Hey Mom,

Probably the most important thing I learned in camp this week is that I can outrun zombies. Now, giant spiders are another story. They can reach a land speed of 120 mph, I hear.

Okay, so my imagination is running wild but that’s what Camp MacMuffin, er, MacGuffin is all about.

I’ve written about the Minecraft experience that gave me a new appreciation for this boxy Neverland. For weeks, I wondered around accepting my fate that I would continue to die horrible deaths — eaten by zombies or giant spiders, drowning, blown up — until I could earn my “creative” wings and leave the temporary hell of Survivor mode behind. What Vsansing taught me, besides where to find safe haven and how to protect myself, is that there must be brave individuals who actually choose to live in-game in survivor mode. Residents of this ilk must enjoy this storyworld and the challenges it provides. I can understand the appeal.

The real lesson for the week was on photography and I’ll remember the talk around the campfire about how to take good pictures with any available camera. Norm tweeted something to the effect that a good photographer trumps a good camera. So I’ve gotten over my fancy camera envy and will focus with the one little lens of my Canon Sureshot 160 on being imaginative and limber in pursuit of good shots.

I was impressed also that Cogdog said that practically all of his shots are edited. Somehow, I had this idea that it’s a point of pride to present an unedited shot. Now I’m excited to explore GIMP and I’ve completed my first Visual Assignments:

Visual Assignment 595 Slide Guy’s Mean Machine and Slide Guy’s New and Improved Mean Machine I learned a lot about creative problem-solving with GIMP from my friends. This one I’ll use as a yardstick for measuring GIMP progress.

Visual Assignment 13 Jamfish — Sort of an averaging assignment. I use an image multiple times to create a new one.

Visual Assignment 560: Four-Square, Warhol-Style an assignment in which I edit a Warhol-style product using GIMP and generate another with an online tool, The Warholizer.

Visual Assignment 191: Demotivate Me — If a First . . . I poke a bit of fun at those who are are not highly effective with a demotivational poster.

Visual Assignment 347: Start with a Bang . . . My first and loud animated GIF. I’m working on a subtle, quiet one.

Vonnegut Assignment: The Story Shaper App My take on Vonnegut’s story shaper theory.

You’ll see below some samples of my media craft projects for The Daily Create this week.

I’ll try to do better about being on-time with these weekly letters. Know that no news means I’m having fun! Or was eaten by a giant spider

Love,

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The Daily Create 147: Take a photo with stone, water, and clouds.
The clouds roll in . . . after a long, hot, steamy shower

The Daily Create 148:
Create a photograph today where some/all of your subject isn’t in focus.” Stella maris is Latin for “star of the sea.” This one is in the Indian Ocean on my globe. Thought of the compass rose because I often start out thinking that I’m clear on where I’m going but often everything goes foggy before I find my way. Such is life . . .

The Daily Create 149:
You Say Tomato; I Say Kumato
Thanks to Trader Joe’s, I’ve discovered kumatoes — European designer tomatoes that are sweeter than your typical variety and have slightly stronger skin so they ship and store well.

The Daily Create 150:
A Day in My Life, June 5

The Daily Create 149: Take a photo at six past the hour for an entire day.
Photos on the hour, ;06, from 3 pm to 3 am. Starring Ariely, my “predictably irrational” kitten.

The Daily Create 151:
Flight Feather Envy

The Daily Create: Take a photograph of something you are envious of (physical or metaphorical).
My alter ego can float to to the top of the stratosphere with her flight feather. Weightlessness has its benefits — physically and metaphorically.

The Daily Create 152:
A Place Time Won’t Forget

Saluda, North Carolina, alias Andy Griffith’s Mayberry.
Only dead giveaway is the market and grill sign.
The Daily Create 153: Take a photo of the oldest building near you. Add filters to make your photo look even older.

The Daily Create 153:
knot me

Who dressed the cables? The Daily Create: Take a picture featuring rope or knots.

“The mob will be coming out soon. Keep the door closed and you’ll be safe.”

And, with that, my boxy hero returned to the dark forest.

I did feel safe. For the first time in what seemed like hours, I could breathe without feeling the hot, putrid breath of zombies down my neck. I could enjoy the luxury of standing still, really still, and not feel the need to swivel my head constantly to pick up marauding spiders.

I was caught up in this storyworld, hook, line, and sinker.

I think this is the kind of experience that Martha referred to as emergent storytelling in Campfire#2. It really is, in many ways, improvisational storytelling — and more. There is something about “being there” in a virtual embodiment that makes the storytelling an even more immersive experience.

For a brief delusional moment, I thought I had coined a new term and then googled to learn that immersive storytelling is a form of transmedia storytelling, a term I first heard Henry Jenkins discuss. Beyond the Screen, a forum on immersive storytelling, describes this as a new age of storytelling when “audiences are transitioning from simple consumers of entertainment into dynamic participants in their media of choice.”

Bryan Alexander, who as Alan likes to say, “wrote the book on digital storytelling,” chronicles this evolution of storytelling as he describes the “public performance” nature possible through blogging. I find blogging as a storytelling device fascinating, and I’m blown away by the The World Without Oil concept with multiple bloggers collaborating to produce the unfolding story of a reality game. I understand better now the relationship of storytelling and gaming.

As a teacher-educator, I’m always on the lookout for projects that could be replicated in the classroom, and the time-based historical blog projects, such as “The Orwell Diaries” or “World War II Today” would work great. Creative teachers have always designed projects that require students to build a storyworld where they collaborate, assume new identities, and role-play. One of my all-time favorites was the La Verona Ning where English students became characters in the setting of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and “lived” there during their reading and discussing of the play. Immersive worlds like Minecraft offer a new space for accomplishing emergent storytelling that transcends any physical or geographical limitations.

Just wanted to add that I have worked/played in Second Life for over five years now. We have built installations, for example, the “Unwind Room” from Schusterman’s YA novel, Unwind, and we often dress in costumes. But, primarily, we use the space to meet in seminars and book clubs to discuss learning though literature with young adults. We talk about stories but we’re not participating in stories. We can do more.

There is unprecedented potential — in part technology-related. In a sense, this is the greatest time in human history to be a learner. — Bryan Alexander

When Bryan Alexander made this comment in a recent Future of Education webinar I got goose bumps. I know I wouldn’t have wanted to miss this ride.

After reading a bit from Bryan’s book and hearing him present twice in one week, The Future of Education and the Camp MacGuffin=DS 106 campfire, I’d say we could extrapolate “this is the greatest time in human history to be a storyteller.”