My Digital Story - Wolves

Here is my digital story about wolves. I used my own photos along with my voice-over in Animoto to create this video. I used the recorder on my computer to record my voice and then used Zamzar to convert the file from a M4A to an MP3. I then uploaded it to my project in Animoto.

https://animoto.com/play/JriOWjAExXS1UNij8c0D6A

Here is my script for this digital story:

Wolves are a key species and there are a lot of other species that depend on wolves for the survival of their species. They not only keep other predators in check but can also affect the topography and livelihood of the land. Native Americans and early civilizations adapted some of their family values from how wolf packs treat their young. We would not have our modern date domesticated dogs if it weren’t for wolves. It is important that we protect, nurture, and appreciate the importance of the wolf in the natural world. As humans we have a social responsibility to protect our earth and the other creatures living on it.

Wolves are a truly misunderstood and villainized species. Many people see wolves as these vicious creatures that they are not. Wild wolves are actually pretty fearful of humans and try to keep a distance from them. They are not out there looking for people to attack. They hunt other animals for survival, not for sport. Killing wolves for sport or because people think they are dangerous is just not ethical. Wolves are not endangering our lives, yet humans have endangered theirs. The number of wolves in the wild is a lot lower than you would think and this is even after many recovery efforts. The diminishing number of wolves in the United States is due to humans killing wolves. There needs to be a change and wolves need to be protected.

There are some great ways we can all get involved in helping spread awareness on protecting. You can donate or show your support to one of the many groups that are working to protect wolves. Visit wolf sanctuaries and urge others to so they can be educated on wolves and understand them. Sign one of the many petitions trying to help protect wolves. Helping can be as simple as spreading the truth about wolves, educating others on why wolves are important and deserve protection. 

The information for this project mostly came from my own head as I am educated about wolves and have been to several sanctuaries. You can see my previous post with more information and links on wolves.

Creation of "my choice" digital story

At first I wasn't sure what I wanted to do for my next digital story. Luckily I found some inspiration last week from one of my other classes. I was working on a design competition project for my Advanced Digital Art and Design class and the idea to tie that project and this one together came to my mind. I was working on editing some photographs of wolves that I had taken for a photography competition. My hopes was to spread awareness for wolves through my photography. I immediately began to think why not continue to spread that awareness with a digital story?

My husband and I have been to a few wolf sanctuaries over the years. He has always had a love and appreciation for wolves and over the years has instilled that in me as well. Most people are unaware of how low the wolf population in the U.S. actually is. There have been recovery efforts, but unfortunately it is still not enough. In 2011 President Obama removed the Gray wolves from the endangered species list and since then many wolves have been killed. A lot of people are also unaware of how important wolves are to our earth. Like all animals they have their place in helping this earth. In Yellowstone National Park saw their ecosystem benefit when they reintroduced the Gray wolf in 1995. You can see for yourself how they helped Yellowstone here. People think of wolves as these scary bloodthirsty creatures, but that is only because of how they have been depicted in stories and in the media. Wolves actually shy away from humans. They are not out there looking to attack people, as some may think. They deserve their chance at living and thriving just as anyone else. They cannot protect themselves out there so we as humans must stand up and do it.

My digital story will talk about the importance of wolves, give a little background on wolves, and ideas on how we can help them. I will use my voice to talk about all of this while showing photos I have taken of wolves.

Here is the link to the project I mentioned - http://hkcdesign.blogspot.com/2016/03/design-competiton-part-2-final-work.html
I will be using the pictures included in that project for this digital story.

"Wolves of Yellowstone." National Geographic Education. 2015. Web. <http://education.nationalgeographic.org/media/wolves-yellowstone/>.

"Did We Only Bring Wolves Back So We Can Kill Them Again?" Predator Defense. Web. <http://www.predatordefense.org/wolves.htm>.

Reflecting on previous work and taking feedback

I think it is very important to reflect on our past works and learn how to use feedback from others to make your future work better. Sometimes we have to step out of our comfort zone and try new things. Sometimes it is as simple as trying something we just hadn't thought about before.

I enjoyed doing the peer reviews and I look forward to it again. I think it was such a great learning process for us all. You are not only helping someone else, but yourself at the same time. There were things in others digital stories that definitely helped inspire me for my future digital stories. It was wonderful to get a glimpse into each others lives and thoughts too. Not sitting in an actually classroom with each other it can sometimes be hard to connect with people in your class, but I think actually reviewing each others work can really help you get to know each other. Getting reviewed by my peers also helped me discover things I hadn't thought about, gave me ideas for my future work. I want to put that feedback and those thoughts and inspiration to work on my next digital story.

Digital Story Tools

For my last digital story I used Animoto. I was very pleased with Animoto, but I still wanted to explore other options. I know there are a lot of free tools out there to create digital stories with. The first decision I had to make was what kind of digital story I wanted to create this time. Now I knew that it is required that we use our voice as narrative so whatever tool had to allow me to do that. There are so many different ways to create a digital story it can almost be overwhelming. I really took the last couple of weeks to think about that before researching digital story creation tools.