Following an inspiring visit in October to Wiikwemkoong High School on Manitoulin Island, I was delighted to return last week for a five-day Shadowpox workshop.
 |
| Wiikwemkoong (formerly Wikwemikong) High School flies with the eagles |
 |
A dramatic entrance
|
Teacher Natalie Parrington's brilliant grade 12 English class welcomed Debajehmujig Storytellers directors Joahnna Berti and Bruce Naokwegijig, along with arts animators Daniel Recollet-Mejaki, Quinten Kaboni and Tyler Pangowish, all of whom have collaborated on previous Shadowpox workshops in 2018 and 2022.
|
| With Joahnna Berti and Natalie Parrington in front of a Shadowpox vocabulary list (a good lesson for me in readability levels!) |
We were piloting a new branching narrative, Shadowcasting • Mazinaateshin. "Mazinaateshin" is an Anishinaabemowin word that means both “s/he casts a shadow” and “s/he is on television or in a movie,” and echoes the traditional teachings shared by Debajehmujig Knowledge Keeper David "Sunny" Osawabine that we should have compassion for everything and everyone our shadow falls upon.
 |
| The four-scene cycle of Shadowcasting • Mazinaateshin |
This new version of the participatory story framework Shadowpox: The Cytokine Storm takes the form of a choose your own adventure branching narrative, in order to foreground the theme of choice and the effects our choices can have on our own lives and the lives of those around us.
 |
| The new Shadowcasting • Mazinaateshin branching narrative |
Students role-played as volunteers in a Phase 1 vaccine trial in the middle of a shadowpox pandemic (a scenario that required a lot more imaginative heavy lifting in Debaj's
first workshop back in 2018!). The school's wonderful IT wizard Rudy Mandamin helped set the students up to use Microsoft Stream to record their in-character video journal entries, which would then be embedded in branching narratives using the open-source software
Twine.
 |
| On screen: Natalie Parrington using Microsoft Stream |
We also got to try out a new augmented reality effect I'm half-seriously thinking of calling a "projectro-glyph" (a petroglyph projected on the body). This attenuated vaccine shadowpox glyph was coded in 8th Wall by Shadowpox technical director Lalaine Ulit-Destajo, with the support of the Immersive Storytelling Lab and a Canada Council Digital Greenhouse Grant. Check it out yourself on 8th Wall!
 |
| Modeling the new augmented reality Shadowpox effect |
 |
| Debaj animators Tyler Pangowish and an augmented Quinten Kaboni |
Gchi miigwech, huge thanks, to our hosts at Wiky High and the directors and animators at Debajehmujig, but especially to our multi-talented student workshop participants. I can't wait to see what they do next with all their creativity, intelligence and insight!
I'm also thrilled that Joahnna Berti and I ended the week in discussions with Natalie Parrington and science and technology teacher
Chris Mara around a new project for next year, using "citizen science fiction" to explore the energy transition. Stay tuned...
