Title:  Peace

Style:  Passionate Repetition

Description:  The podcast tells the story of the narrator’s desire for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians from their historic, ongoing conflict.

Constraints:      Recorded voice of police officer–lasd suv police scare kids.wav

 (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=34667)

Pendulum–Pendulum.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=44101)

woman exclaiming, “Oh my God!”–public domain Oh_mygod.wav

(http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=43496)

Running time:  2:30

 

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            “To begin with, they never got along.”  For the Oulipian podcast, this required first sentence gave me an idea of what kind of story I wanted to tell.  Clearly, two groups of people who have never gotten along include the Israelis and the Palestinians.  The depths of conflict that these two groups have inflicted upon each other over the years have had a devastating effect not only on their own people, but also on the world and the United States.  I wanted to tell this story.  Thus, I began to look for a pre-recorded voice, a rhythmic noise, and an exclamation that could be used to further exemplify this struggle.

            Using The Freesound Project, I was able to find a police officer’s recorded voice discussing his intentions of not scaring anyone.  Given the violence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this seemed very appropriate.  Next, I found a woman’s voice exclaiming, “Oh my God!”  Finally, for a rhythmic noise, I discovered a pendulum that sounded like an intensely ticking clock.  This seemed appropriate because of the extended period of time that this conflict has lasted.  These constraints would help me better tell the story of the Israelis and Palestinians.

            As I continued to develop my podcast, a script was needed.  I wrote this script with the abilities of the Audacity program in mind.  While also keeping my constraints in mind, I wrote some complete sentences, some sentence fragments, and some single words, and attempted to put them in a coherent order.  I envisioned how my script would fit around and work with my constraints.  “Peace” was my main theme, and I hoped to convey a message of the absolute need for peace after so many years of brutal conflict over, fundamentally, belief.  The only part of my podcast that I would continue to work on would be the details and history of the story-line, but that would require a much longer allotted time constraint.

            With my constraints, theme, and script prepared, compiling everything into one coherent podcast was my final assignment.  Audacity undoubtedly influenced my creative process while making the podcast, for the program offers multiple “effects” that users can apply to their sound recordings.  In order to add emphasis to words or lines of my script, I tried to use a variety of the program’s options.  Sometimes, I used an increase in volume, fading in, or fading out to make a message stand out more against others.  Mostly, however, I used repetition or echoing to make a word’s emphasis last longer and overflow into other parts of the script.  Some of the words that I repeated and echoed include peace, 1948, 2008, sixty, and time.

            Furthermore, the technology available to me allowed a “busier” podcast, with more going on than simply one person talking.  I was able to overlap sounds, play multiple phrases and words of the script at exactly the same time, and use my constraints both as part of the main script as well as part of the background noise.  Being able to use multiple sounds at once is extremely attractive, for it makes listening to the podcast more fun and interesting.  As people today seem to be intrigued by multi-tasking and hypermedia, which involve images, sound, and text coming at the user at the same time, the user can choose what to listen to or see.  Similarly, a “busier” podcast with emphasized sounds, script, and background noise also allows the listener a choice to listen to whatever parts grab his or her attention the most.  Different listeners might enjoy or remember certain parts of the podcast more than others.  The choice and flexibility provided by today’s technology allows people the opportunity to find something that they enjoy.  I enjoyed making my podcast, and some people will probably enjoy listening to it more than others.  That, however, is the beauty of the technology. 

          Podcasting currently has no requirements.  As manifested by this assignment, podcasts can take a variety of forms, even with the use of similar constraints.  This medium allows a freedom of expression that cannot be found on regulated radio.  Current technology provides many opportunities to make a simple script become extravagant.  As technology improves and these opportunities grow, podcasting will not only have newer production methods, but it will be able to attract an even larger audience.  This medium has a significant chance to become one of the mainstream forms of popular technology. 

 

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Traditionally, the technologies that I have encountered in this class have been quite threatening to my own personal beliefs. First, I was enormously troubled by the cyborg theory that we read about during our first unit. The idea that I could be a cyborg simply through my usage of technology was both shocking and bizarre and it has taken me nearly the entire semester to read through Haraway’s ideas without feeling greatly biased against her. Then, we came to the hypertext unit, and again, I felt threatened. Even though the hypertext did not directly attack my identity, it definitely affected something that I dearly love and consider a portion of my own identity, the act of reading. So, when we came to the unit on podcasting, I was again prepared to react antagonistly to the overwhelming feeling of menace that I anticipated would accompany the new technology. My initial bias was definitely increased when I learned that the podcast assignment would impose constraints on my creativity. Since I had been so anti- technology all year, I was initially unable to realize that all of my written assignments for school papers have similarly imposed constraints on my creativity. 

            Yet, once I began the process of searching through creative commons in order to find sounds to use during my Oulipian podcast, my perception of the medium changed dramatically. I realized that the podcast was not some ominous, soul sucking, new form intent on attacking my humanity in order to turn me into an electronic automaton. It was simply an advance in the field of broadcasting that, honestly, was rather liberating to create. Usually, when faced with the task of creating a unique work, whether a creative work for my own pleasure, or an academic work for a class, I sit and sit and sit, thinking of what to write and what would be original enough to sound impressive. But that option was denied me in the creation of a podcast that required the inclusion of a pre-recorded voice. Instead of sitting and thinking, I was able to actively pursue the story, to hunt among thousands of sounds and snippets of other peoples’ lives- it was a much more effective way to begin writing. Once I found my first sound, the voice of Bill and Stell on the answering machine, an idea immediately popped into my head. I remembered a birthday party I had attended that featured a game of “Birthday Bingo,” a version of Bingo that involved competing for a birthday present. The game had always been a centerpiece of my friend’s parties, and a centerpiece of my memories of my friend. I was inspired! The sound search became easier- now I knew what sounds I needed. I would need an egg timer and an alarm, the sound of ripping paper, and the voice of a Bingo announcer. I had internalized the creation of the podcast by linking it to an event in my own life and I did not feel threatened at all. I was having fun!

            I’m very pleased with my final product. I enjoyed creating the backstory of a telephone answering machine message, especially since I often think about similar types of things when listening to a message on my phone- my relationship to the person on the other line, events that we have shared, and my opinion of our relationship and the events we have done together. I think if I were to continue to work on this podcast, I would rewrite the story so that it would be in first person as opposed to third. Since I was able to tackle my aversion of new technologies, the next natural step in my podcast progression would be to tackle my aversion to writing in first person. I also think that the style of my podcast would make more sense if it were in first person, since the style is psychological. I also thought about adding music, but ultimately decided against it because I very rarely think about music while I am listening to my message machine.  

[ http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=24944] Bingo in Arligton Heights by Terwelp

[ http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=41593] Answering Machine Tapes byNoiseCollector

[http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=14263 ] Egg Timer by xyzr_kx

[http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=39061 ] Rings by genviou

[http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=20379 ] Paper01 by AniCator

“Hunting”

Nonchalant, statement

I wanted to do something fun, with an edge, and I think I achieved that.

Movie show times, pulsing heartbeat, and gun shot

2:27:30 minutes

Citation: Joman2001; Heartbeat.mp3

              Sea_Fury_M1_Abrams_Tanks_Gun_Shot; Gun Shot

              Movie Schedule from Plymouth’s Showland Theater

 

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            For the Oulipian podcast, I was initially concerned. I had trouble understanding the entire concept of what the Oulipo was and how it entailed itself to the world of hypertexts and podcasts, if it did at all.
Reading about the Oulipo only confused matters more for me, but after some brief examples given in class, I understood the concept a little more.

            I believe the Oulipo has to do with being free to create and express things the way you want them to be, more informal from say a book norm. Dealing with the Oulipo podcast, we had basic freedom to create whatever we wanted with any topic and parameters. There were only three restraints that needed to be abided by a time constraint of two and a half minutes, three sounds, in the order of prerecorded, rhythmic, and exclamatory and finally the podcast had to begin with the sentence “To begin with, they never got along.”

            Working within these constraints to develop a functional, cohesive podcast was actually not as difficult as I initially perceived it to be. Having to develop a story that began with a certain sentence was not hard for me. I felt it actually gave me some direction to go in, but was still, wide and vast enough to be creative and explore the different thought processes of my mind. The time constraint was just convenient; otherwise there would be podcasts that lasted fifteen or more minutes and some that would only be two or three. This way everyone is on an equal playing field. The three sounds were a bit trickier for me. The prerecorded sound was the most difficult to work into the podcast. Though mine does not make a lot of sense, in an Oulipian way, it does. It is just creative, free spirited, and unique from other podcasts.

            I chose the storyline because I wanted something different, something no one would initially think of. It may be corny, but it was a creative process that came to mind and just felt like a silly story to convey. The rhythmic and exclamatory sound effects fit in nicely with the story and help with the cliffhanger aspect. The prerecorded voice sound was more distinct and set itself apart from the story. I tried to find something of relevance, but I tried to make it fit in the best that I could.

            I hoped to convey just a silly story. There is honestly no deeper, underlying meaning it was just to poke fun at some of the men running this country and the tactics they employ in and out of office. I think I achieved that effect, but some one listening to it may have a different idea, but I would like to stress that no harm was meant by this podcast, it was all do in fun and in a jokingly manner. If I had more time I would like to tweak the storyline a little and alter the sound effects making them a bit more dramatic.

            Working again with technology was a good learning experience, but it also hindered my thought and creative processes. Even though I enjoyed the restraints placed on us, I also would have like a little more leeway with either a little more time, like three minutes, or perhaps not a prerecorded voice, but a voice other than our own saying something specific. I have learned that regardless of what one thinks of technology, they should always be prepared for anything and everything; whether it involves the constraints, or the computer software used, people should always be prepared for anything. This was a good learning experience and because I have the practice with this podcast, I would not mind doing another one to advance my technologic skills and deeper understanding of the Oulipo.

Radio vs. mp3 vs. satellite… In this podcast, I investigate the growing divide between listener preference, consumer savvy, and generally make some noise.

 

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This podcast was made using the GarageBand application on a Mac laptop computer. Excerpts from songs playing through radio transmission are used on a provisional basis. (That is, please don’t sue me, I’m doing this for a class project.) Background music is from the GarageBand library.

Description: A man and his dagger part ways after the dagger has second thoughts.
Production Style: noir

Includes the following sounds via Creative Common licenses:
“Eternal Fear” by Korhan Kaya
thunderstorm track: FreqMan
tolling bells track: Ionizing

 

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In this podcast, I examine the relationship that Bolter envisions between the writer and the reader in electronic literature. Since he describes a situation in which the reader can share authorship with the writer through active readership, I tried to create a like situation in which I as a reader shared authorship with writers whose work I had already read.

 

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Credits Include:

Carroll, Lewis. “The Jabberwocky.” Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. 1872.

Plato. The Republic. Penguin Classics Edition. 2005.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. 1997.

Schulman, Tom. The Dead Poets Society. Tombstone Pictures. 1989.

Shakespeare, William. “Hamlet.” The Norton Shakespeare. 1997.

Whitman, Walt. “O Captain! My Captain!” Leaves of Grass. 1900.

Prodding through the innumerable statistics was difficult at first, but when these figures were pared away from the essay, Chartier had a very valuable message to convey to the reader: silent reading has drastically shaped the behaviors of every individual. The ability to read to oneself, to read in solitude, has enabled the reader to achieve a level of introspection,  of self understanding that was  otherwise unheard of.

This may create more confusion than clarification. I myself, have been lost most of the way… although this may not be a bad thing in a hypertext

voices:Megan Luepke, Ben Barnard, Colleen Tichich, Jeff Field

works used:

Stitch Bitch:the patchwork girl by Shelly Jackson (1997)
Women of no Time.  The Pomegranate by Ada A. Aharoni Ph.D (1997)
The Northwest Indiana Times (Oct 8 2007)
The Bible  John 1:1

 

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For my podcast, I tried to come up with clever way expressing Patchwork Girl. I found it really difficult to express this hypertext in terms of a podcast. This podcast is a discussion of Patchwork Girl as symbolic of the hypertext creation itself. I remediated passages from Mary Jackson’s work in order to express the parallels I believe Jackson creates. Eventually I came to question what I believe Jackson’s stance is on the place for hypertext and on its future.

Thanks to Amanda Gartman and her [beautiful] Mac.

 

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This is my podcast on Shelley Jackson’s “Patchwork Girl” and the pros and cons of hypertext.

 

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