IN CLASS ACTIVITIES (FOR DIGITAL STORY MAPPING PROJECT

ASSIGNMENTS)

1) ORAL STORYTELLING ACTIVITY

Think about an incident of racial injustice/violence you want to verbally share in class. Make 5-
10 bullet points about the key actors, actions, areas, and moments to share with a peer partner
who will retell it pointing out what they feel were your focus and whose voice is missing. Your
partner then will tell one of their stories, and you will repeat it back to them. We will then
debrief in plenary as a full group to discuss the experience of drafting, telling, and listening to
stories After class, you will write a 500 word journal reflection on how different narrative voices,
places and timeline make a compelling story

2) STORY MAPPING ACTIVITY

For this assignment, you will learn two digital storytelling elements – story maps and timelines.
Personal maps and timelines are easiest for this but feel free to center your project on another
subject First, we will use ArcGIS Storymaps to create a (social justice) tour of a familiar place by
mapping 5-8 sites with images and text explaining why these sites are significant locations of
social justice practices Organize the site as a geographic path of chronological events. Next, we
will use Knight Lab’s Timeline tool to create a timeline of events at these sites to help the user
better understand our narrative.
Storymap
1. Navigate to https://storymaps.arcgis.com/, click “Sign In”
2. From the Sign-In page, you have a couple of options:
a. If you would like to use your University of Illinois account to login, click on
“Your ArcGIS Organization’s URL”, type “univofillinois” into the box, and click
Continue. This should take you to the standard UIUC login page for validation.
i. If you’ve already downloaded ArcMap for a GIS class or done other GIS
work, you should definitely have a UIUC login. If this doesn’t work, just
move on to option “b”.
b. ArcGIS also allows you to create a free public account, through where you can
use all of the tools mentioned in this assignment. To do this, just click “Create a
public account” at the bottom of the page, fill out your relevant information, and
create an account.
3. After you are logged in and at the ArcGIS Story Maps homepage, click “New Story” in
the top left corner, and in the dropdown click “Guided map tour”.
4. Provide a title and a brief introduction or subtitle to your story.
5. If you scroll down, you will see the map tour interface, with the first location slide
ready.
Click “Add Location” at the bottom of this slide, and in the subsequent window you can
either navigate to the location and click to place your point, or type the location into the
 search bar in the top left. After placement, you can also click and drag the point to adjust
its location. When finished, click “Add location” in the bottom left.
6. Provide a title, image, and description for this location (the image can be whatever
you
want – the outside of the building, a personal event in the building, etc; just make it
relevant to the location or your description).
7. Click the plus sign button at the right of the slide bar, and create your remaining
locations.
8. You can play around with a variety of settings to personalize the story map. Clicking
“Design” at the top of the screen will allow you to choose different visual themes for
your Storymap. The “Map Options” button on the top right of the map will allow you to
change the base map (for example, using satellite imagery) and the point colors. If you
scroll up or down from the map, you should see plus sign buttons that will allow you to
add additional elements to this site, like more text, images or video. Feel free to use these
as you like (for example, including an outro or conclusion message after the map).
9. At the very bottom of the web page is a credits portion. If, for example, you used
Google
Maps Street View for your location images, go ahead and credit that here.
10. When you are happy with your story map, click on “Preview” at the top of the page to
see
how viewers will experience the map. From this page, click “Edit story” to go back to the
map creation page.
11. When you are ready to share, click “Publish”, and select “Everyone” when prompted
to
tell who can see your story. If you logged in through UIUC’s domain, you should also
have a “Only within my organization” option, you can select this as well.
a. After you select “Everyone”, the page isn’t automatically put on ArcGIS’s main
page for everyone to look at, but anyone with the link to the page can open this.
This is one good reason not to include any sensitive information.
12. After clicking publish, you should see a link icon at the top of your screen. Click this,
and
the page url is automatically added to your computer’s clipboard. To submit, simply
paste
this into the assignment’s submission area.
Resources to get familiar:
 Arc GIS StoryMaps Step by step instructions, here.
 Types of Storymap Templates, here.

Timeline
1. Go to http://timeline.knightlab.com/
2. Click “Make a Timeline”, and follow the provided instructions for setting up a Google
Sheet with your information.
3. To include images, the link to the image must be provided in the “Media” column.
This
should be possible with any online image or file hosting site.
a. In Box, click Share, at the bottom of the window Change “Invited People Only”
 to “People with the link”, click on “Link Settings”, then copy and paste the
“Direct Link” into the spreadsheet column for media.
b. In Google Drive, right click, click “Get Link”, select “Anyone with the Link”,
and
copy and paste the link into spreadsheet
4. Create a title page, along with 8 different events in your life.
5. The FAQ section at the bottom of the Knightlab page offers a variety of tips, including
how to customize different aspects of the timeline
a. For example, the background color can be customized by typing a hex code
(a # sign followed by 6 characters) into the background column)
6. Use the “Preview” button at the end of the Knight Lab instructions to view your
timeline.
When you are happy with it, copy the text from the “Share Link” box, and paste it into
the assignment submission on Compass.
Resources to get familiar:
 Making a spreadsheet tutorial: here.

3) DATA STORYTELLING
For this activity we will use a dataset on police shootings in America to understand the different
ways
that the same set of data can be analyzed and communicated, based on the lens you are viewing it
through. To do this, we will use Tableau, a software designed for data visualization. Before
class, you
will install and get an idea of the basics of Tableau. In class on Tuesday, you will work with a
group to
create a narrative based on a specific focus variable.
Before Class
Install Tableau
• Navigate to https://www.tableau.com/academic/students, click “Get Tableau
for Free”, and fill out the form that pops up
o In the email that you receive, click “Download Tableau Desktop”; the
installer
should start downloading automatically
o When it finishes installing, open installer, check the box to say that you
read
the attached material, and click install
o In the Product Registration window, don’t worry about filling out your
info,
click “Activate Tableau” at the top
o Click “Activate with Product Key”
o Enter the product key from the email, and click “Activate”
o Fill out your info in the next window, and click the button on the bottom
right
 Intro to Tableau
• Watch the linked video (23 mins) in order to get a basic familiarity with
the
Tableau interface and how it works

Importing Data
• Download the “shootings.csv” file from Compass, and save somewhere
you can find it on your computer
• On the left side of Tableau, click Connect > To a File > Text file
o Find “shootings.csv” and click “Open”
• The csv file should open in Tableau. Click “Sheet 1” at the bottom left of
the
Tableau window to see your workspace

Getting Familiar
• The video should provide a basic introduction to the Tableau interface,
but see
the “Tips” section at the end of this document for basic tips and insights

In-Class Activity
You will be divided into three groups, with whom you will work to construct a
narrative based
on the data in this file. The three groups will focus on Race, Age, and Gender,
respectively. Your
job as a group is to construct a narrative of how your group’s variable correlates
with police
shootings. You probably want to start with a graph that simply looks at the number of
shootings
by the different categories in your variable, and then add complexity from there (for
example,
how does the gender discrepancy change state to state? Are certain ages more likely to be
shot
while unarmed? Or races shot while fleeing?). Feel free to incorporate the other group’s
variables as part of the additional variables in your analysis, but make sure that your
graphs and
your story center your assigned variable.
In the last section of class, each group will get a chance to present their graphs and verbal
narrative to the other groups, and we will discuss how the focus variables affected the
narrative
that was told.

Deliverables
• (At least) 1 dashboard page of (at least) 4 graphs – Exported to pdf (File > Print
to PDF)
• ~ ½ page typed out version of your narrative. You can just talk through it at the
end of
 class, but we do want a written record of what your group discovered and how
you
decided to frame it.

4) AUDIO/VIDEO ASSIGNMENT
For this assignment, we will be using Adobe Premier Pro to create a brief, documentary-style
video. By documentary-style, we mean that we are not asking you to rely primarily on new
content that you film yourself, but instead will use found images/video, along with voice-overs
and text, to communicate a brief narrative.
The prompt for your video will be “One of my most memorable days”, using photos, video,
and
your own words to describe a day that was memorable to you. Again, like with our storymaps
and timeline assignment, the idea behind this is providing a subject matter that you don’t need to
research, and that you hopefully have your own photo and video to use, so that your focus can be
primarily on learning the software and telling the story. Again, as in the previous assignment,
you can make this as personal as you feel comfortable with, so if you want to tell a brief
narrative about something else that you have easy access to media about, that is also acceptable.
The final product will be a roughly 2-minute video in which you tell the brief story of that day
(or the alternative story you wish to tell), accompanied by intro and exit title cards, at least 20
images, at least 1 video clip, and background music. If you need filler content (for example, you
don’t have a video of the day in question), you may use stock media, but should primarily rely on
your own primary source content. Consider the pacing of your video – how long should each
image be on screen? How much of the time should be spent listening to you talk, vs seeing the
images alone with the background music? Taking the time to play your project in the Program
Monitor panel as you work on it will allow you to experience the project and make changes as
you go.
Instructions
1. Download Adobe Premier Pro.
a. If you do not already have Adobe Creative Cloud installed on your
computer, you can access it through the UIUC webstore here, and follow
the instructions on the website to download and install.
b. Once you have Creative Cloud installed, open the Adobe Creative
Cloud app, under “All Apps” find Premier Pro, and Install.
c. When you open Premier Pro for the first time, you might get a message
saying that you need to update your computer drivers. Follow the attached
instructions to download and update your drivers.
d. If your computer is not able to install or run Premier Pro, you can also
access it through the UIUC Remote Desktop system. If you are not
familiar with Remote Desktop, more information can be found here.
2. After you install and open Premier Pro, you should see a header in the program
that says “Hands-on Tutorials”. Click the button to the right of it labeled “All in-
app tutorials”, and complete the listed tutorials, which will help to provide you a
basic familiarity with the Premier interface and functions.
 a. If you don’t see this option, see if “Learn” is an option below the
“Home” header in the top left corner of your screen on startup.
b. If this doesn’t work, these introductory tutorials are available online,
under the “Getting Started” header at the top.
3. After you have completed the introductory tutorials, click New > Project to
create your own project, select what to name it and where to save it, and click
OK.
4. Using the techniques you learned in the tutorials, add the media you’re using
(audio and video) to the Project Panel in the bottom left of your Premier Pro
Window.
a. You can now use the dragging and dropping techniques you learned in
the tutorial to add this content to the timeline panel in the bottom right.
b. Although this is not covered in the video, determining the length of still
photos in Premier is simple. You can click and drag the beginning or end
of the photo after you add it to the Timeline, and therefore determine how
long it shows in the video. Alternatively, if you right click on the photo in
the timeline, you can manually set the duration to the time that you want
(the units shown are hrs;min;sec;frames)
c. If your images are not scaled or located correctly in your video, this can
be easily adjusted. Go to Windows>Effect Controls, then click on the
relevant media in your timeline. The Effect Controls window should
provide you options for adjusting the Scale, Position, and Rotation of the
image
5. In order to record voice-over for your video, you simply click the microphone
icon next to one of the audio tracks in the timeline to start recording, then click
again to stop. You will likely see a countdown in the monitor panel, giving you a
few seconds to ready yourself before speaking. After you record your voice over,
you can drag it to the relevant place in your video. We will learn about podcasting
next week, so you don’t need to worry about pristine audio engineering for this
project. However, try to make sure that all of your audio is clear and legible.
a. You can record your voice-over in multiple increments, or in one long
go. If you wish to split up a single recording (for example, to cut out a
cough), you have a couple options. The Razor Tool (just click in the
timeline, then hit C on your keyboard) allows you to split a track wherever
you click it. Alternately, pressing Ctrl+K splits a track at the playhead
(that blue line showing where in the video you are).
b. If you’re using Premiere Pro via remote desktop, you likely don’t have
access to the audio input on the remote desktop computer. In this case, the
easiest method is probably to record your voice over on your own
computer using the built-indefault app (Voice Recorder on Windows,
Voice Memo on Mac), and save a copy the resulting audio file somewhere
where you can access it on the remote desktop and insert it into Premiere.
You should then be able to listen to your audio and make any edits that are
needed.
6. If you need to supplement your own content with stock photos or videos,
Pixabay.com is a terrific source of free stock media content.
 a. The slide show from Prof. McDowell also provides several resources
for stock images, video, and sound
7. In order to add background music, the simplest way for our project is to access
Adobe Stock. Go to Windows > Essential Sounds. In the window that this opens,
go to browse, and use search bar and the Moods/Genres/Filters options to find
appropriate background music. Once you have found the appropriate song, drag it
into an audio track in your timeline. You can use the previously learned click and
drag techniques to position the song and decide which part of the song you want
to include.
a. When you export your video, you’ll likely get a warning about the
music not being licensed only being acceptable for a draft version of the
video. This is fine, since we’re not broadly publishing these videos. If you
wish to use your video as a portfolio piece (or create a video for your final
project), you should locate free royalty-free music online and use that
instead.
8. Once you have all of the necessary media in your project, you can use the audio
and video effects learned in the tutorial (along with others you want to experiment
with) to ensure smooth transitions, help your images aesthetically match with one
another, and otherwise customize the video.
9. Using the techniques from the tutorial, add introductory title and conclusion
text to your video. It may also be helpful to add text or labels to some of your
images, so feel free to do this as necessary.
10. Using the start/stop positions of your audio tracks, as well as the audio
balancing techniques learned in your tutorials, make sure that the audio is legible
and balanced throughout your project.
11. When you are satisfied with your project, click File > Export > Media (or Ctrl
+M) to go to the Export Window. Set Format to H.264. Select the Output Name
you want, then click Export.
12. Because of file size limitations on Compass submissions, we will be
uploading these videos to Media Space Illinois, then linking to the videos
a. Navigate to https://mediaspace.illinois.edu/
b. At the top of the screen click “Add New”> “Media Upload”
c. If you are not already logged in, you will be prompted to log into your
U of I account
d. After you login, you should be presented with the option to “Drag and
Drop a file here”, drop the MP4 file you created, and wait for it to upload
e. While you’re waiting, provide a title for your video, navigate to the
bottom of the screen, and select Unlisted under publishing status.
f. After the video has finished uploading and you have clicked save,
navigate to the video page (you should be taken there automatically, but
you can also see it listed after you click on your name in the top right
corner).
g. Either copy the URL from the search bar, or from the Share option
below the video, and paste it into the submission area in Compass.

Final Submission Requirements

 • Completion – 75 pt

5) PODCASTING
For this class activity we will use audio editing software, Reaper to produce a final 3-5 minute
podcast

Before Class
• Download the appropriate version of Reaper for your operating system from
https://www.reaper.fm/download.php
o We are using this program for several reasons. Unlike many free audio
workstations, Reaper uses non-destructive editing, meaning you can go
back and undo any changes that you make later, allowing you to
experiment and providing flexibility. In addition, Reaper provides a 60-
day free trial, after which you can keep using it, though it will kindly
encourage you purchase a license for $60, so you can keep using this
software after the class if you wish. Many audio professionals appreciate
Reaper because it is as powerful as the industry standard but much more
affordable.
• After you have downloaded Reaper, watch at least the first 3 videos in this
playlist (feel free to check out later videos, they are likely to be helpful, but aren’t
required). This should provide you a basic familiarity with the interface. You will
notice similarities to the Adobe Premiere interface, but having your full screen
devoted to audio makes it a lot easier to focus on editing this element.
• Record at least two minutes of audio on the subject “What do you miss most
about life before COVID?” This can be you yourself talking, or somebody else
(roommate, family, etc) that you can rope into talking about it. This doesn’t need
to be written out beforehand, and can be rambling, including “um”s, etc. You’ll
then edit this down to familiarize yourself with the software.
o The easiest method to record is likely your computer or phone’s Voice
Memo/Voice Recording app.
▪ Record by holding the microphone of the phone (usually at the bottom) a fist
length’s under your mouth. You want to make sure it’s about six inches away but
that you’re not blowing on the microphone when you say p’s and t’s and the like.
Listen back before you record to make sure it sounds ok.
o Record, upload and edit the file on Reaper to a cleaner-sounding, shorter
version of the answer. Edit out umms, likes, stumbles, asides. Think about
where you want it to start and end. Do you want to reorganize the answer
at all?
• Listen to two podcast episodes
o This American Life’s Warriors in the Garden. As you listen, consider
this: How is the story organized? What makes it interesting? And how
does it keep holding your interest throughout?
o Kim’s episode Oberammergau, to get a sense of the kinds of stories
she makes
In class
Share questions on issues you might face in developing the rest of the assignment.

After Class
• In 3-5 minutes, tell a brief story (or interview a friend/relative) about how
COVID has changed you. Include these beats: What were you like before, what
happened during COVID, and how are you now different? What has this
experience taught you? Some reminders from class:
o How can you show versus tell us about this experience? Bring us into
the details of what happened so we come to the conclusion with you
o How can you use sensory details to help us feel this experience with
you? What are some select details that bring us into the experience with
you?
o Always check to make sure you’re telling the truth: What are you really
trying to say? How can you say it simply as possible?
o Continuously ask yourself: how would I say this to a friend? If you
wouldn’t say it like this to a friend, then rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. One
shortcut is to record yourself telling your story to a friend (use a free AI
transcription service like Otter AI to transcribe it) and then write your first
draft from that transcript.
• Possible formats you can follow:
o Pre-written and narrated
o Interview a friend about this and edit it down. Think in advance: what
are the questions you’d ask so you make sure you get those beats, and with
the kind of detail to make a compelling story?
o Draft an outline of your story then record yourself telling it out loud. As
you edit, rerecord yourself to fill in any gaps
• Using the software knowledge from the videos, and the content strategies
provided by Kim, edit down your recorded audio into 3-5 minutes of audio that
tells a story about how you or someone else changed during COVID.
• Like a podcast host introducing the next segment, record a brief intro (less than
30 seconds) for your piece. Include: Who are we about to hear from and why
should I listen? Your goal here is to make us curious before we’re going to hear it;
raising a question. Maybe this means saying something about how COVID is
changing people.
• Find one royalty-free song that you can use for your intro
music.www.Freemusicarchive.org is a useful resource for this.
o Before you decide to use a track, check the license for the song (click on
the song title, and look for attribution info on the right side of the
webpage). If the license requires attribution, you need to credit the creator
in the final podcast.
o If you want to search exclusively for non-attribution licenses, click “Go”
in the search bar at the top right, and in the search window click where it
says “License”, then check the box next to “Public Domain”. From there
you can select the genre or other features you want to search within.
 o Incorporate the music you have selected into the intro. You may also
want a separate song (or to revisit the same song) towards the end of the
segment, to signal the conclusion. Edit the music for the intro: consider
where you want the music to come in and why, how loud you want it to be
compared to your voice, as well as how it leads into and/or out of the
primary recording (using volume fades, etc)
• Upload your final product to Illinois Media Space
.

Week 1: INTRODUCTION OF MODULE #

 Wednesday: Intro of Module #
 Everyone: come to class with readings done and videos watched,
ready to discuss
 Presenters: Come prepared with a discussion question (point of
confusion) based on the readings and one additional text of your
choice, post discussion question after class on Wednesday. (500
words, see question structure)
 Friday: Responders: Reply to poc question in 100 words
 Sunday: Everyone: Discussion Journal- reflect on concepts as a
consequence of the synchronous and asynchronous discussion

Week 2: PROJECT JOURNAL OF MODULE #

Come prepared with a poc (point of confusion) question to class. Prepare for discussion by
submitting an initial post before class. Discuss your "draft" question in class then post your
question in the Discussion Forum in format below. 
 Min 500 word post must include the following information:
 Proposed question (point of confusion) for which you seek clarity via peer responses  
 Reference source and page number of the topic
 List 3–5 key academic vocabulary and definitions associated with your question
 What I know about my question (refer to concepts from prior lectures and your own
sources)
 Critical thinking about my question (list assumptions of dominant narrative frames)
 Identify 3–5 key steps towards a possible solution
 Further questions that may arise from original question (points of confusion)

Responders must reply to 5 questions. Each reply should stimulate more critical reflection of
initial questions. Some ways to accomplish that include:
 Clarify and/or extend your peers' line of thinking.
 Compare/contrast their views on the topic with your own.
 Suggest/question what explanation(s) you think your peers might be missing that could
strengthen their arguments.
 End your response with a question to further the dialogue.
Your response posts should meet the following requirements:
  Include at least 100 words for each response, excluding references.
 Use of appropriate evidence from the readings and lessons to support your claims and
judgments.

Original presenters must then respond to each comment on their question with a brief response
(10 words).

 Click the link Module 2 Discussion Journal link.

 Click "Create Journal Entry" and give it the title "Module # Reflections"
 Type your response directly in to the text editor ("Entry message") then to submit, click
Post Entry.

MODULE 2-6

WEEK 1 WEEK 2

DISCUSSION QUESTION DISCUSSION JOURNAL PROJECT JOURNAL

(Point of confusion)

FINAL PROJECT
(STORY MAPPING)