No failure? Well... no guilt, maybe.

For any of you who talked to me last week, I came into DMAC wanting to continue my research on digital identity, to create a model text for my students in the fall, and to learn to create kinetic typography animation in hopes of teaching it.

Two out of three isn't bad. If this was baseball, I'd be a heavy hitter.

This is Kinetic typography (and no, I didn't make it :)):



I tried to create something similar. I worked on this on-and-off all week (I didn't get much time to work with it while gathering assets, but I'd say I put in four hours). I spent what I believe was eight hours yesterday, and I came up with a sort-of-disappointing 26 second introduction for my video.

I learned how to do it, but I'm bad at it. I also learned-- in a much more valuable way-- that students couldn't ever be asked to do this in a comp class. It's too time intensive and requires jumps to at least two different programs.

I was ready to throw my hands up and say "well, $#!@! I wanted to try to do an extended piece like this and I've failed." But then I realized how good this was for me. I'm scared to death of the phrase "digital native" (see me and Doug ranting to hear more about that), but I believe I'm what people mean by that. I've always had a computer around, and video games, and gadgets, and I pick up technologies quickly and tend to be productive within a few days.

What I went through making that chunk of animated text (which you'll all get to see on Tuesday, or you can see tomorrow if you come looking for me) is a constant reminder of the frustrations that can result when you see the project clearly in your head but cannot execute it.

I accidentally put myself in the "oh no! The tech is ruining my life" position, a place I haven't been since I first learned Photoshop using a library book back in the 90s.

I'm glad, though. I would rather, of course, have mastered After Effects and Flash and made a totally amazing project (I do have hubris, after all :)), but I think going into a semester of teaching digital composing-- after a year off-- it was good for me to know frustration.

And I'm positive now that I wouldn't teach with Sophie as it is. I would never subject students to the level of frustration I had last night if the frustration was coming from the technology and not the composing.