Digital and distributed narratives are becoming more and more popular as the web and ease of digital advancements continues. Digital narratives are when diverse or ordinary peoples use digital tools to tell their “story.” They often are presented in compelling and emotionally engaging formats, and can be interactive. Digital narratives also cover a range of digital based techniques, such as web-based stories, interactive stories, hypertexts, and even narrative computer games. Many people use elaborate non-traditional story forms, such as non-linear and interactive narratives. Some ways to create a digital narrative or storytelling is by writing and telling stories using digital media that relate to narrative and structure. Digital storytelling can also refer to a short form of digital filmmaking that allows everyday people to share aspects of their life story. The website that was an example of digital and distributed narratives that I found very interesting was the Post Secret website, which is a very unique form of a distributed narrative. This site is unique because it does not just tell one persons story, but numerous people’s stories. In fact, it actually tells the people’s secrets rather than their stories. This site is much more intriguing to me than the others because it especially catches my interest. The “secrets” are sometimes very private or very personal, and sometimes are hilarious or very random. The site allows people to send their secrets to them via mail, email, or now even through the new PostSecret App. In Post Secrets there is not a lot of use of the traditional technique of using moving images and sound, which are often found incorporated into digital narratives, but more of a homemade and simple looking structure and framework. The people’s secrets are in many cases homemade, composed of either a photo or a postcard or even a random assortment of pieces pasted together with their secrets hand-written on top of it, but lately a lot more of them have been made digitally.
I agree with the statement that there are two distinct phases of this type of authorship: the author or creative that frames the story telling and the participants that form the different perspectives and create the story episode. The author or creative that frames the story telling and creates the actual look and feel of the website contribute to the framework and structure of the site. This also contributes to the effectiveness of the story telling and how it is overall portrayed to the viewers in the end. In this case, the Post Secret website’s framework is a simple black background with each image of the person’s secrets placed one below the other all the way down. This simple black background really adds to the effectiveness of the story telling site because it makes the posts pop out and make it so the viewer’s attention is all focused in on the posts and secrets, which is the main focus of the site. The participants that form the different perspectives and create the story episode are the people who actually send in their secrets. They are very important to the creation of a digital narrative because they are the only reason that this site is what it is. Because of their storytelling, they have created different perspectives, points of views, and shared their story and creative imaginings with others.
My overall reaction to this Post Secret digital narrative website is that I am very intrigued by it, more so than by the other examples provided. Aesthetically, the appearance and beauty of this site is not very complex or beautiful, but it is still pleasing to the eye because of its simplicity and straightforward structure which makes it easier to focus on the main point of the site, which are the secret posts, the actual digital narrative. Emotionally, this site makes me feel open at the same time as it makes me feel closed. It reminds me that I have plenty of secrets of my own, but it also makes me feel like others are accepting me into their lives by sharing their secrets with me and to the public. Intellectually, I think that it is very easy to understand the reasoning and purpose of the site. It is straightforward and interesting to the viewer. I think that digital narratives, thanks to new media and digital technologies, allow individuals to approach storytelling from unique perspectives.
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