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3.1.5 Practice: Online and Off-Line Character Sketches

Practice Guide

Media Literacy (S2318458)

Points possible: 30

Date: ____________

In this assignment, you’ll be writing three short character sketches that focus on the differences and similarities in each character’s off-line and online lives. Your creation should be at least three paragraphs in length, with one paragraph devoted to each character. If you need to write more, feel free to do so. Each sketch should include images that help represent different aspects of the character’s identity.

Provide as much detail as you can about each character and address the following questions in each of the three character sketches:

Who is this character in his or her off-line life?
What is this character’s off-line personality?
In what ways does this character use social media?
How would you describe this character’s online behavior or personality?
How would you compare this character’s off-line and online behavior and personalities?

There is no single right answer to these questions. What’s important is that you give a full sense of each character and a thoughtful analysis of how his or her online and off-line selves are related — or unrelated. Use plenty of specific examples when describing each character.

Step 1: Understand the Assignment

Rewrite the assignment in your own words. Underline any important words that help you focus on the task.

Step 2: Choose, Observe, and Explore Your Subjects

Review your notes from the lessons for information that might help you with the assignment.

The first step is to choose the two characters you’ll write about besides yourself. Choose a friend whose online habits you know pretty well. The third character should be taken from a book, movie, or TV show. Let your imagination run with this. Choose a character you know pretty well but don’t be constrained by reality here. You could choose Frankenstein’s monster, the Little Mermaid, or Captain Ahab from Moby Dick. Imagine what their online lives would have been if they’d had access to the Internet and how their online interactions might match or conflict with their off-line day-to-day lives. With so many choices, don’t spend too long choosing — and don’t be afraid to make a choice that seems off-the-wall!

When you’ve made your choices, fill in their names and other information in the two charts below.

Character	Off-line information: List everything you know about this character’s off-line life: where he or she lives; his or her school, grade level, and favorite subjects; hobbies and interests; favorite sports, food, books, movies; and information about his or her family life and number of siblings.
Me
My friend:
Fictional character:

Character	Off-line personality: Briefly describe the character’s off-line personality traits. What is he or she like? How does this character interact with people?
Me
My friend:
Fictional character:

Now let’s imagine your characters’ interactions in the virtual world online. First, though, think about different ways that people use the Internet and interact online.

Now let’s apply these ideas about online activity to your characters. Again, don’t be afraid to stretch your imagination in exploring your fictional character’s online life!

Character	Online info: List everything you know about this character’s online life. What kinds of websites does this character prefer — gaming, social networking, creating media? Does this character spend more time hanging out, messing around, or geeking out? How central is the online activity of this character to his or her life overall. Does the character check or post updates regularly?
Me
My friend:
Fictional character:

Character	Online personality: Briefly describe this character’s online personality traits. How does he or she interact with people online? Try to limit this description to five adjectives or general observations.
Me
My friend:
Fictional character:

How would you compare the online and off-line behavior and activities of your characters?
Before moving on with your assignment, think about what images you could use in each sketch. What visual aids might illustrate the online and off-line lives of each character? You should have at least two visuals for each character.

Step 3: Begin to Write

Using the information you’ve collected about your characters, as well as any new ideas that come to you as you work, write three sketches, each of which should be at least one paragraph long. Each sketch should present the off-line life and personality of one of your characters as well as a discussion of the character’s online activity, then detail how the character’s off-line life shapes his or her online personality. Each paragraph should end with a brief analysis of how the online and off-line identities of the character match or contrast with each other. Cite plenty of examples and specific details. Remember to include or attach images for each character. If you’re not able to include images, describe the images that you would like to include. The images should give a real sense of each of your characters.

Use a separate piece of paper if you need more room.

__________________________________________________________________________

Step 4: Read Back and Revise

When you’re done writing, read back through your work. Make sure that you have written complete sentences and that your sketches read smoothly and contain no spelling or grammar errors. Include everything you need to say about each character, especially details and examples. Good work!

Step 5 [optional]: Take It Further! Brainstorm! What Else Could You Add to Your Character Sketches?

Now that you’ve created three really interesting character sketches, take a moment to let yourself be inspired. In what ways might you use social media to present a character sketch? How might you use your interests or skills to do this? Maybe you’d like to expand on one of your sketches and write a scene about that character? Or maybe, after completing your writing, you’ve realized that you’d rather use something more than text and images to give a fuller sense of this person’s identity? Remember, there’s no single right way to convey an individual’s personality. What else could you add to what you’ve done — or create instead? A video? A game? Music? Animation?

Any medium is fine for your creative response! For this brainstorm, express your ideas any way you want — a list, bubbles, random notes written in any order, doodles, drawings, colors — whatever gets your ideas flowing. Feel free to come up with plenty of ideas, one of which you can pick for the next step. Or just come up with one idea and use this space to explore what form (or forms) it will take. Have fun!

Step 6 [optional]: Present Your Creative Ideas

Now decide how you would like to present your idea to an audience. You don’t have to create it yet — although you are welcome to! You just need to describe what you would like to do.

Options for your presentation can include:

Writing a descriptive paragraph about what you’d like to create
Making a list of ideas for how you would present your sketches on a blog
Making a visual presentation of your ideas
Making an audio recording or video sample of your ideas

Use a separate piece of paper (or other technology) to present your ideas in a clear and engaging way.

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