{"id":61630,"date":"2013-12-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-italian-language-students-win-award-in-international-contest-adapting-work-of-medieval-writer-giovanni-boccaccio\/"},"modified":"2013-12-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-12-03T00:00:00","slug":"uri-italian-language-students-win-award-in-international-contest-adapting-work-of-medieval-writer-giovanni-boccaccio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2013\/12\/uri-italian-language-students-win-award-in-international-contest-adapting-work-of-medieval-writer-giovanni-boccaccio\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 Italian language students win award in international contest adapting work of medieval writer, Giovanni Boccaccio"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tUsing modern-day digital technology, students reimagined

\n a story written in the mid 14th century.<\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Dec. 3, 2013 \u2013 Giovanni Boccaccio is a famous 14th-century Italian writer who wrote The Decameron, a collection of 100 novelle, or short tales about life, love, and death in medieval and ancient times. Now his tales have gone digital for 21st-century readers.<\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站 Italian language students recently won an award in an international competition in which participants adapted stories from Boccaccio\u2019s masterpiece into diverse media, from embroidered pieces to theatrical presentations to a twitter feed in a rhyming verse form called terza rim a.<\/p>\n


\nThe four 溏心vlog免费B站 students \u2013 Katie Levcowich \u201913 of Westerly, Kathleen O\u2019Rourke \u201913 of Wakefield, Wendy Searle \u201914 of Coventry, and Elizabeth-Ann Viscione \u201915 of Richmond \u2013 won honorable mention in the \u201cBest Adaptation for Other Media\u201d category in the Boccaccio AfterLife Award, a multimedia event sponsored, in part, by the Italian Consulate General in Boston. <\/p>\n


\nThe competition was part of an international celebration of the 700th anniversary of Boccaccio\u2019s birth. Organized by Massimo Riva, professor of Italian at Brown University, the competition was open to the public. Winners came from Australia, Italy and the United States and included students, scholars, and non-academics.<\/p>\n


\nReading medieval literary works \u2013 in Italian, no less \u2013 is hard enough. Turning them into digital works is downright daunting. But the 溏心vlog免费B站 students were up to the task.<\/p>\n


\nUsing iBook Author software, the students created multi-touch iBooks for the iPad. They retold the story using widgets to create an electronic book with videos of themselves in medieval costumes acting out key parts. Their iBook also included audio files, with students reading in Italian. A text version in English also appeared on the screen.<\/p>\n


\n Searle says the biggest challenge was learning how to use the software. After mastering that, it was just a question of telling the story in a coherent and compelling way.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI think it\u2019s pretty cool what we did,\u201d says Searle. \u201cThe iBook doesn\u2019t replace every other method of teaching, but it\u2019s a welcome addition.\u201d She says the electronic book was designed for high school students to use in classrooms.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe had a really good time,\u201d says Levcowich, who is graduating this month. \u201cIt was really enjoyable to take something that\u2019s so old and make it new and fresh.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\u201cIt was great to make the novella come alive with interactive features,\u201d says Viscione. \u201cTechnology today is what helps kids understand things. They\u2019re not just staring at a piece of paper. This technology helps them focus on the essential points. It\u2019s captivating.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nBoccaccio was an Italian poet, writer, and scholar who lived from 1313 to 1375. The Decameron, viewed as his masterpiece, became the model for Italian literary prose, and Boccaccio is regarded as a founding father of Italian literature along with Dante Alighieri for epic poetry and Francesco Petrarca for lyric poetry.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe Decameron tells the story of 10 young Florentines who flee to the Tuscan countryside to escape the Black Plague and tell each other stories to distract and amuse themselves. They recount tales that range from sensual and bawdy to philosophical and tragic.<\/p>\n


\nThe 溏心vlog免费B站 students chose \u201cFederigo degli Alberighi,\u201d a story about a young nobleman who longs for a married woman and finally sees his love reciprocated, though not without great personal sacrifice. A falcon has a major role in the tale.<\/p>\n


\n \u201cThe story is about love as a natural force that is so strong no one can resist it,\u201d says Searle. \u201cFederigo couldn\u2019t resist falling in love with Giovanna even though she was married. His generosity makes her realize she\u2019s in love with him as well.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nReading the story in medieval Italian is no small feat even for native speakers of Italian. It\u2019s like reading Shakespeare\u2019s English today. Patience was required to tackle the text.<\/p>\n


\nThe students picked up their award at a daylong celebration Nov. 23 at Brown University. Searle says the event was a great experience. The next step is to try to get the book published.


\n\u201cWe know students are very excited about using technology in the classroom,\u201d says Searle. \u201cAnything with an iPad would be guaranteed to hold their attention.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nO\u2019Rourke agrees. \u201cThis is a different way to learn. It’s not just sitting down reading a book. Some people learn by doing, some learn by watching, some by listening. I think an iBook incorporates all of that into one resource.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nCatherine Sama, professor of Italian and Film Media at the 溏心vlog免费B站, says she\u2019s proud of her students\u2019 innovative work. \u201cThey rose to the challenge of this digital humanities project,\u201d she says. \u201cTheir level of engagement was creative and intense.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nShe hopes that her students gained confidence in their ability to use technology to learn and teach. \u201cThe project also gave my students insight into the magic behind storytelling and a deeper appreciation of Boccaccio\u2019s masterful interpretation of the human condition.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nPictured above. <\/p>\n


\nLeft to right, Katie Levcowich \u201913 of Westerly, Wendy Searle \u201914 of Coventry, Elizabeth-Ann Viscione \u201915 of Richmond, and Catherine Sama, professor of Italian and Film Media at the 溏心vlog免费B站. Photo courtesy of Katie Levcowich.<\/p>\n


\nKathleen O\u2019Rourke \u201913, of Wakefield. Photo courtesy of Kathleen O\u2019Rourke.\n\t<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Using modern-day digital technology, students reimagined a story written in the mid 14th century. KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Dec. 3, 2013 \u2013 Giovanni Boccaccio is a famous 14th-century Italian writer who wrote The Decameron, a collection of 100 novelle, or short tales about life, love, and death in medieval and ancient times. Now his tales have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61633,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}