[56 1/2 Main Street: 11] From June 11th - Animation Project I
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56 1/2 Main Street » 56 1/2 Main Street: 11 From June 11th - Animation Project I

Animation I - Project intro -

The blogoshpere and much of the world of social media is the ideal world for the writer. Writer, as in those who are skilled using the written word or hope to hone their skills. The Internet is their world, and it has served to give them a publishing platform and an audience that spans the globe. What about those of us who are not skilled with words? What of those of us who find the wall of words/text the Internet has become to be an impossible and frustrating obstacle?

Personally, I find myself met with an almost impassable wall of words, unsubstantiated opinions, and, well, drivel. It is like being in a local bar on Karaoke Night, (except that everyone would be singing at once). The majority of us are born with functioning ears and voices. Most of us have had at least some experience singing, whether in the shower, around a campfire or in an elementary school program. That doesn’t make us “singers.” Typically, you’d sit through far too many performances that aren’t exactly pleasant before finally hearing a singer who offers something worth hearing.

It’s the same thing with the Internet and social media. Most of us have had years of focused instruction in writing as well as reading. Most of us are either born with functioning eyes and can hold a pen or type on a keypad. Others make use of technologies that allow them to overcome physical disabilities in order to read and write. That doesn’t make us “writers.” Just like that karaoke bar, you’d have to spend a lot of time wading through the drivel before finally finding something worth reading.

However, the patrons of that karaoke bar don’t mind those abrasive dissonances or the sometimes painful experience of listening to bleary-eyed singers. They encourage and cheer one another on. Maybe, it’s the numbing effects of the booze at work. Maybe, it’s that someone is willing to get up there and take a risk that lends a feeling of camaraderie. Probably both. I doubt that it’s the lubricating effects of alcohol that make this same camaraderie a part of the blogosphere and other platforms of social media. Nonetheless, it seems to be present, and perhaps this is because users are willing to put themselves out there and take a risk.

That’s a good thing and a not-so-good thing. For someone like me, it’s not-so-good. Armed with the attention span of a stapler, I find the Internet to be impossibly frustrating. I am met with a barrage of words, ridiculous ads, unsubstantiated opinions, and I am not merely whining when I say that it is a wall I cannot breach. That wall may as well be made of stone, and for me, it is. There are now countless blogs, and far too many with their own abrasive dissonances and clutter. Trying to find the occasional gem, (or the frequent gem, for that matter), is, in my opinion, a quest requiring a horse, a sword and shield, a suit-of-armor, and a calling from on high.

So, what is there for someone like me? I do have the calling from on high - a calling from the professor teaching a course in social media, and at least for now, his calling is a lot higher than my own. There is something scattered throughout that wall for even me. Alternative literacies.

Pictures, videos, animations, and images that say more than words ever will to someone like me. I handle words like bludgeons. I’ll finally make a point after pounding it, (and everything around it), into grease with my words. Unfortunately, once I’ve hammered that point enough to be satisfied that I’ve communicated it, that point will probably never again move. I’d just as soon not add to the rocks of that wall of words, nor to the drivel dribbling between them. Images, even simple cartoons, can communicate an idea, opinion, etc, with a subtlety or an irony that words cannot. At least, not with any brevity, and, in most social media venues, it’s all about brevity.

Just as I am no writer, I am no artist. My mind, however, “thinks” in pictures and images. (I’d be the nonconformist in an oral culture). I have taken a couple of shots at using simple images and cartoons to say what I would say. What if I could make those images move? Early in this Weblogs and Wikis course, as I saw some examples of how images could and do replace a thousand words, I made it my goal to learn about the technologies related to animation. I hoped to be able to use animation to communicate something.

After searching for the entire semester, I found a software/freeware package called Pencil. It has none of the bells-and-whistles of higher-end animation software packages. It does, however, have a fairly simple format. Simple enough to make it possible for someone as inexperienced as myself to both use it and learn some of the fundamental concepts of animation.

Now, I would need something to say.

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