Presented at the Public Libraries Victoria Network ICT Special Interest Group seminar on Digital Content on Wednesday 26 March 2014. Outlines Brimbank Libraries's Comic Club which incorporates both a physical group meeting and digital creations - the comics.
Kids create comics for themselves and for publication by Brimbank Libraries both as hard copy and online zines, primarily using the software Comic Life by Plasq.comFirst comics made using mainly free prepared images – hence theme of cats and dogsMiddle comic uses shapes manipulated within ComicLife and some clipart
Examples of comics using:Hand made models photographed and “GIMPed”Clip artLimited drawing tools of ComicLife
Comic Life 3 templates: useful for a variety of purposes from comics, photo albums, themed reports and school projects, yearbooks, newspapers, travel diaries, postcards.Includes blank templates with styles and storyboards.
Simple screen navigation. Basic 123 process from left of screen:Choose panel layoutSearch for and insert imagesAdd text boxes, lettering and speech bubblesMenu at top allows for manipulation of text and images. ComicLife 3 includes the ability to create png transparencies from jpgs within the program.
Choice of styles for panels, lettering, text and speech bubbles
Enter Hus bringing with him industry skills in digital art and animation , youth, enthusiasm and brimming with ideas.
At this point I would like to introduce the importance of internal partnerships in the successful development, delivery and particularly ownership of programs based around technology. We know libraries are in transition and some are changing at a far greater pace than others. But the reality remains that this is an aging, female-dominated, part-time and relatively static workforce.http://joboutlook.gov.au/occupation.aspx?search=alpha&tab=stats&cluster=&code=2246&graph=AG accessed 6/3/2014Job prospects as outlined http://joboutlook.gov.au/occupation.aspx?search=alpha&tab=prospects&cluster=&code=2246Proposition that I will explore throughout this presentation: programs that value traditional skills and enhance them with new technologies and that are marketed to staff in this way I suggest have a better chance of success. My personal journey with this program is a case in point.
We then had the team:Hus: digital artist and animator, young, dynamicLeanne: librarian, teacher, storyteller, mature yet enthusiastic
The Comic Club program supports a range of our library service’s strategic themes: Digital Literacy, English Literacy, Developing a Reading Culture, Social Connectedness, School YearsSchool Years: Target group is tweensSocial Connectedness: Sharing of ideas, collaboration with peers, cross-age and peer tutoring, positive interaction with staffDeveloping a Reading Culture: Legitimising the genre of comics within a culture of reading at the same time as encouraging the investigation, in books and online, of ideas and techniques for their production; reading for understanding and meaning particularly in the role of peer editing.English Literacy: Developing a writing culture: writing “comic style”: the use of text, dialogue and image in the construction of a narrative, plotting a storyboard, interplay of words & images; writing for particular audience, editing. Visual Literacy: “includes interpreting still and moving images…and other graphic representations, and understanding and evaluating how images and language work together in distinctive ways…” http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/GeneralCapabilities/Literacy/Organising-elements/Visual-knowledge
Digital LiteracyDefinition of Digital literacy from Cornell University (http://digitalliteracy.cornell.edu/welcome/dpl0000.html) Accessed 6/3/2014“Digital literacy is the ability to find, evaluate, utilize, share, and create content using information technologies and the Internet.”Find: images, inspiration for stories, using search engines, image sitesEvaluate: can I use them – copyright, creative commons and attribution, do they fit the story?Utilise: image format change: jpg to png transparency, using other tools: GIMP, Photoshop, CorelPaint, Comic Life tools to transform imagesShare: knowledge and discovery of how to use tools, images, story ideas; editing and giving feedback; publishing in print and online, move to online forum for exchange of ideasCreate: “User-generated content”: own and altered images, comics, school projects and other projects: newspapers, postcards, reports, travel diaries, photo albums
Example of a comic from our youngest member: 7 y/o Angony didn’t go through any of our more formal teaching of the Comic Life Program. He entered at a time that we were trialling peer teaching now that we had a core group of members who knew the program well. This has been an interesting experience. His friendMawein, also being young didn’t really show Angony much to start with though he did show him where to get images he could use. So Angony has used just the very basics of the program inserting a single image per panel, using text boxes and speech bubbles. When I sat down to edit with him I not only worked through the storyline but introduced image layering, styles, shapes, image manipulation and overall design theory.
Example of where the kids themselves are taking it: Aaron comes up with the story, Nick draws the pictures; they scan them and then Hadi uses GIMP to isolate the image and transform it into a png transparency, then uses CorelDraw to colour it. Hadi then works out that he can actually use Corel Draw to create the png transparencies.Result: Last week Hadi (age 11) ran the group session. We all brought in a simple pencil-drawn picture, scanned them, imported them into Corel Paint and coloured them.Such drawn images are planned for a comic combining copyright free images and the kids own photos.
At the moment I am seeking ideas for expanding the Comic Club’s online presence:Notably a forum to take the group beyond the 1 hour Club, join the two groups and allow exchange of ideas outside of Club time.
Despite my new-found technical expertise, I am still, at my core, a librarian, a teacher and a storyteller who is excited about helping kids find their voice and their creativity, it is just the platform and tools that I sometimes use to do this have changed and will continue to do so. Comic Life and the Comic Club is one example.
