A linkage can be made between this video and 'Connecting Visual Literacy and Metaliteracy' MOOC talk 4. This video above shows an extract from her book 'Techno biophilia, Nature and Cyberspace' where the description made of nature through visual interpretations sets a connection of understanding the desired intention with what has to be displayed. How imagery can help guide a mind from complexity. Informative visualization can be drawn from images and images of nature perfects this concept. Using nature as a wallpaper or screensaver can be seen as an enticement to the mind. It triggers the person into wanting to do nature-related things. The slightest comfort can be made by looking out of the window.  For the most part, beauty in nature is usually preferred over artificial beauty.  A sense of relaxation, relieving from stress. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/opinion/sunday/why-we-love-beautiful-things.html?_r=1&

This article is very interesting to me. It is pretty accurate how people are attracted to beautiful things. Yet again, what distinguishes beauty and ugliness? Its all a perception. Just how technobiophilia makes us believe in the relationship we have built between technology and nature.


One area of support for our innate affiliation with nature comes from research demonstrating increased psychological well-being upon exposure to natural features and environments. -Journal of Happiness Studies
2000, Volume 1, Issue 3, pp 293-322

Support develops from the strength and prevalence of phobic responses to stimuli of evolutionary importance and absence of such responses to potentially dangerous human-made stimuli. That survival emotions of equivalent intensity can be explained by the extremely rapid process of change and progress that has occurred. Given that our modern ways of living, as prescribed by Western industrialized culture, stand in stark contrast to our evolutionary history, it is proposed that we may currently be witnessing the beginnings of significant adverse outcomes for the human psyche.

Rediscovering Nature in Technology

Tech: Nature Literacy: Technobiophilia

Our human existence is the interaction between nature and technology. What is being presented to us vs what is being invented by us. To why it is in our human nature to have this uncontainable desire to link ourselves back to nature can be seen thoroughly analyzed in this MOOC talk. 

Firstly, I am thrilled to have my question answered by Sue Thomas.  The intention behind my questioning (Can biophilia really get all the nature we need from the digital world or its just a way of tricking us to feel content with the nature we are really missing out from?) is pretty well answered.  For nature loving people, it is an automatic response that technology's creation of nature doesn't replace the real sight of nature.  For those who are introverted and are computer nerds, spending more time indoors than valuing what nature has to offer might have a different opinion on this. In the end, it all comes down to a person's preference and how one signifies their meaning of life.

Going back to the overall topic, technobiophilia is being explained in the MOOC talk as the innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes as they appear in technology. With this concept, nature imaginary and humanistic threats through the portrayal of technology can count for creating an environment in the cyber world in order to meet human's adaptation.  This is very important when viewed that our sense of mental comfort is 'programmed' to seek nature. 

'The powerful desire to somehow merge with machine' (Thomas, 2013).

Through generational high-tech developments, replacements are repeatedly being made to improve our standard of living. However, in one perspective(that of religion) where the creation of man through Adam and Eve and the tree of life, is the core purpose of why we humans are naturally attracted to nature even through how much we've grown (in terms of developing a civilization). Our origin and where we come from. 

picture from=>https://sites.google.com/site/digitalstorytellingms/assessment

 

This video really helps explain the dynamics of storytelling. Even though this video is intended to explain the concept of digital storytelling, it is also an example of one.

Digital Storytelling and Metaliteracy

Digital Storytelling and Metaliteracy

   Digital storytelling molds our perception to how we view information. For this MOOC talk, the proliferation of digital tools and platforms through social networking is one of the key aspect of storytelling.  It is because thesis and developmental imaginary conveys a certain message, metaliteracy contributes in such a way that metaliterate learner will apply these terminology to their intended audiences through digital tools. 

In the the new millennium, 'multiliteracies' is becoming more complex and significant than ever before.  Keeping up with the latest information demands competence in a wide swathe of literacy. One way of viewing digital storytelling is its ability to untwist convoluted imaginary into simple understandable pictorials. Here, the main focus is a sequence of events that has a distinct storyline. In terms of academic achievements, it contributes to campus-wide collaborative efforts to develop critical thinking and skills with regard to visual materials. 
  
By combining personal narrative with multimedia, the creation of a 'movie' will instruct the viewer to understand what ever is being portrayed. One cannot ignore the challenges that may arise through story processing, as this procedure requires some sort of creative writing, film convention, media and visual literacy. This is where a metaliterate learner steps in. The key concepts (which is also shown on the MOOC talk) are communicate, review, analyze, collaborate and publish. 

Thinking of it in a global scale, it gets more exciting when two mediums combine together. When collaborative measures meets with cross cultural perspective. With all the cultures harvested, a sense of enticement is being lured. Not only will ideas be shaped through environmental society but the concept itself is unique and different.  It is very fascinating to think of the changes human 'evolution' has brought us.  Two thousands years ago, people used rocks and natural colorings to create stories on cave walls. Today, we have a massive broad range of media to create our expressions. 

"digital storytelling 'remediates'  the ancient practice of storytelling" (Bolter and Grusin 1999)

Digital stories take place alongside with narrative-based video games, web soaps, hypertext stories, blogs and web soaps.  The idea behind each concept starts with desire which strives them to take action, in order to come to a realization of how this creation will affect people. 

Some controversial arguments against digital storytelling is the usage of the tools. Technology. It can only be viewed through technological tools such as a computer, laptop, phone, ipad and so on. This encourages people to spend more time on these equipments rather than having social interactions with others. It shifts the focus out of the norm of having in-person interactions. Since technology has made it extremely convenient for people to research or find anything they have questions on, manual work such as researches at libraries or communicating with scholars are heavily being neglected. It can become a massive distraction because it is very addictive. Also its the easy way, making people lazy. 

There will always be an opposite opinion on anything in life and therefore shouldn't be dealt with with extremity.  An engaging digital story successfully links skill in visual representation and knowledge with a sense of personal narrative writing to conveying a particular message. To link digital media with cultural diversity, a philosophy of digital humanties seen through the lens of creative writing can be seen as important. To the extent where a parallelism can be drawn between modes of digital media and poststructuralism(various theories of analysis). 'Telling your story through my eyes.' This paradigmatic mindset of the creator will be able to reach audiences through a global scale. 

As simple as view, understand and process stories, this equation pretty much sums up intention of digital storytelling.