Grad students offer online tales for tots

It's time to roast some s'mores and      gather the kids around the computer for a few tales of the Old West, like stories of Pecos Bill and Hank the Cowdog.

At least that's what Elizabeth Figa, assistant professor of library and information sciences, hopes people will do. The graduate students in her online SLIS 5611 class, Advanced Storytelling, performed 22 stories of the Old West in an online storytelling concert at the end of April. Since then, Figa has stored those yarns online for the general public to view and enjoy at www.courses.unt.edu/efiga/GOWEST.

The online concerts began this year as a regular project in her course. Typically, the on-campus version of the storytelling class requires students to perform in front of classmates, but in the online course, students are as far away as Nevada and Minnesota, so changes had to be made to accommodate these students.

Each story lasts about 10 minutes and includes a summary for parents to preview, which includes the title, the source material used, the type of story and an age rating. Viewers can click on links to real media files featuring the storytellers.

The site also provides pictures and biographies of the storytellers who, in most cases, are working librarians as well as master's-level students.

Stories include: An American Cowgirl, Fanny Sperry, the tale of one of the first American cowgirls; Hank the Cowdog and the Case of the One-Eyed Killer Stud Horse, an adaptation of one of the books in the John Erickson series; Wyatt Earp, the story of one of the most famous lawmen in the West; and Old Granny and the Bean Thief, a tale of life, liberty and the pursuit of beans.

Figa invites visitors to leave feedback about the storytelling as well as the site itself. A second, smaller set of stories, called "Stories that Bring Hope, Happiness and Healing to the Human Heart," is available at www.courses.unt.edu/efiga/StoriesForTheHumanHeart. Figa says these stories, also a project of her class, are warm, uplifting tales of love and hope for children of all ages.

BY RUFUS COLEMAN rcoleman@unt.edu

Other featured articles in this issue

• Eagle Drive construction to begin Sunday, slated to last all summer
• Regents approve 2004-05 budget, parking fee increases, holidays
• UNT students win morning radio show contest, will spend summer as Wild 100.3 apprentices
• College of Music receives $1.5 million for new organ in Winspear Hall
• Work dress code relaxes as temperatures go up at UNT
• UNT student and former librarian goes from ‘Super Shy to Superfly' on TLC's Faking It
• Faculty Senate elects officers for the 2004-05 academic year
• 31 students participating in first study abroad program in Hong Kong and China
• Staff Council reps elected

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