February 22-28

I actually was very pleased with the feedback I received. This isn’t to say I didn’t expect my peers to be able to critique me or anything like that. I just worried they would be too nice to feel comfortable actually editing. And, yes, their comments were very kind and very diplomatic, but they were also helpful. They pointed out some grammatical things that I had missed (to my horror), along with stylistic suggestions. They pointed out what they liked as well as what they didn’t. Overall, it just gave me a really pleasant sense of community. It probably would have been better had I posted earlier in the week, but even at the point I did post, I got plenty of good response. I loved reading my peers’ work. I loved how there was very little overlap of experience in what I read. People made their own way in Second Life, just as they do in First Life. It’s all just really interesting. I don’t know that reading my peers’ work did too much to help with my revision. It marked a couple red flags, I suppose, to go back and check on, but that’s about the extent of it.

February 15-21

I have a couple blogs I write for and . . . that’s about the extent of my multimedia writing. I’ve delved into the world of Facebook and Twitter, but I don’t do a whole lot of writing there. Facebook because it’s just status updates, Twitter because it’s only 140 characters. The latter has actually helped my writing both in spite of and due to the brevity of the posts. I really hate 21^st century abbreviations (u r, lol, etc.), so keeping my Twitter posts within the 140 character limit without these devices is a true exercise in concision. It’s taught me a lot in terms of paring down. I’ve gotten a kick out of another “tweep” (singular “twerson”?) who writes stories in 140 characters or less. His or her handle is: http://twitter.com/veryshortstory. This person has the Twitter thing down.

But I digress. I have some experience with video and digital photography, more the latter than the former. I’ve done very, very, very little video editing (though some) and I’m slightly more experienced with photo editing. I can crop, enhance, “artistify” . . . that’s about it.

I don’t think any of this will significantly help writing for other media. It’s experience, of course, but I think the main thing is just being open to figuring out how to communicate in each particular realm. In Facebook, it’s through pokes and status updates and photos. Twitter is short and sweet. Blogs are whatever you want them to be. It’s just a matter of flexibility. My particular generation has this in leaps and bounds, so that’s really going for all of us. We’ve been at the forefront of all the new developments and so we find ourselves experts without even realizing it. It’s just a matter of having the confidence and patience to go forward with it.

February 8-14

In your reading, Garrand quotes David Riordan as saying, "Infinite choice equals a database. Just because you can make a choice doesn’t mean it’s an interesting one." Think about this quote and its implications for multimedia and writing. What are the implications for you as a writer? Explain.

I had a similar case recently in the art world. I’m designing a pop-up book for a company and I was showing my husband different choices I was going to give them. One was a complex, burst-from-the-middle-in-glory design while the others were a little more standard. He chose one of the more standard ones as his favorite. Of course, having spent forever on the Complex Monstrosity, I pointed it out to him specifically. He (being ever diplomatic) said, “Yeah, that’s really cool, but just because something’s harder doesn’t make it the best design choice”. Jerkface, always being right . . . J Anyway, he had a really good point and, as a matter of fact, the folks I presented it to agreed. Complexity/”pizzazz” are awesome if used right, but sometimes they’re just overdone. And that’s the case with writing as well. I need to know when to bring out the big guns and when to let subtlety speak for itself. I’ve found when I’m really trying to make a point (and this could just be a matter of my personal style), I really pare down my writing. I make it choppy and simple and I find that brings the reader into the more raw emotion of it. Of course, with multimedia writing, I may not be going for anything emotional at all, but I think the base point still remains: make sure the pizzazz has a purpose.

February 1-7

I kinda hate Second Life.

And here’s why: I can’t get my stinkin’ avatar to look right. And it’s not like a little tweak here or there. Like old age, it’s hair bursting from places it shouldn’t. It’s a hat I can’t remove. My skin is stagnant. I have no idea what’s going on. I’m fairly certain I’m going to have to have my husband help me and I really don’t want to do that. He’s an engineer and stupidly smart and I hate giving him the satisfaction of assisting me. J Nah, he should be able to help out pretty well. I’m sure we’ll get this figured out. I’m pretty astounded by the vastness of Second Life. It’s just . . . huge. And I get the sense I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface. This week, a couple avatars tried to talk to me, but I couldn’t figure out how to talk back yet, so they wandered off, a little miffed, I think. Once I get the hang of it, I’ll apologize.