Web Assignments

Harness Relationships: Make a Map with Kumu

Use the online organizational tool, Kumu, to create a web map of relationships. This can be anything: contacts, movies, your Ds106 assignments. Kumu offers a stellar way of organizing information and honing in on relationships between information. Maybe try converting a paper from another class into a Kumu map. Int his way, using Kume forces you to further explore the relationships between sources and source material.

I’m giving this three stars because the difficulty really depends on the scope of the project. Kumu can do big things. In my Adaptation class from a few semesters back, our class slowly compliled a massive list of interconnecting film, novel, comic book, etc. adaptations. We called each new entry a “textual vector.” Check out the massive web of adaptations here: https://www.kumu.io/zachwhalen/vectors

Inklewriter Storytelling

Tell a story using the free Inklewriter program found here:http://www.inklestudios.com/inklewriter/

Inklewriter is perfectly designed for choose your own adventure-type stories. It offers numerous tools to create detailed interactive fiction narratives. It is similar in concept to the popular tool twine. Twine, however, is more focused on choice complexity and gaminess, whereas Inklewriter is more focused on storytelling. Look at the examples on the webpage and start writing a story!

I’m putting this as three stars because the difficulty really depends on the scope of the project. Very complex stories with numerous choices and plotholes can quickly spiral out of managable workload here. Don’t overstretch your ambitions in terms of choice complexity unless you want to be writing for a good long while. My example piece is a perfect example of this issue. 

Email! Email! Read All About It!

For this assignment, use the website Vertical Response to create an email newsletter for a fictional agency, company, organization, etc. After you sign up for a free account, Vertical Response allows you to choose from newsletter templates, into which you can insert text and images. You may tell the story of how your entity formed, give background information on the members/employees, and/or provide viewers with current happenings. Once completed, send it to at least 5 people in the DS106 community, so they may share your exciting news! Since there is no shared embedding link for this website, please screenshot or take a photo of the printed newsletter (hard copy), in order to share it on flickr and in your blog post. The idea for this assignment was developed by Julia James. 

How it All Began

Create a page on your website that goes into detail how a group came together. Talk about the motives behind joining forces, real or fictional. This can be serious or comedic, have fun!

Buzzfeed Personality Quiz

Have you taken one of those fun personality quizzes on Buzzfeed? Now make your own! Sign in with Buzzfeed to create a community account (you can use gmail). Then start making a quiz for people to find out which character they are. Use any characters you like. There must be at least 3 results with descriptions and at least 6 questions. Be sure to include photographs as well. Once you have made the page publish it and share.

Remix Guinness Book of World Records

Remix a Guinness Book of World records web page. Pick any record you want and somehow remix it. Try and connect it to a story, and add some background inspiration into your idea for inspiration. Maybe it was the record you always wanted to set, or break. Or maybe it fits perfectly into a story you are creating. How ever it fits be creativ and have fun with it.

I would recommend using X-Ray Goggles, to rewor the webpage, it is very simple and allows you to do a lot, and then publish the page. 

Find a Digital Tool!

Find a cool, easy to use digital tool online! Write up a brief tutorial on how to use it, and what it can be used for. 

Character Resume

Using either Microsoft Word, creating your own webpage, or using a website like LinkedIn, create a “fake” resume for a fictional person or character of your choice. Add detailed descriptions and make the resume relevant to the character. Resume must include a profile, work history, education, and skills. Locations, job positions, and companies can be made up! Use your creativity!

Tell a Stellar Story

For this assignment, use the app Steller (free from the App Store) to tell a visual story. Steller lets you incorporate photos, text and video into an interactive storytelling format. 

Use Steller to tell a story. You can use it to narrate a recipe, talk about a vacation, play with videos, or document something exciting

You’ll need to sign in with Twitter to use the app, but when you’re done, tweet your results using the #DS106 hashtag!

Personal Search Engine

Create your own search engine! Make it personal, funny, interesting. I recommend using either x-ray goggles, or firebug through firefox. The downside of using firebug is that it is more difficult to use, easier to loose your work, and you have to download firefox and firebug. So I strongly recommend using X-ray goggles. You simply drag it into your bookmarks and start editing. When you are finished click publish, and copy the url that it generates for you.