Copyright © 2010 Natalie M. Underberg and Jo Anne Adams
PeruDigital Curriculum
A Project of the Digital Ethnography Lab
University of Central Florida School of Visual Arts and Design
www.digitalethnography.dm.ucf.edu
Copyright © 2010 Natalie M. Underberg and Jo Anne Adams
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Copyright © 2010 Natalie M. Underberg and Jo Anne Adams
PeruDigital: A Project of the UCF Digital Ethnography Lab
The goal of the PeruDigital project is to build a pilot interactive and immersive
Website about Peruvian festivals. The project is based in part on the
ethnographic materials archived in Peru’s Institute of Ethnomusicology (IDE) at
the Catholic University of Peru-Lima (PUCP). Those materials include hundreds
of hours of sound recordings, videotapes, and DVDs, and tens of thousands of
photographs and slides of festivals studied through Peru. Additional fieldwork for
the pilot Website also includes data collected by the PeruDigital team in Peru and
Central Florida.
Working in a team consisting of visual language instructor Jo Anne Adams,
Spanish teacher Norma Ledesma, Digital Media Assistant Professor (Associate
Professor as of Fall 2010) Natalie Underberg, and the late anthropologist and
PeruDigital founding co-director Elayne Zorn, Underberg and Adams developed
lesson plans designed around the PeruDigital project in two core undergraduate
Digital Media courses: Digital Imagery and Digital Cultures and Narratives. The
curriculum was designed to help students develop the ability to design culturally
appropriate content and dissemination of ethnographic material.
The goal of the PeruDigital PROSE (Problem, Research, Objective, Strategy,
Execute, and Evaluate) project design was to stimulate student writers’ and
designers’ engagement in the process of communicating investigative research
and key cultural ideas related to Peruvian festivals and traditions. Through this
engagement students develop skills in respectful translation of cultural heritage
materials. Adams and Underberg hypothesized that through the application of
uniform rigorous research methods, (the PROSE model, from Mary Stewart,
Launching the Imagination, 2002), more in-depth information will lead students to
become more sophisticated and sensitive authors of visual language and
computer-based narrative to communicate and disseminate cultural content in an
accurate and un-romanticized way, while at the same time making students
conscious of their own cultural assumptions.
In this curriculum we outline the project progression in each class the instructors
used to build up to two final projects: a proposal for a redesigned PeruDigital
splash page and a game treatment for an interactive experience based on the
world of PeruDigital.
These lessons were used in two classes: a Digital Imagery class and a Digital
Narratives and Cultures class, both at the undergraduate level. These lessons
may be used in similar classes on technical principles of digital photography and
scanned image capture for use in video games, internet and interactive software
(Digital Imagery) and digital cultures and narratives theory from an
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Copyright © 2010 Natalie M. Underberg and Jo Anne Adams
interdisciplinary perspective, including conceptual structure and design of visual
and interactive storytelling (Digital Cultures and Narratives).
DIG3138C Digital Imaging Project Progression
Project One: Sense of Place
Purpose: To communicate the observations and visceral response each student
artist has to a particular location. When human subjects enter an environment
they react to the spatial relationships, color, design of objects within that space
and other people who occupy that space. Students were asked to select a public
or private location and record their own observations and feelings through
writings, drawings, and photography.
By asking the students to concentrate on the process of embodied experience
and deliver visual materials that convey their personal reflections, Adams’ goal
was to introduce the concept of presenting intangible human experience through
symbolic visual representation. An example would be student use of low value,
low definition lighting to communicate mystery or pensiveness. Alternatively, use
of highly saturated contrasting imagery to would communicate elevated
emotional states.
Project Two: Self-Presentation
Purpose: To create a body of professional presentation materials for use in
communication to potential digital media clients or employers. Materials were to
be comprised of a business card, folder cover, letterhead, CD label and contents
page for the CD. Students were instructed to adapt their designs into a web
banner for use on an accompanying Website, and to create a logo that
represents their key qualities in the field, which will be consistently employed
throughout the presentation package. Students were not required to write the
body of the list of contents or letter of introduction but to create the form into
which these elements will be added.
Through self-reflection and identification of symbols that assist in the Irving
Goffman concept of “stage” as described in The Presentation of Self in Everyday
Life (1959), Adams’ intent was to lead the students to understanding audience
perception.
Project Three: Critical Analysis and Alternate Solution to the PeruDigital
Website
Purpose: To utilize the cause and effect critique method to analyze the aesthetic
and subjective visual communication of the current PeruDigital Website and offer
alternative design solutions.
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Copyright © 2010 Natalie M. Underberg and Jo Anne Adams
The Cause and Effect model of critique assigns the reviewer the task of
evaluating the impact of the design decisions made. Using the key factors of
level of unity, amount of variety, visual rhythms, attention to detail, and the
overall concept conveyed, students determine which are the most effective tools
and look for areas of success to build stronger impact in terms of the information
delivered and personal reaction.
Project Four: Alternate Visual Solutions to the PeruDigital Website
Purpose: To implement the alternative solutions promoted by your classmates in
the previous assignment to fully develop the visual presentation of the
PeruDigital Website core message; the idea of how esteem in the community is
created through service to the community by sponsoring festivals, and the three
points of view from the sponsor, participant and ethnographer’s perspective.
Project four is the fruition of the impact of the intellectual and practical
explorations in the first three projects. The goal was for students to implement
the understanding of perception of time and place, representation of others’
personal characteristics in favorable terms and education in cultural symbols
through an interactive Web environment with nuanced respect for cultural
differences.
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Copyright © 2010 Natalie M. Underberg and Jo Anne Adams
DIG3024 Digital Cultures and Narratives Project Progression
The project involved creating a treatment or brief outline for a video game
storyline. Students were instructed to use their imagination to envision a game
environment, characters, and storyline. The treatment should have the game
storyline’s beginning, middle, and end. In addition, students were told to outline
a main character who undergoes some kind of development or growth during the
course of the game and a description of their game setting or environment, the
objects in it, and how they will be used.
Project One: PROSE Model Explanation
Purpose: To apply the PROSE model to the DIG 3024 course project and give
students a “road map” for completing the project using the PROSE model’s
convergent thinking process. The PROSE model, as an example of convergent
thinking, involves pursuing a previously determined goal using a linear
progression and focused problem-solving).
Students were guided through the steps in the PROSE model, and given
suggestions and resources for completing each step that follows:
Define the Problem
Students were instructed to draw on ideas from lectures and readings, and using
knowledge of story structure gained from class lectures and readings to create a
narrative description of how to use environments, avatars, and objects from the
PeruDigital project (already existing or new elements to be designed) to illustrate
a key cultural idea. Specifically, students were directed to create a game
treatment (brief outline) for a video game storyline based on the PeruDigital
project. They were instructed to use their imagination to envision a game
environment, characters, and storyline based on the PeruDigital project. The
treatment should have, as Bates outlines, the game storyline’s beginning, middle,
and end. In addition, students needed to outline a main character who
undergoes some kind of development or growth during the course of the game
(choose a festival planner, performer, or documentarian/scholar) and a specific
game setting (Lima, Peru; Piura, Peru; or Puno, Peru).
Students were told that the purpose of the project was to consider whether and
how culture, including ethnic identity, can be embedded in the content, design,
and navigation of an interactive environment. Because the PeruDigital project
draws on ideas from game design in its interactive environment design, the game
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Copyright © 2010 Natalie M. Underberg and Jo Anne Adams
treatment assignment (used by Underberg in other Digital Media writing/story
classes) was chosen.
Do Research
Students were instructed to review their notes on the Website, including
information on each of the festivals, the characters in the environments, and
objects which are found in the interactive environments (for example, books,
slide shows, posters, musical instruments, mobile video players, etc.), and then
to conduct additional research as necessary to complete their project. Students
were given access to a number of PeruDigital-related sources of research,
including the PeruDigital pilot Website design document; an article Zorn and
Underberg published on the project; a videotaped interview with Peruvian artist
and PeruDigital cultural consultant Flora Zárate; and images from the project
(from Peru).
Determine Your Objective
Students were instructed to consider the following questions in determining their
project objective:
 Which perspective am I using (sponsor, participant, or ethnographer)?
 What are the particular concerns of this perspective? For example, if I am
choosing the ethnographer perspective I may want to think of my
character as a “tour guide,” helping the audience to understand the
information being presented. Or, if I am choosing the sponsor
perspective, I may want to focus on the planning work necessary to put on
the festival, such as making the costumes worn by festival characters.
 What do I want to communicate? What experiences about being a
sponsor, participant, or ethnographer do I want to express? Given the
perspective I have chosen, what could the audience learn, feel,
understand, or experience based on the information?
Devise a Strategy
Students were instructed to consider the following questions in helping to devise
their particular narrative creation strategy:
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In which environment(s) do I want to base my project? What are the
objects or other elements in the interactive environment I want to include
in the project? What purpose will they serve? How does the story you
envision relate to exploration of space?
Based on the perspective I have chosen, what is the backstory of my main
character? Where does he/she come from? Can you write a brief bio. of
this person? What is she doing in this environment? What characteristics
(externally observable traits) do I want the character to have? How will
you reveal his/her “true character” (revealed by the choices he/she makes
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Copyright © 2010 Natalie M. Underberg and Jo Anne Adams
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under pressure)? How does your character experience some kind of
growth over the course of the story?
What is the storyline? What is the beginning, middle, end? How do they
correspond to the functions of those elements in the game story outlined
by Bates in his reading? What is/are the source(s) of conflict? How does
your character face them? What “gets the story rolling,” or upsets the
balance of forces in your protagonist’s life? How is this eventually
resolved? Are there multiple endings? If so, what are they and is one
preferable?
Execute the Strategy
This involved having students put their strategies into practice according to a
definite timeline and appropriate milestones, including an in-class progress report
to the class outlining their work accomplished, work needed to be accomplished,
and discussion of challenges faced.
Evaluate the Results
Students were told that they would doing a Peer Evaluation of each others’
assignments near the due date, to give students the opportunity to work
collaboratively in identifying project strengths and areas for improvement. They
would also be working in groups to determine the top three assignments in each
group to present to the class. Underberg’s intention with this part of the
assignment was to engage students in the critique method used in other Digital
Media courses such as those in the Visual Language program.
Project Two: Character Worksheet
Purpose: To applying McKee’s distinction between characterization and true
haracter to the film Chinatown (screened in class) and to the design of a
character who undergoes some kind of narrative experience within the story
world of PeruDigital. Students were directed to choose one of the three possible
perspectives: festival planner, performer, or ethnographer as the basis for
designing a character. Students were encouraged to use what they had learned
about story structure from lectures and readings to flesh out their character
descriptions and narrative experiences. They were given the following
descriptions of characterization and true character:
Characterization: the sum of all visible character traits, including age, gender
and IQ, speech and gesture, education and occupation, personality, values and
attitudes. Considering all of these traits together creates a unique character.
Because these traits are visible, they can be incorporated into the character’s
actions in the story. These traits help establish a connection between the
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Copyright © 2010 Natalie M. Underberg and Jo Anne Adams
audience and the character—the audience may see part of themselves in the
character.
True Character: revealed through choices a character makes under pressure.
These choices must be made under great pressure in order for significant
revelation of character to be revealed. True character lies beneath
characterization and is revealed slowly to the audience over the course of the
story through character’s actions. It asks: Regardless of appearances, who is
this person really? What is their true nature? This true nature is revealed
through choices made by the character under pressure. Something must be at
stake in this decision for it to have impact, and for true character to be revealed
Students were asked to consider the ideas of characterization vs. true character
in creating a story character which displays and reveals both characterization
and true character.
Project Three: Peer Evaluation of Game Treatments
Purpose: To involve students as peer evaluators of classmates’ ideas from
class, including narrative structure, character, integration of ethnographic
research into digital media environments, and computer-based storytelling, and
to apply these to rough drafts of the final project. Students were assigned to
review each others’ papers according to the following questions:
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Does the game beginning introduce the player to the game world and
indicate the hero’s problem? How does it do this? Does the hero’s
problem somehow relate to the Peru setting/content of PeruDigital? Does
the beginning require the player to accomplish a specific, relatively minor
task that relates to the hero’s desire/problem? What other suggestions or
comments do you have regarding the game’s proposed beginning?
Does the game’s middle consist of escalating obstacles/challenges?
What are these, and how do they relate to the player’s problem or goal?
How does the game’s middle utilize conflict to advance the game story?
Does the game end offer a final confrontation and resolution of some
kind? What is it? Are there multiple potential endings? If so, what are
these?
Does the character design indicate potential for some kind of development
or growth during the course of the game? If so, what? Is the motivation
for the protagonist’s actions clear? How do they relate to the “world” of
PeruDigital? Do you have a sense of what kind of player would be likely
to play this game? How might they identify with (or not) the player
character and his/her perspective?
From what you can tell from the brief treatment, how is research
information about Peru gathered from the Website and, as appropriate,
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Copyright © 2010 Natalie M. Underberg and Jo Anne Adams
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additional research included in the design of this game treatment?
Consider the design of character and the storyline.
From what you can tell from the brief treatment, how are narration
considerations such as player identification with characters and suspense
handled? Does the game build interest in the story through suspense or
shock? How are we meant to identify with the character? What other
suggestions or comments regarding these issues do you have?
How does the game treatment indicate the design of the game
environment? How does the setting of the story use elements from
research about Peru? Does it incorporate ideas about spatial storytelling,
such as developing the narrative through exploration of and interaction
with space?
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