (p. 67, 2018).  This is a worthwhile pursuit for both teachers and public librarians.  Be aware of what children are engaging with, if for no other reason, than to show that you have not lost touch with modern childhood!  Furthermore, inspiration may strike giving adults insights or ways to make a connection between digital literature and reading for pleasure.

I have enjoyed getting out of my comfort zone of print books, and immersing myself in ebooks, both good and bad.

References

Burnett, C. & Merchant, G. (2018). Affective encounters: enchantment and the possibility of reading for pleasure.  Literacy, 52(2), 62-69. https://doi.org/10.1111/lit.12144

Clark, C. & Rumbold, K. (2006). Reading for pleasure: A research overview. National Literacy Trust research report. https://literacytrust.org.uk/research-services/research-reports/reading-pleasure-research-overview/

Djonov, E., Torr, J., & Stenglin, M. (2018). Early language and literacy: Review of research with implications for early literacy programs at NSW public libraries. Department of Educational Studies, Macquarie University. https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/early_literacy_literature_review_feb2018.pdf

Review of Cozmo’s day off, an interactive app for the iPad, created by Ayars Animation Inc, 2010

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cozmos-day-off-storybook/id409177911

This original interactive story book app centres around Cozmo, a “little green dude”, or space creature. The professionally done illustrations have a “retro” or mid-20^th century look. Another “retro” signifier is the use of language from the era, such as “jeepers creepers”. While the language rhymes, it is dated. The “retro” look and sound may be intentional, but for a child in the 21^st century it is potentially meaningless.  Young children do not tend to “get” nostalgia.

The storyline is minimal: Cozmo wakes up, eats breakfast prepared by a robot, travels across space, runs out of fuel, finally arrives at work only to realise that it’s the weekend. Cozmo comes across as a juvenile alien, his bedroom has toys in it, he looks and sounds young; however he has a job in an office. The storyline seems poorly conceived, barely developed and makes little sense. Would children relate to a character that appears to be their age, but who goes to work?

There is also a secondary (and nameless) character which pops up on nearly every screen/page, says nothing and remains unexplained.

A natural human voice narrates the story expressively; the speed can be varied, and sounds awful – creepily so – when the speed is set to very slow, and like a chipmunk when fast.  While this is amusing it contributes nothing to the story, or to keeping the focus on reading. The words light up as they are narrated, not word by word, but line by line.  A word-by-word lighting up would be more useful for a beginner reader, as was used in The tale of Peter Rabbit. There is a feature for a reader to record their own voice reading the text and then play it back, which is fun and is certainly interactive, but rests on the assumption that the user can already read competently.

Much of the interactivity seems to be for the sake of interactivity.  There is background music which cannot be switched off; it becomes irritating and gets in the way of hearing the narrator clearly. There are lots of sound effects with each haptic event: touching many of the different illustrated objects makes something happen, visually and aurally.  However these interactive events have no real purpose or connection to the story. Eaton questions whether the interactive aspects of digital narratives, “might … undermine the effectiveness of the ‘interaction between medias’ that make picture books effective” (2014, p.1), where the ‘interaction between medias’ refers to the words and images of a picture book and how they relate to each other.

What this suggests is that a team of people who know how to illustrate, and how to code software, have created a storybook app, but without any regard for actual narrative, and what contemporary children will and will not find meaningful.

There is an option to minimise the text, and once minimised, the interactive screen elements come into play. They are not obvious, and the child has to explore the illustrations to find what can be tapped. A child may need help from an adult before being able to figure out the functions available in the app, such as minimising the text box.  This adult mediation, as well as the numerous multimedia elements (music, hotspots and animations) “can be distracting if they are not aligned with story content or plot” (Kucirkova & Flewitt, 2020, p. 6).  This is definitely the case in Cozmo’s day off.  There is too much interactivity, it has no connection to the (meagre) story and is distracting.  It seems likely that any shared reading between a child and an adult would be about the technical use of the digital functions of the app, rather than reading, story, character or plot. It is also posited that the content of digital books needs to align with 21^st century values and topics (Kucirkova & Flewitt, 2020, p.16). As a story, Cozmo’s day off is out of date and out of touch.

As a public library staff member, this is not a storybook app I would recommend. It is a poor example of literature: it has a minimal and confusing story, unrelated to contemporary children. The focus is not on reading, or a quality story, but on lots of interactivity.

And even the advantage of digital functionality is misapplied, such as the text lighting up line-by-line. It would have been relatively easy to make it a word-by-word rendition, but this was not provided.

References

Eaton, A. (2014). The interactive picturebook: Mapping ‘literacy’ on a narrative/technology continuum.  Fusion Journal, 5(2014), 1-14. Retrieved from https://search-informit-com-au.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/documentSummary;dn=225924795132127;res=IELHSS

Kucirkova, N & Flewitt, R. (2020). Understanding parents’ conflicting beliefs about children’s digital book reading. Journal of early childhood literacy, 0(0), 1-25. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.1177%2F1468798420930361

Review of The Tales of Beatrix an enhanced ebook app downloaded to an iPad Mini.

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/love-to-read-tales-of-beatrix/id787148010 Created by one billion children ltd.

The advantage of this app is that you can “get” it, meaning no payment is required for access to the app initially. Once downloaded a reader has free access to one story by Beatrix Potter, The tale of Peter Rabbit, probably her most famous.

However, the app does use in-app purchases: with one payment of $4.49, five other Beatrix Potter stories can be “unlocked”.  Beatrix Potter wrote 23 animal tales for children (Beatrix Potter, 2020), so this is a small selection from her entire body of work.

Even with access to only one story for free, the app is quite good. Tapping on the first story “tile” (Peter Rabbit), the reader is taken to the first page of the story, where a short audio automatically plays to instruct the reader on the features of the ebook. In a suitably British accent, a woman’s voice explains – and a cartoon-style finger and hand points – that you can either read the story on your own, or touch a sound icon at the bottom of the screen to hear the story read aloud.  Arrow icons on the bottom left and right of the screen/page, when tapped, will turn the page backwards or forwards.  In addition, the reader can touch a single word to hear that work spoken aloud.

The read-aloud narration included is very good: a real human voice (the same voice used in the audio instruction) reads the book naturally and expressively, unlike some older, so-called enhanced e-books, with a robotic narrator voice.  And importantly the words on the screen are highlighted, word by word, as they are spoken by the narrator; which will help beginner readers identify individual words.

The app displays some of Potter’s illustrations, using modest zooming or panning.

The font is sans-serif and is set to about size 20, so it’s large and legible, although it cannot be customised.  The page background is white with no visual clutter. The story is not abridged, and the text is generously spread out over 35 pages in total.

There are no distracting sounds, background music or hyperlinks to take the reader away from the narrative

There is no opportunity to engage socially, through or with, this ebook app.  Given the age of readers of Beatrix Potter’s stories will typically be younger children, who typically will not own smartphones, email or social media accounts, the absence of this is probably of little consequence.

Keeping classic and beloved stories, such Beatrix Potter’s “Tales”, alive for the 21^st century child is heartening.  No doubt, there will be new and innovative stories written and created, as the 21^st century proceeds which will take better advantage of digital functionality. Nevertheless giving classic stories a new reiteration, to keep them alive and relevant is nice to see, and it will perhaps allow cross-generational sharing of Potter’s stories, between children, parents and grandparents, and for years to come. Perhaps some will argue that Beatrix Potter is too old fashioned and that her illustrations and language will not appeal to the contemporary child; however, the anthropomorphising of animals seems to have timeless appeal to children and for many authors it is the medium by which issues are presented (Burke & Copenhaver, 2004, p. 209), certainly it was for Potter, who injected humour and human qualities into her characters.

However, in summary this particular ebook does not as Eaton states “fully utilize the technological capacities of [the] platform … and [does] not meet their reader’s expectations of interactivity” (2014, p. 7).  It is closely aligned with the codex version.  It does however offer features that a codex cannot; such as including the option for the story to be read aloud, and for individual words, to be pronounced. A child learning to read may be able to get through this book on their own with these helpful features.

One way to incorporate this book into a public library program is to project it onto a large screen and for a presenter to read aloud the text on the screen. The narrator voice could be muted and yet still play the option of highlighting the text, word by word as the live presenter reads it.

And if a subscription to the app could be purchased and incorporated in the lending collection of the library, adults could “borrow” it and use it in a more close and bonding way with their child at home.

References

Beatrix Potter. (2020). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from https://academic-eb-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/levels/collegiate/article/Beatrix-Potter/61079

Burke, C.L. & Copenhaver, J.G. (2004). Animals as people in children’s literature. Language Arts 81(3), 205-213. Retrieved from https://cdn.ncte.org/nctefiles/store/samplefiles/journals/la/la0813animals.pdf

Eaton, A. (2014). The interactive picturebook: Mapping ‘literacy’ on a narrative/technology continuum.  Fusion Journal, 5(2014), 1-14. Retrieved from https://search-informit-com-au.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/documentSummary;dn=225924795132127;res=IELHSS

The elephant by Peter Carnavas

https://canadabay.spydus.com/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/FULL/WPAC/ALLENQ/4411163/3856552,1

The Elephant is a novel for primary-school aged children. The book also exists as a print book.  The e-book was borrowed from a public library through BorrowBox, and was read on an iPad Mini, and required the BorrowBox app.

This e-book has basic digital functions. Tapping in the centre of the screen will toggle, on or off, a header and a footer.  The footer displays the page number in this style, “Page 109 of 248 pages”, as well as left and right pointing arrows, which when tapped jump to the previous or next chapter.  Also in the footer is a narrow bar with a moveable circle, which when dragged, moves through the pages of the book, allowing the reader to control the speed of navigation, slowly or quickly, backwards or forwards.

The footer also includes an icon in the bottom left-hand corner, when tapped, opens a list of chapter names and page numbers; tapping on a chapter name will take you to the beginning of that chapter. There is also an icon that allows the text to be customised.  The font size can be made gradually smaller or larger, by tapping repeatedly on a small or large A; and there are six fonts to choose from, including a font called “dyslexic.”  There is also a “themes” display option, which allows the reader to choose from “paper”, “white”, “sepia” or “night” background colours. There is the option to display two pages on the screen, in the style of a print book, or to display only one page at a time.  Depending on which combination of font size and one or two page display option is chosen, the e-book will paginate to different lengths.  For example, choosing the two page option with a regular font size will paginate the book to 248 pages.

In the right-hand side of the footer, there is a “search” function, where a reader can search for all instances of a word in the ebook; and tapping on any of the results will take the reader to that instance of the word.

Tapping on the far right side of the screen will turn the page to go forward, while tapping on the left side will move the reader backwards. Tapping the top right-hand corner of the screen will bookmark that page.

There is a feature where the reader can recommend the ebook to a friend by emailing them: the friend will receive an email with the book’s title, author name, a brief description of what the book is about, and a link through to the ebook platform, (in this case Bolinda Digital, the company behind BorrowBox) that the book was borrowed through. This feature allows for some social interaction, in that one reader can recommend the book to another, during their engagement with the ebook.

Frustratingly, there were a number of times, and in particular when exploring the digital functions, that the ebook would freeze, such as when using the search function.  There was no way out of this; closing and re-opening the BorrowBox app would not re-set the ebook.  The iPad had to be powered off and then on again and the app reopened to reset the ebook. This happened more than once.

A recurring motif throughout the book was a reference to an old song, “Side by side”.  The inclusion of this song as an added feature of the ebook would have been nice, although there may have been a copyright cost or barrier; or it may have caused the size of the ebook file to bloat too much. Still it seems like a missed opportunity to include an audio addition, even if just a short excerpt of the song.

Of the three digital texts reviewed, this ebook is the only one which can be borrowed from a public library.  The selection of children’s ebooks available for loan through public libraries is still limited, mainly ebook versions of print novels, with even fewer picture books available as ebooks.

While there are digital functions available, this book is closely aligned with the codex version of the book.  Being able to customise the font – size and style – and also to display either one page or two, and to email a friend to recommend the book is the extent of the digital functionality.

With the shutdown of public libraries during April and May, there was a noticeable increase in the borrowing of ebooks.  Nevertheless public libraries still have some way to go in making more people more aware of the availability of ebook borrowing.  Additionally the public library sector also needs to work with book publishers to expand the ebook offerings available through their catalogues.  Some work is already underway in this respect through ALIA (ALIA, 2017).

References

ALIA. (2017). ALIA position statement on ebooks and elending, September 2017. https://www.alia.org.au/sites/default/files/documents/ALIA%20ebooks%20and%20elending%20position%20September%202017%20Final.pdf