Month: September 2020

Alan Bigelow’s award winning 2016 multimodal text How to Rob a Bank is an example of what Lamb (2011) defines as a ‘transmedia text’. Utilising multimedia imagery in the form of animated text conversations, game play, Google search and its autofill recommendations, maps, and more, this tech supports the Lamb’s supposition that “social technology has become a core element of transmedia storytelling for young adults” (p. 15). Recounting the experiences of a young Bonnie and Clyde-esque couple planning and robbing banks against a backdrop of romance, Bigelow’s text allows the reader to assume a first person perspective of the story, seeing the world through the lens of a smartphone screen.

How to Rob a Bank is an engaging text, not only by virtue of its plot but by the immersive experience generated through the hands-on experience, the sounds (diegetic and non-diegetic), and perhaps most of all, the frenetic changes between social technologies, jumping rapidly from Google to maps to gaming to texting. This mirroring of the constant and vigorous modern use of personal devices makes the story and format a uniquely relatable one which only serves to underscore the inclusive nature of the story.

Engagement aside, however, How to Rob a Bank remains a largely linear story. While the reader controls the speed of delivery and is able to move backwards as well as forwards, the story itself is predetermined and unchanging. Though multimodal in nature, this digital text does not employ varied hypertext (beyond a next or back) and does not allow the reader to explore or make changes to the evolution of the narrative. James & De Kock (2013) puts forth that “reading landscape” has changed so decisively to embrace the digital native who “absorbs information almost exclusively in a digital, hyperconnected space.” I would argue that digital literature like How to Rob a Bank recognises this evolution and attempts to utilise it but has yet to reach its full potential. A multimodal story with a higher degree of interactivity, one that allows for exploration outside of a strictly linear plot, is surely the intended goal of a text for our current digitally autonomous students.

Bowler (2012) argues that for our children “reading is no longer an exclusively book-bound experience[,that t]heir reading traverses multiple platforms: books, games, computers, and increasingly, handheld mobile devices” (p. 32). How to Rob a Bank acknowledges this digital traversing through its inclusion of a wide range of social technologies, but never crosses that line into allowing our students to hold the reigns and traverse these platforms themselves. In many ways, this text is, in fact, a step backwards from more traditional texts such as the Choose Your Own Adventure texts of the 80s and 90s. These reader determined stories are experiencing a resurgence with modern readers and I can only imagine that a convergence of multimedia digital literature and Choose Your Own Adventure is on the horizon for this current generation of primary and middle grade readers.

Pick-a-path story telling is a popular project within many English classrooms and I have run these units myself with my Stage 4 students. Their ability to utilise simple platforms like Google Slides and their collate resources from their own smart phones and devices has resulted in basic but thematically similar texts to How to Rob a Bank. Though they lack the sophistication of narrative and production, in some instances the level of interactivity and reader autonomy produced by my Year 8 students far outstrips that of How to Rob a Bank. This has left me excited to see what our most valued authors will be capable of when embracing these new formats.

 

References

Bowler, L., Morris, R., Cheng, I-L., Al-Issa, R., Romine, B., & Leiberling, L. (2012). Multimodal stories: LIS students explore reading, literacy, and library service through the lens of “The 39 Clues”. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 53(1), 32-48

Bigelow, A. (2016). How to Rob a Bank. Retrieved from https://webyarns.com/fjfjjf/

James, R. & De Kock, L. (2013). The digital david and the gutenberg goliath: the rise of the ‘enhanced’e-book. English Academy Review, 30(1), pp. 107-123. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10131752.2013.783394

Lamb, A. (2011). Reading redefined for a transmedia universe. Learning and Leading with Technology, 39(3), 12-17. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=67371172&site=ehost-live

When Graeme Base’s richly illustrated picture book Animalia was published in 1986, it quickly became a staple in homes and libraries around the country. It’s latest incarnation as part of The Graeme Base Educational Suite, while seemingly popular in education circles, defies categorisation. Equal parts interactive storytelling, enhanced ebook, reference database, and literacy learning tool, this app tries to do it all – but does it succeed?

This example of digital literature embraces Bowler’s notion that “contemporary children’s books are different because of children’s experiences with hypertextual, networked digital texts” (p. 35). This interactive experience has been a growing norm in children’s digital literature as we move away from simple ebooks to more interactive experiences of texts. Animalia is not an ebook, but an entire multi-faceted app – heavily linked and interactive with a wide array of entertaining and educational activities and prompts.

Roskos (2012) states that “the virtual explosion in apps has transformed the traditional storybook of early childhood into a highly interactive, multi-media literacy experience” – of which Animalia is a key example. While this text has engaging and entertaining aspects – full colour, a range of voice actors embodying the animal ‘characters’, and a gamification of literacy, I am hesitant to declare this a text of pure enjoyment. While it appears to be designed primarily as a learning resource. Its approach to instruction is clearly well thought out with a range of activities catering for differentiated stages, I feel that the richness and beauty of the original text is severely lessened in this digital presentation – despite the accessibility provided by the audio components. What’s more, despite being a learning tool, I am hard pressed to see it being used within the classroom (understanding however that I am of a secondary background) and would only imagine the interactive activities being halved by use at home without a partner against which to play and learn. Roskos (2012) states that while these digital storytelling tools are becoming increasingly popular, “less is known … about how these new literacy tools “work” in different activity settings in preschools [compared] to stories and print.” It is this point of contention that I echo. Animalia is, undoubtably, a carefully designed and marketed app. But is it ultimately reaching its full potential as digital literature within a classroom setting?

I believe that Animalia and books/apps like it are the stepping stone to something greater. This example of digital literature is an early example of the fully realised hypertexted interactive learning resources of our future. Growing trends in digital resourcing indicate that classroom print texts and learning resources may soon be a thing of the past, with leading educational publishers exploring the hyper immersive digital textbooks replete with embedded resources, videos and all manner of interactivity. Animalia is a wonderful first step in the primary education sphere but that development of this trend is still ongoing.

 

References

AppBooks. (2011). Animalia for iPad (version 3.1) [mobile application software]. Retrieved from https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/animalia-education-family/id1275397953?mt=8

Bowler, L., Morris, R., Cheng, I-L., Al-Issa, R., Romine, B., & Leiberling, L. (2012). Multimodal stories: LIS students explore reading, literacy, and library service through the lens of “The 39 Clues”. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 53(1), 32-48

Roskos, K., Burstein, K., Shang, Y., & Gray, E. (2014). Young children’s engagement with e-books at school: does device matter? Sage Open, 4, pp. 1-9. DOI: 10.1177/2158244013517244. Retrieved from http://sgo.sagepub.com/content/4/1/2158244013517244

Anne with an E (2014) is an example of what Unsworth defines as a “recontextualised literary text” (in Walsh, p. 182) in the form of a Youtube web-series that translates the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery into a modern digital retelling. Adopting the form of the ubiquitous teen girl vlog, Anne with an E capitalises on the dramatic focus on the thoughts and dreams of the individual so championed by the Youtuber monologue to fantastically showcase the original protagonists exuberant and loquacious personality. At a time when retellings of stories are commonplace, this grass roots appropriation has managed to alight upon the perfect convergence of text, creator, and medium to give a classic tale new life.

For many middle grade or YA readers, a classic read (albeit a largely accessibly one) like Montgomery’s Green Gables series is not often a popular choice – despite its recent resurgence with the 100 year anniversary of the text in 2008 and the 2017 Netflix adaptation, also titled Anne with an E. Though the series has been a long time favourite of my own, I have never managed to have it reached the heights of our ‘top borrowed’ list within our school library. I feel this to be a true shame as, however long since it has been published, it’s protagonist – with her eternal optimism and relatable foibles – has remained consistently relevant to readers on the cusp of independence. It is this timelessness of Anne Shirley, I believe, that makes Anne of Green Gables a remarkable option for digital reprisal. With this is mind, it is time to reconsider what it means to truly ‘read’ a text. If, as Lamb says, it is the “process of constructing meaning from symbols” then Anne with an E, with its layering of symbols (literary, digital, and social), is a prime candidate for this new trend in digital literacy.

In this web-series retelling, the creators, Alicia Whitson, Mandy Harmon, and Marie Trotter, embrace not only the digital medium of Youtube to share their creation, but call upon the wider internet to truly make this an immersive, transmedia experience. From the in character ‘About’ page which allows ‘Anne Shirley’ to state that she “started this vlog to record [her] first year living with [her] new foster family, the Cuthberts”, to the in comment inclusions of her twitter handle, everything about this account begs the reader to engage, to explore, and to find a joy in storytelling. The sheer level of detail in this endeavour, in the creator’s dedication to multiple accounts across multiple platforms (Youtube, Instagram, Twitter), in order to give their ‘Anne’ a community of characters to mention, link to, and interact with, sets up their protagonist not only as one who is appropriate to the format they have adopted, but makes her a contemporary to the very readers they are trying to share their story with. This elevates this adaptation of Anne of Green Gables from a mere retelling, to a true experience of digital literature.

This text has found an appreciative reader in me and I would not hesitate to recommend this to my students across Stages 4 and 5. It has found a happy home within my school library and with my students, as well as becoming an extension text embedded within my English teaching program about Digital Storytelling. Anne with an E is an admirable example of creatively, adaptability, and renewal which is worthy of enjoyment and study.

 

References

AnneWithAnE. (2014). Green Gables Fables [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/user/greengablesfables?feature=watch

Lamb, A. (2011). Reading redefined for a transmedia universe. Learning and Leading with Technology, 39(3), 12-17. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=67371172&site=ehost-live

Walsh, M. (2013). Literature in a digital environment (Ch. 13). In L. McDonald (Ed.), A literature companion for teachers. Marrickville, NSW: Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA).  https://doms.csu.edu.au/csu/file/863c5c8d-9f3f-439f-a7e3-2c2c67ddbfa8/1/ALiteratureCompanionforTeachers.pdf