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ON WRITING

  • Advice from the Times on Writing Well: A list of tips from the New York Times on writing. Explore the hyperlinks in the article for even more advice from professional writers and journalists.

  • Oatmeal Grammar Comics: For those times when you need a gorilla in a party hat to help you understand semicolons.

  • Text Analyzer: Not only does this give you a word count, but it also analyzes your word usage and frequency.

SOFTWARE and TECHNOLOGY

  • UIUC Software: Here is a link to the Illinois webstore where you can find free and discounted software to use.

  • Loanable Tech: You can borrow video cameras, microphones, VR headsets, game consoles and more through your student account.

  • FabLab: Check their website for open workshop hours where you can take advantage of the software, tools, and materials available.

  • Celtx: Easy-to-use free software for creating screenplays and scripts.

  • Audacity: Open source audio editing software.

  • GIMP: Open source image editing/manipulation software.

  • Twine: Open source tool for creating hyperlink text and interactive fiction (can be used both on and offline).

  • Quest: Build text adventure games and interactive fiction, also includes a home page with example stories/games.

  • ARIS: An online tool that allows you to create map-based stories and games, which are then playable on iOS devices.

  • W3Schools: A great resource if you're using HTML or CSS and need to look something up or test code.

RESEARCH and CURIOSITY

  • UIUC Library: For database searches, checking out technology, renting study rooms and getting research assistance from a librarian. See the Design Thinking Research Guide for resources more specific to this course.

  • Open Culture: Check this site for a compendium of free audiobooks, courses, lectures, and more.

  • Brain Pickings: Maria Popova created and maintains this website, which is, as she sais, "drawn from [her] extended marginalia on the search for meaning across literature, science, art, philosophy, and the various other tentacles of human thought and feeling." This is a great place to go if you're seeking topic inspiration or just want to browse different curiosities.

  • Behance: This site is sponsored by Adobe (fair warning) but contains art projects that may inspire you, which are broken down by the different products used to create them. Check out the "Schools and Organizations" tab for links out to different art and design schools with archives of online portfolios.

  • Media Bias Chart: This is a chart created by Vanessa Otero of Ad Fontes Media that ranks news sources by partisan leaning and reliability. Check out the posts and about page to learn more about Otero's methodology for creating the chart. As she explains, this chart is just a starting place: "I’m not a journalist by training, and I don’t claim to be one. So why should you listen to me about the quality of news sources? You shouldn’t. In fact, you shouldn’t listen to anyone who tells you that you should think or believe a certain thing a certain way."

FURTHER READING

  • “En(Twine)d with Ergodic Rhetoric” by Caleb Andrew Milligan: For a deeper dive into Twine, nonlinear structures, and hypertext, check out this scholarly article, which was written using Twine.

  • "Go Nowhereing"by Amy Jo Trier-Walker: This is a hybrid creative piece, created using clippings from a fairytale anthology. 

  • Overview of Remediation: If you're looking for more information or explanations of remediation, this resource from the Sweetland Center for Writing may help.

  • What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy by James Paul Gee: This book explores both literacy in games, as well as how game design impacts the classroom. Available through the UIUC library.

  • Bronner, Simon J. (2009). “Digitizing and Virtualizing Folklore.” Folklore and the Internet: Vernacular Expression in the Digital World. Ed. Trevor J. Blank. Utah: Utah State University Press. Pp. 21-66.

  • Howard, Robert Glenn (2008). “Electronic Hybridity: The Persistent Processes of the Vernacular Web.” The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 121, No. 480, pp. 192-218.

Do you have other resources or readings that have been helpful? Enter them below and I'll add them to the list so that your classmates can check them out as well.

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