University at Buffalo (UB)
Empowering Instructors | Supporting Excellence
Book Project: Two Truths; One Lie
By RACHAEL J. WEBB and MAGGIE GRADY
Storytelling with Images
This assignment is intended to teach students how disinformation spreads and the value in selecting reputable sources. When presenting to the class, you must challenge the audience to guess which images are real and which one is fake. Be prepared to explain what is erroneous or misleading in the AI-generated image and make specific connections to your book’s content.
The Book Project is designed to help you develop the habit of regular reading while exploring an important issue. You will read ONE of these seven high-interest books that explore important social, historical, or political issues through compelling stories. Reading your book may help you think more critically about issues we will discuss in class. Select from one of the following titles:
- A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
- Dear Zari: The Secret Lives of the Women of Afghanistan by Zarghuna Kargar
- Letters from the End of the World: A Firsthand account of the Bombing of Hiroshima by Toyofumi Ogura
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
- First They Killed My Father: A Harrowing Memoir of Surival, Family, and Courage Under the Khmer Rouge by Loung Ung
- Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High by Melba Pattillo Beals
- Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
All students are expected to present a visual storytelling slideshow about themeatic elements of their book.
Your presentation will be about three images: two images found through the UB Libraries’ historical images databases and one image that was generated by AI.
To begin, explore images related to the central topic of your selected book by visiting the UB Libraries’ image databases. I recommend you begin by familiarizing yourself with these databases, though there are other databases available.
| If you cannot find usable images in these databases, make an appointment with a Librarian. | |
Select two compelling images that capture the central theme of your book.
Captions: In addition to including the two images in your presentation, you must also include a relevant, pithy caption for each image. Each caption must be one-sentence long. You may NOT use the caption the database provides. Rewrite this caption in your own words. You may NOT use a generative AI tool to write on your behalf. Be prepared to answer questions from the audience about what is shown in the images in relation to your book.
The third image in your presentation must be generated by AI. You may use the image generation tool of your choice. Take care to write your prompt carefully; you want the audience to thoughtfully consider each image you present, so it should not be glaringly obvious which picture was generated by AI.
Copyright considerations
Recall that uploading to a generative AI tool any information that you do not own the intellectual property rights to is a violation of copyright.
Enter the following prompt into a Generative AI tool of your choice. (eg. Micripsoft CoPilot, ChatGPT, etc.)
Generate an image of a member of the Little Rock Nine entering Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The image should be in black and white. It should look like it was taken by a news reporter covering the first day the Little Rock Nine students attempted to enter Central High School. All elements in the image should match the 1960's timeframe. For example, if there is a car in the background, it should be a car that is a 1940's body style. Frame the subject to be off-center. The central image of the Little Rock Nine student should be hyper-realistic. Apply retouch features to make the photo indistinguishable from other snapshots form this time period.
Minniejean Brown is interviewed by the press about being one of the first students to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in September 1947.
Three white male students chase an African American male student, a member of the “Little Rock Nine,” down a neighborhood street in Arkansas in the 1940’s.
Elizabeth Eckford, an African American student, climbs the stairs to Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas on the first day the school was integrated; she is flanked by members of the press and the National Guard.