Storied Storeys for use in schools

 

 

 "Storied Storeys fell out of a bucket of ideas Gwee Li Sui and Koh Hong Teng had for a comic book. Gwee wanted to explore a decentred style he had used to create his mystery adventure comic Old Heroes Solve Mystery. Koh wished to look hard at Singapore's built environment and explore aspects in the notion of home.

The resulting webcomic probes intimate urban spaces in Singapore and seeks to tell the stories they may conceal. Neighbourliness is our thematic force for exposing how common social issues can persist behind closed doors. The issues here are child and elder care, generation gap, domestic violence, mental health, and environmental awareness.

Storied Storeys does not tell one story but multiple stories simultaneously. The digital page allows narratives to unfold in an open, non-linear, and hypertextual way, and we are using it to reinvent the mystery story. You, the reader, are invited to enter this interactive, multi-sensory world we have created with a small team of wonderful and talented individuals."

I recently came across this online webcomic that looks into common spaces and common issues in the Singapore context. Funnily, the main character's namesake is a Facebook friend whom I met at an academic event a few years ago and his posts come up quite a bit on my FB feed. 

I tried out the experience and am quite pleasantly surprised by the experience. Although the idea is relatively simple, the effective use of code for users to explore in a non-linear way makes it pretty interesting as a concept.  

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I really think that students (maybe older sec/JC/MI) would benefit from having a conversation and discussions about this webcomic as part of a discussion on the Singapore identity or even neighbourliness in the school setting. Maybe when I am back in school I would use it as a teaser activity.  I encourage you to do so too.