Week 7 Digital Story Critique:Plant Hydrangeas From a Cut Flower

This week I continue to explore on Youtube.com to expand my knowledge about gardening. I watched several videos about propagating hydrangeas from clipping. This one from Expertvillage channal really stood out and I would like to share it with you

1.What types of “involvement” – and by the author/creator(s), participant(s), and/or audience – are apparent in this story?

The involvement in this video was really well done. The video maker has made obvious effort to keep background neat and beautiful- it was shoot in a garden with water fountain surrounded by tall trees. The speaker wears her uniform and speak in a clear but fast tone. She presents herself very well as an experience gardener. Since this video was published in 2011, it has 495,673 views and 38 comments.

2. How would you characterize the “literacy dimensions” present in this story?

This video is pleasant to watch. The whole setting was clearly well-planned, including the background( in a beautiful garden), the narrative( fast paced but not rushed), the background noise( none! even though there is a water fountain in the back of the speaker and it looks windy at the time of the shooting), the light(bright but not harsh), and the angle of the shooting( the speaker is in the center of screen the whole time, it made easy for people to focus on her), the movie editing( there are several close-up shoots when the speaker presents how to clip the flower, which makes easy for audience to understand the techniques). Overall, the levels were perfect.

3. What are the online spaces and sites that bring this story to life? Why do these spaces and sites matter to the impact of the given story?

I found this video on a channel called" Expertvillage". This channel hosts many other videos related with home and garden. So it attracts many visitors to watch this video. In fact, after watching this video, I watch other five videos recommended by the channel.

4. Based upon your assessment of involvement and literacy dimensions, what modifications and changes to this digital story might improve aspects of narrative, production, media usage, and/or audience engagement?

I noticed there are many visitor's comments asking questions about the video, but they were not answered. If the video maker took time to interact with audience, it would have brought more value to this video.