Over the last four days, I have crafted our project on Korsakow. It has not always been easy, but I have enjoyed the learning process of mastering (or trying to master) foreign software.
As we knew it would, the content of our project (what people spoke of in our collected interviews) informed what tags/keywords we used in our project. Initially, we thought of lots of keywords, giving videos as many keywords as we wanted. We crafted this table:
Many SNU’s had three or more keywords. After doing this, we quickly put all our media in and allocated in and out keywords (with no specific calculation/planning) and exported it to see what it would look like. On the first run, we found we kept running into dead ends- clicking on a preview just to find that when it opened, it had no further previews (even though that SNU had OUT keywords that should lead to IN keywords). I agreed to finish the project/Korsakow assembly (which ended up being a larger task than I had envisioned) so I continued working on it after class.
I soon found that we were running into dead ends because the lives of our clips was set to 1, so after they had been viewed once, they wouldn’t appear again. After fixing this, I played through the project and found that the themes/keywords were not clear- rather, it was just a free-for-all through the SNUs. While this “free-for-all” would still be interactive and non-linear, we still want there to be an organisation of the clips, as this will help the user enjoy the project more. Consequently, I narrowed down the keywords, simplifying it so each SNU only had 2 keywords, and there were only 6 or so keywords overall. Heres a taste of what the simplified version looked like:
After the simplification of keywords, I found the themes to be more obvious (but not too obvious), allowing the user a more defined experience of the ideas explored.
My whole Korsaow experience was filled with these moments of realisation- about keywords, lives, previews, aspect ratios, backgrounds, grids, so on and so forth. While ultimately I feel relatively confident using Korsakow (relative to the fact that it was brand new software a few days ago, and now I know how to use it and take advantage to all of its features), I would disagree with the sentiment that it is a totally user-friendly and intuitive software.
Regardless of my experiences of frustration with Korsakow, it definitely achieves what it sets out to achieve:
KORSAKOW IS NOT A TOOL TO CREATE A STORY, IT IS A TOOL TO WEAVE A WEB OF STORIES.
(Taken from the Korsakow website). If the internet is a void or abyss of information and data (as I have mentioned previously), Korsakow is an effective tool in crafting a web of paths and connections through this seemingly infinite sea of information. As explored in Matt Soar’s Making (with) The Korsakow System, there is no finite path through a web. Each connection and interaction between bits of information (or SNUs in the case of Korsakow) helps form a unique assemblage, a unique understanding and picture of the topic at hand.
I think the idea of a “web of stories” perfectly encapsulates and helps inform our project. Especially as I chose, in the end, to have each clip have infinite lives, the user really can explore this web of stories as much or as little as they like. Even at the “end” (if there is such a thing), the user has the option to return to the middle of the web, as I have created a string within the web (a keyword connection) between the final clip and earlier clips. No connection is fundamental and each experience is totally individual and variable- the user could arrive at the “end” (the closing SNU) after watching four clips or thirteen clips. It is up to them as to how they want to navigate the web.
As I really struggled with in and out keywords at the beginning, I was constantly writing them down and linking them (physically, on paper) to make more sense of them. While I’m sure this is breaking some Korsakow rule, I tried to draw out a simplified map of the keywords and SNUs in our final project.
It shows that while there are tail ends to the project, the middle is a complex series of possible links and connections.
Overall, I’m happy I was the one to assemble the Korsakow project, as it not only diversified my interactive-media-making experience, but it helped me understand the modularity and variability of such media.