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For this week's project, I chose to explore the mobile app titled Explory which was created in 2013 in San Francisco California. Ironically although this is an American product, I found that the majority of users were either European or Australian (I knew this by both the accent of the users as well as the infusion of different language via text). What drew me to Explory was the inherent multimodality that this app affords when it comes to mobile narratives and storytelling as Explory combines video, image, sound, and also a tactile interactive experience in which the user can manipulate the timeline of the story based on their own preference. In order to participate in Explory you must sign up with an email and then create a password (yes, this app is FREE!). I was happy that this app didn't spam me throughout my week of using it as some app's that I've used in the past have had to be deleted due to their consistent advertising once they have your email address. The website for the app is the exact same in reference to layout on the mobile app when you first download it:
As I participated as a user in this app, I made sure to document my user experience in each step of the process with screen shots. Here is my registration experience. You'll find from my screen shots that I'm not forced to link my Explory account with other social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter. This was one of the biggest attractions for me, considering I don't have a Facebook and sometimes I really prefer to keep my different composing methods and platforms separate from one another:
Once my account was created, I was redirected to the app's user homepage, the homepage is really traditional to a public composing platform in that it has "popular" explories as well as an informational tutorial video, which I found to be exceptionally helpful. One thing I noticed the tutorial video didn't mention was how to delete different parts of your story as you were creating the videos, sound, and text. (I had to figure out how to delete an especially unflattering picture I took by accident of my chin).I'm wondering if this lack of attention to deleting components to a story is a specific rhetorical move on the app creators part?
When I went to look to see if there was a feedback opportunity, I found I had to go into the settings and then the only option I had to provide feedback was through email:
As for making my own explory, I found that viewing the tutorial video significantly helped my navigation of composing within this platform. I felt like "playing" around within the app was truly an easy experience and I was able to understand the app and how it functioned. I noticed that you could only include music in your explory that was purchased through iTunes, so for me that meant I only had the option of 2 different songs in each video I made. My first video was kind of rough and I got a little frusterated, but by day 2 after snooping around at other user's video's that had chosen to make their videos public, I was feeling pretty good. Here's a couple screen shots from my first video. Notice that you have several sharing options within this app, which is something I really value.
In considering how to share the story you've made in other realms outside of the app, I noticed that you were largely limited to either Facebook, Twitter, email, or messaging. As a result I had to text my video to my boyfriend so I could open the explory hyperlink on my computer through iMessage, here is my first video:
Lucy's First Explory Another awesome feature of Explory is that is archives your photos for you to make a "suggested" story based on the images you've collected throughout time. In doing so, here are my "suggested" stories that have been recommended for me:
Based off of specific days or events, Explory kind of puts together your story for your in a suggested time frame and linear composition (which you have the agency as the user to manipulate). This is the aspect that is of particular interest to me for my DTC 101 course as I have students beginning with a multimodal technology literacy narrative. As an assignment scaffolded into that unit, I might ask students to first generate their perceptions of their timeline of literacy with technology and then look to this app to see what Explory "suggests" for them as a potential story, and how this app might work to change the perceptions they have about their own technology use. If they would change particular elements of their suggested story, what would they be and why? how might they change the flow of their story? The music? the details? I think a lot of value can come from integrating a very "user friendly" multimodal story telling app like this one. In addition it's free and has amazing reviews!! (the following information comes from the iTunes App Store website):
Here are other screen shot captures of my experience in the days to follow my initial download and use (the first image is my students doing debate, followed by all my published explories, and then ending with my explory in the public sphere alongside other users).
wow! this is great Lucy, you've really dug in and given a good sense of the capabilities of the app for varied users and situations. It will be great to see how the notion of the unfinished story as well as the diverse types of narration possible can extend both to the classroom and to pushing us to theorize mobile applications in general within DH and within the context of larger narratives of technology and collaboration.
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ReplyDeleteLucy,
ReplyDeleteExplory sounds like a really interesting and multifaceted platform to engage in digital storytelling. I was really intrigued by the manner in which users can draw on a variety of media in the course of their creating their respective narratives, as it seemed to offer a plethora of unique and important opportunities for users to not only manipulate their narrative in and through various media but to really consider the sort of media ecology that is created when such media is combined and delivered within a single narrative. I was surprised, though, that Explory did not offer options for embedding narratives into blogs, which raises questions about its viability in the DTC 101 (though, of course, you could use a platform like Twitter). What might you consider in terms of working around the limited platforms available to embed narratives? The whole "suggested" narrative thing was also pretty interesting, in that the mobile application itself (arbitrarily?) organizes photographs into prospective narratives. It strikes me that a lot of work could be done around these "suggested" narratives in the DTC 101 classroom, in asking students to subvert these "suggested" narratives and perhaps force the mobile application to "suggest" new and different narratives. I guess what I'm getting at is considering what might be Explory's threshold for changing their approach to "suggested" narratives for individual users. What do you think of that? Lastly, there's something rather "meta" about how you're considering extending the mobile application to the DTC 101 classroom, in that you're asking students to provide a narrative of their technological literacies in and around a familiar digital medium (of course) but also a platform (Explory) that they're likely unfamiliar with. Might you see some value in asking them to narrate their user experiences with Explory (like we were asked to do for this blog) rather than expanding it too far into technological literacies writ large? Or, perhaps you could start with the local context of gaining literacy in Explory and then move to the more global connotations that you seem to be driving at here? Just some food for thought. Thanks for sharing!
Mark
Lucy,
ReplyDeleteExplory sounds and looks really interesting! Based on your screenshots and descriptions, it also appears as if it's user-friendly and rather easy to navigate. In consideration to your use in the DTC 101 classroom, how do think students will compare their experience with this app with another app that they've used to establish their digital narrative, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Vine, Instagram, etc. It seems that most students have already developed a narrative on these sites, simply because of their popularity and longevity. How, then, do you anticipate students will react and interact with this app in conjunction with their established digital narratives? Also, to be sure I understand the app correctly, does it sync with the photos and videos you've posted on other SMS? If so, how do you find that influences the integrity of the app and its ability to function as the primary story sharer? Overall, this seems like an excellent app!
Thanks for sharing!
Lacy