This document discusses integrating digital storytelling into a higher education computing course. It explores how to construct narratives in computing by looking at data structures as characters, algorithms as plot devices, and computer programs as imaginary worlds. The document also examines different ways to tell digital stories, such as through videos, interviews, or timelines. It proposes evaluating digital stories based on both content learning and storytelling skills. The goal is to use digital storytelling to make computing concepts more engaging and to change traditional teaching rituals.

1. Käyttäytymistieteellinen tiedekunta
21-DIGITAL STORYTELLING WITH
DATA STRUCTURES & ALGORITHMS
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2. Käyttäytymistieteellinen tiedekunta
Integrating technology-enhanced teaching methods to
a HigherEd Computing course
DATA STRUCTURES & ALGORITHMS
WITH DIGITAL STORIES
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Ari Korhonen & Marianna Vivitsou
Aalto University & University of Helsinki

3. Käyttäytymistieteellinen tiedekunta
21C-DIGITAL STORYTELLING @ANALYSIS
Patterns of/in narrative
e.g., Fiction/non-fiction/documentary (genre studies)
Placed in Cultural/historical context (:relevance)
Approaches to story in films:
semiological/object-oriented (what are the structures underlying
expression)
(Post-theory): Specific problems require specific solutions: narrative &
understanding & development & emotional engagement
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4. Käyttäytymistieteellinen tiedekunta
QUESTION SEEKING RESPONSE
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How do we construct the narrative in computing?
Who do we tell our story to and what for?
What channels fit best to our digital stories?

5. Käyttäytymistieteellinen tiedekunta
WHAT MAKES A STORY?
• The dimensions of the Story
• Narrative: chains & sequences of events
‒Characters, setting, chain of events
‒What devices we use to tell a story, e.g., metaphors, similes,
personifications (think of fairy tales: e.g., the stepmother in
Snow white, the mirror in Alice, the pumpkin in Cinderella)
‒ When a story moves from one medium to the other, the plot (or
discourse) changes, while the story remains largely unchanged
(Chatman 1980)
• Style: how the story is filmed, shot & edited, what sound
effects are used etc.
• The audience: real & imagined
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6. Käyttäytymistieteellinen tiedekunta
CS@THE NARRATIVE I
• Where do we NOT find narrative?
• Documentaries, animated films, experimental & avant garde, short films,
our lives? (they exist even if we are NOT aware of them ...)
• The narrative has a purpose even if it looks purposeless, or absent
• Propose/enunciate an idea, a dialogue, a new product
• It has a structure even if it is a paradox
• It takes some degree of technique
• Setting, plot, perspective, theme/message, characters
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7. Käyttäytymistieteellinen tiedekunta
CS@THE NARRATIVE II
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“…The programmer, like the poet,
works only slightly removed from
pure thought-stuff. He builds his
castles in the air, from air,
creating by exertion of the imagination.
Few media of creation are […] so readily
capable of realizing grand
conceptual structures…”
Fred Brooks

8. Käyttäytymistieteellinen tiedekunta
CS@THE NARRATIVE III
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Data types as characters
their definition creates the diegesis (the
“world” of the story)
their complexity is that of the story
polymorphism: same stimuli bring
different responses
pure diegeses:
computer games
real life as pure diegesis:
e.g, the banking world
Ch. Papadimitriou
https://youtu.be/RPKzF2tFgfs

9. Käyttäytymistieteellinen tiedekunta
@THE NARRATIVE ARC
climax
resolution
exposition
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10. Constructing an audience
Message: addressor – addressee
• Author, narrator, technology user
• With a community in mind
•an imagined community assumes an
imagined identity
Text-based and video-based storytelling
is a space where narrative practices
meet with pedagogical goals in the
process of authoring the self as narrator
and networked user in encounters
online
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11. Käyttäytymistieteellinen tiedekunta
STORYTELLING & INTERPRETATION
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While
authoring
narratives
& engaged
with
symbolic
work

12. Käyttäytymistieteellinen tiedekunta
HOW WE INTERPRET MATTERS
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“Algorithms
are not
neutral.
Algorithms
do not
function
apart from
people”
T. Gillespie

13. Käyttäytymistieteellinen tiedekunta
DIGITAL STORYTELLING 3.0
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOKVwRIyWdg&feature=youtu.be
What is the purpose
underlying the choice
of these time stamps
09: 23
10: 46
14: 02
15: 00

14. Käyttäytymistieteellinen tiedekunta
POSSIBLE WAYS TO TELL A @DSTORY
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=HRzg0SzFLQQ
What are the elements
underlying the
storytelling here?
Think of:
Style, audience, channel

15. Käyttäytymistieteellinen tiedekunta
OTHER POSSIBLE WAYS TO TELL A @DSTORY
Example interview @google
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=XKu_SEDAykw
The fastest way
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=WaNLJf8xzC4&feature=youtu
.be
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16. Käyttäytymistieteellinen tiedekunta
& MORE POSSIBLE WAYS TO TELL A @DSTORY
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• The element of sound
• Or about the style of digital
storytelling
https://edvisto.com/story/BD5
aMzDz
https://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=WXtiUeAYC0c

17. Käyttäytymistieteellinen tiedekunta
TYPES OF DIGITAL STORIES
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18. Käyttäytymistieteellinen tiedekunta
THE PRACTICAL OF @DSTORYTELLING
Timelines
Deliverables
Submissions
Deadlines
https://plus.cs.h
ut.fi/a1141/2017
/k02/project/
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Criteria
Content learning
Social skills
Sharing with
audiences
Originality
Multi-literacies

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EVALUATION: HORIZONTAL & VERTICAL
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Content learning skills
(topic/question/task:
Relevance)
The DS shows limited
understanding of the
topic/question/task.
There is no clear
evidence about how the
topic and the story
relate.
Only some aspect
of the topic is
discussed in the
DS. Basic
connections
between concepts
are presented.
The DS presents
relevant
concepts and
connections
between them.
Concepts are
described in a
detailed way.
The DS clearly
shows the
connection
between concepts
by paralleling,
comparing and
evaluating them.
Also explanations
and searches for
relations between
concepts are
included.
The DS shows
many-sided
understanding in
describing the
topic, as well as
skillful use of
concepts and their
connections.
Storytellers also
describe
hypotheses and
generalizations
about the topic.
Performance is
creative and
insightful.

20. Käyttäytymistieteellinen tiedekunta
OPENING UP THE PROJECT WORK!
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21. Käyttäytymistieteellinen tiedekunta
CHANGING THE SCRIPT?
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It matters to know more about our virtual selves as
authors, narrators and computer users
It targets meaningful communicative practice
Idealized view of the popular culture
Popular networking practices
Digital stories can change the ritual in education

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!
TECHNOLOGY IS ABOUT A GOOD STORY
NARRATIVE IS ABOUT A POWERFUL STORY