I use this game in my classes as an ice-breaker and as a way of introducing non-traditional heuristics (weird ways of coming up with creative ideas). It started out as a drinking game with friends, but I’ve found it transfers nicely to the classroom. If we need a break and want to all play a game, it’s a pretty easy one to set up. It’s all the fun of telephone and pictionary. Players alternate writing and drawing as they pass a stack of pages around the room. For example: I write “Go frogs!”. The person to my left tries to draw that. Maybe it’s a frog and an arrow. The next person looks only at the drawing and writes what they think it means. Maybe, leap frog. So on and so on. By the time it gets back to me, it’s usually pretty funny.

I’ve been working extensively with Adobe Muse for the last year. I’m no master designer or anything, but I can get it to do just about anything I might need. I’d be happy to walk people through the basics if they’re interested.

I’ve been teaching Edge Animate for a few years now. It’s the latest Adobe product for creating HTML5 native animations. Because it’s HTML5 native, it works on iPhones and allows for just about any javascript functionality you can think up. Also, there’s a free version that isn’t very restricted (use it forever, but it’s the old beta version so it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles).

I use a kinetic typography assignment in my classes to teach the basics of making animations and adding interactivity in Edge animate. It’s not terribly advanced. Edge is pretty easy to work with (at least compared to Flash, which it replaced). I’d be happy to share the assignment and teach it if people are interested.

I’ve been working a lot on alt-scholarship like webtexts (Kairos, DHQ, Enculturation). I’ve always thought of it within the tradition of various avant-garde lineages. However, I recently realized how privileged and limited such a scope is (Sullivan 2012). At the same time, I’ve been teaching feminist theory in my classes. It occurred to me that alt-scholarship is pretty darn feminist in nature. It feels like Cixous’ L’ecriture feminine, Lorde’s body writing, and a lot like queering scholarship. This is a new thought to me (I know, it shouldn’t be), so I’m stepping carefully. I want to begin this conversation by asking if digital scholarship is inherently feminist. And if so, why is DH so not feminist (see Jamie Skye Bianco and others for this revelation)? In my own work, I want to figure out ways to remember the feminist push for embodied, non-linear writing without just stealing it for myself (I’m a white dude). So, that’s where I want to start, but for the most part, I want to shut up and listen. Thanks!