The story of Digital Storytelling continues here, with a brand new season from the Fall 2024 quarter.
As digital media artists and storytellers, it is our job to present a story for an audience who has rarely, or ever, experienced something within a digital world. We take what has been built upon in the past, and continue that story with additions of our own while fitting in with the overall theme that we go for.
This time around, while we develop our area and make sure that we are presenting this story with everything that we’ve got, we’ve decided to focus on giving ourselves a chance to some Self-Care.
The Hero’s Journey
Similar to how it was in the previous quarter, these steps of the hero’s journey will be sporadic in when they were accomplished in the timeline. Not every step is going to happen in a linear timeline, so I will make sure to note at what point these events happened!
Step 0: Onboarding – This welcoming step is where the hero enters the world via the pirate ship, learns about the journey, and suits up to head out.
Back in Fall of 2023, I was given a bit of insight to what the virtual world Second Life was. This was my first time hearing about it, but from what I was shown, as well as how us students were going to be involved, I was excited and ready to try something new, and be a part of something amazing. I’ve definitely had my struggles with it when I first began back in the spring, but I was able to get through it. I learned many things that quarter (one of them being how difficult it is to render a 3D object…), and I’m happy that I get to not only bring those lessons back here for this adventure, but to also learn even more things and grow as a creative.
It had been a little while since I last used Second Life, so re-remembering how things worked and getting used to the controls again was fun!
Step 1: Ordinary World – This step refers to the hero’s normal life at the start of the story, before the adventure begins.
Because of the familiarity of using Second Life, as well as the project that we’ve been using for a while, I knew that I would have an easier time navigating the space, as well as make decisions based on what I already knew. I was excited to continue working on this long project that has been going on for years, and was excited to see what new things we would be able to add and come up with for our area.
I created my Mission Badge that was placed on the pirate ship that would bring others from the ordinary world to the new inviting world of the hero’s journey.
Step 2: Call to Adventure – The hero is faced with something that makes them begin their adventure. This might be a problem or a challenge they needs to overcome.
This class that I’m doing this project in is part of the degree path that I am working towards (Multimedia Graphics); and while I was unsure of it at first since the name of it made me unsure of what would be happening in it, I still wanted to take it. I also wanted to improve myself from what I had done the previous quarter, so I decide to trek on and take it.
Step 3: Refusal of the Call – The hero attempts to refuse the adventure because they are afraid.
Fortunately, so far, as of writing this (November 8, 2024), this has been an amazing journey for me for this adventure. Since I’ve already done this once before, I’ve gotten my fears out of the way and can say that I have more confidence with getting things done as well as generating ideas.
I don’t think that my anxiousness over whether things are good or not will entirely go away, but at the very least I’m not entirely afraid of presenting these ideas with the team.
Step 4: Meeting with the Mentor – The hero encounters someone who can give them advice and ready them for the journey ahead.
The stakeholder I contacted for this project was someone who had never been introduced to the world of Second Life, or knows everything that we do in our program. It was a really nice experience getting to show them around the world, as well as talk about the digital storytelling project that I had worked on in the previous quarter. There was a lot of things to show and go over, but it was fun being able to explain and get excited over the flexibility that Second Life offered, as well as explain what things were tied into what areas of the college.
They had also given me some ideas on some tools and objects to be placed in-world!
Step 5: Crossing the First Threshold – The hero leaves their ordinary world for the first time and crosses the threshold into adventure.
When I first heard about the title of this class, I wasn’t entirely sure how it was going to work since the name of the class sounds very…technical—not at all like a multimedia class involving the usage of Second Life. I can say, now, that this class is very similar in the things that we do, but it involves the creation of infographics that help with further developing and supporting the ideas that we present.
Step 6: Tests, Allies, Enemies – The hero learns the rules of their new world. During this time, they endure tests of strength of will, meets friends, and comes face to face with foes.
Currently (November 8, 2024), I am not confident in my skill in creating infographics, or with gathering data that can relate to my section. I know that I’ll eventually get there, but as of writing this, I can already tell that I’m going to have a little bit of a difficult time doing this part for my project.
Update (December 3, 2024): I was able to create a very non-traditional infographic in relation to my area. I talk about it more further down in this report, but I utilized the objects of s’mores to represent some of the different aspects that come with self-care when it comes to different relationships. It was very fun hand-drawing all of the different s’mores, as well as giving them their own different “personalities”!
Step 7: Approach – Setbacks occur, sometimes causing the hero to try a new approach or adopt new ideas.
This may be a bit of a different turn from what I was talking about before in this report, but as someone who has had a hard time making friends, or being social in a big gather (lets be honest here, I still have that issue), this area is something that means a lot to me. It’s been helping me express some thoughts and ideas that I have for myself, and things that I would love to be a part of. Because of a lack of friends, however, and a general anxious feeling about being outside since I’m a homebody, having this space be a place where I can try and express these ideas mean a lot to me.
I still haven’t made that many friends that I actively talk to outside of class and hang out with, even after a year of being part of college. Despite all of that, I still want to use this as an opportunity to try and help others begin that self-care journey of learning how to be social, and to help them begin making friendships with others.
Step 8: Ordeal – The hero experiences a major hurdle or obstacle, such as a life or death crisis.
Back in spring, I was having a very difficult time with staying motivated, and with doing my work in a timely manner. It was one of my more difficult times in college, and although it was only a few months ago that I was feeling this way, I can say that I am feeling a lot better with what I am doing, as well as feeling more accomplished in the work that I am putting out there and generating. I don’t enjoy tooting my own horn, or bragging about my accomplishments since I have some issues in my confidence in my works, but I do enjoy being able to say when there is progress in myself.
Update (December 7, 2024): Later on as the quarter went on, and got closer to being finished with my classes, I could feel myself getting exhausted/not wanting to work on things as much as I was throughout the entirety of it. I will say, however, that I was a lot better about being consistent in doing my work, and I went the majority of the quarter being good about getting my work turned in on time. I know that this has been a very consistent thing with me all throughout college, but I think, this time around, I was much better at willing myself to continue to work, even when I was not feeling inspired to do so.
Step 9: Reward – After surviving death, the hero earns their reward or accomplishes their goal.
One of my goals that I had mentioned previously in spring was to develop my skills with every assignment that we were given, as well as with every new project that we were participating in. To me, that still hasn’t changed much; now, however, my goal has been developed into continuing to learn new things, even when I think that I’m doing well in a certain area. Even if there has been significant improvement in my skill since last quarter, I still believe that I am always going to be learning new things, as well as having to re-learn skills and tricks (as well as shortcuts for different programs). I am also learning that, with myself, I still need to learn to be patient with myself, and also learn where my limits are so that I don’t break myself down when I ignore the warning signs.
Each new thing that I develop and create is a sort of test of what I am capable of, and what type of things I need to take a step back on so that I can come back later to it once I’ve settled my thoughts on it.
Step 10: The Road Back – The hero begins their journey back to their ordinary life.
In a strange way, doing the presentation showcasing everything that we have worked on was like a reminder of why we do this and for who. I’ve always been someone who has wanted to create, even if it was for myself; being part of this ongoing project has been absolutely wonderful for me, and has helped me get back in the groove of creating once again (of course, I still have my moments of feeling void of inspiration and eagerness, but that is the flow of a creative).
Step 11: Resurrection Hero – The hero faces a final test where everything is at stake and they must use everything they has learned.
Most of the things that I am doing for this quarter, I have taken from my much more difficult experience in spring. I want to be able to utilize the things that I have done, and make sure that I have created something even better—if not, something that has developed a bit easier than the things that I had to do in spring.
We had our presentation December 4, 2024, with stakeholders watching our project come to life. Compared to last quarter when I participated in a similar presentation, I felt a bit more confident with what I was presenting, as well as less nervous with presenting in general. It was nice being able to see everyone else’s part of the project come together so perfectly as well!
Step 12: Return with Elixir – The hero brings their knowledge or the “elixir” back to the ordinary world, where they apply it to help all who remain there.
With my area in Social and Relational, despite there being many things presented in my area that involve high socializing, I hope that others don’t feel like it’s an obligatory thing to fully put themselves out there when it’s difficult to even start a conversation with someone. One of my main goals is to create a representation of a safe space where people are allowed to be social, and potentially develop a friendly relationship with someone.
Sometimes, even being around others who are social, without that obligation to be heavily involved, is enough. Sometimes, that might even be the very important first step that someone needs to overcome in order to start learning—or re-learn—how to be social and make friends again.
Self-Care Wheel of Wellness
Each of us were assigned, or chose, an area on the Wheel of Wellness that would act as our theme of focus when creating assets for our area in Second Life. My choice was to focus on what it means to practice a Social and Relational form of self-care.
When I think about how being social and developing relationships can be impactful on your self-care, I always think about how being able to talk to people, and being around others that you love, is a really important aspect of your mental health and your general well-being. It doesn’t matter who you’re talking with—family, friends, partner, etc.—it’s always important that you have someone, or a group of people, that you can rely on.
Social and Relational Socialization Area
I wanted this space in this area to invite a feeling of safety, and to encourage others to visit and grab some food, or sit around a fire; to be social and mingle with others; to have an area where you can have fun with each other.
Earlier in the quarter, the most that we had for my area was this seating area, as well as two separate smores stations! Who could resist roasting mallows over a fire?
Over the next few quarters, there were more food-related things added to the area to further enhance the inviting feeling for the area. There was a lot of emphasis on food, since I believe that many good relationships are made, and can be develop and reignited, over a nice meal—plus, it is a nice way to bond with others in a setting where there are more that two other people with you.
One of the food tables has an option to start a food fight with another person. It’s fun seeing that messy things can turn out okay in the end (the kind of messy that is fun, not toxic).
Wheel of Wellness Infographic
In theme of using food to represent the idea of the Social and Relational aspect of self-care, I used s’mores in my infographic. It was unfinished during the presentation, but since then, I have added some other text in there to help make it more complete (see below):
Each s’more represents different aspects of developing a relationship and/or friendship with someone, even showcasing when creating a relationship doesn’t work out. I wanted to make sure that the background of the infographic included the semi-circle seating, and the fire pit that had the smores on it, and drew alternate versions of s’mores for variety. I made sure that they were all different, and had their own little quirks to them (the “Adaptability” s’more uses a twisted marshmallow to represent the idea of being flexible when finding new ways to meet people, and a broken and burnt s’more to represent that sometimes things don’t always work…but that doesn’t mean that it has to be a bad thing!)!
S’mores and campfires have always been a setting in movies that showcased people becoming friends, as well as an area where relationships developed. There is also the idea of sitting around a campfire to tell stories—which is a constant overall theme in the classes that I have been taking in my degree. I thought that it was rather fitting!