Tuesday, May 6

We began class by talking about the Radiolab transcript of "War of the Worlds" that you read for today. Discussing the rhetorical situation, we determined that there were several layers and mediums used to tell this story:

Novel (1897) - the original novel by H.G. Wells about a hostile alien invasion
Radio (1938) - a screenplay of the original novel by Orson Wells, broadcast to the public
Podcast (2008) - a story about the radio program, examining the public response

When I asked why the podcast producer Jad Aboumrad chose to use these multiple layers, Zoe answered that it makes the story more interesting. This is exactly right. By making a story more rich and complex (though not necessarily complicated), we create a better story more likely to engage the audience.

I asked you to think about different ways you might layer your own narratives. One way you might do this is the way you tell the story. We listed several kinds of media together:

• print/online - you are reading text
• visual - you are reading images
• audio - you are reading sounds
• mixtures of the two things:
• audio-visual (like a film)
• print and visual - infographic

How might you use these things in your own narrative?

Interest

Continuing our discussion of interest, we discussed that the reason "War of the Worlds" had such a powerful affect upon its 1938 audience was the way that it reflected social anxieties of the time. Americans in 1938 were about to go into war and had good reason to worry about foreign invasion. A story about alien invasion reflects this anxiety of foreign invasion in powerful and effective ways.

Using Google Docs, I asked you to determine who you audience was and what they were anxious about or happy about. You came up with some really great concerns:

• the company selling Chinese buns determined that their audience might be concerned about food safety
• the cosmetic company determined their audience might be concerned about organic ingredients and animal testing

these are very specific issues, that are directly related to your topic. This is great.
Some of you had more general social concerns

• the missing Malaysian flight MH370
• I asked you to examine the meaning and effectiveness of #BringBackOurGirls

The purpose of doing this is to engage your audience by creating
1) plots that appeal to them
2) discussions that appeal to them.
Remember: an audience will not be interested in a discussion that is only about characters or only about a place. You should have your characters talk about real interests and concerns.

Assignment:
Respond on your blog: How can you use different kinds of media to create a layered narrative in your Twitter narrative?

And keep working on your Twitter narrative. Every day, each character should contribute 2-3 significant tweets that develop the story.