Experiential Learning Part #2: Design

The next assignment stretches over four weeks. This segment of the experiential learning complements class work on the structure and writing of informational multimedia. The analyses you complete here should help you to develop your first multimedia writing assignment, the informational multimedia script (due 10 November).

No more preliminaries - here's your preparation...

Journal Five
Due midnight, 6 October: 300 - 400 words.
Return to Do You Remember When? You should spend at least two hours working through this exhibit, making sure that you visit all 17 of the pages of the book, and all the links from each page. Read the study questions below before you begin and take notes as you browse.

These questions require analytical responses. Don't just describe what you encounter. Instead, always keep in mind that this online exhibit is an example of informational multimedia (in this case, an educational exhibit) and you are investigating and evaluating the strategies developed by the authors to convey their information. You should respond to each of the questions below in detail.

Study Questions

1) What is the purpose of this online exhibition? Who is the intended audience? What strategies have the authors/creators developed to communicate effectively with their intended audience? Quote specific examples from the exhibit to support your answers.

2) This exhibit concerns the lives of just two of the millions who suffered and died throughout the Holocaust. How effective is this approach to educating audiences about state-organized mass murder in the middle of the twentieth century? Explain why.

3) Analyze the navigational structure of the piece. Normally in museum exhibits we walk from section to section. How do you, as a user, know/learn how to navigate through this online exhibit? What are the visual and textual cues you follow? To what extent do these cues fall into patterns recognizable either visually or textually or in combination?

4) The aesthetics of exhibits, whether real or virtual, create important 'gateways' which attract users to exhibits, draw them into the exhibits and hold them there. Analyze the aesthetics of the page via color choices, font choices (particularly color and font style), the quality of the audio, etc. What did you learn from this site about the 'attract' qualities necessary to a piece of informational multimedia?

5) Look at some of the tactics for presenting material on the individual pages (the size of photos, for example, or the way in which the translation is presented). How is visual presentation used to add meaning (not just decoration) to the page? What meanings related to the overarching purpose of the site do you draw from the visual presentation of all the materials on the site?

Journal Six
Due midnight, 20 October: 300 - 400 words
1) You'll first find an example of instructional multimedia situated in a physical building (try museums and art galleries - the Holocaust Museum, the National Gallery of Art, etc.). Make sure you choose a genuine instructional multimedia installation.

2) Then you'll analyze the location & apparent purpose of your chosen multimedia. You'll pay particular attention to how the physical context influences the way you approach the multimedia installation.

3) Finally, you'll analyze the instructional multimedia itself utilizing the concepts and vocabulary you have encountered in your readings.

Journal Seven
Due midnight, 27 October: 300 - 400 words
Choose a location on campus where a free-standing instructional multimedia installation or kiosk would prove helpful to students/faculty/visitors etc. Plundering your research and readings, write a pitch of no more than a 300 words to me (as a prospective client) selling the concept, location and content of the multimedia installation as an invaluable enhancement to campus life.