My friend Dylan makes me smile each and every day. He is always happy and it is hard to not be happy around Dylan. He is very positive and loving to all of his peers. The way he makes the world light up is special.
Daily Create 4/3/24
Category Archives: ds106
Only 4 Weeks Left?? Week 11 Complete
I began this week by tuning in to the Monday radio shows, which was a delightful experience that exposed me to a wide range of perspectives and thoughts regarding the project. Go here to read my opinions regarding a few of the radio shows: Radio Show Thoughts. Our class connects well when we get on Discord and watch everyone chat and share insights during each show. It was a lot of fun because we don’t do this very frequently. After that, I had a conversation with Rishi, my partner for the video project, and we started laying out our plan. After some time, we came to a consensus on an outline that we both liked, and I created a blog post about it titled “Digital Discoveries in Video Project Plan” (Video Project Plan). I can’t wait to begin work on this video project later this week and early the following week. I believe Rishi and I have created a solid outline, and my hope is that we can incorporate all of our ideas into the final product. I then created three daily posts: Daily Create #1, Daily Create #2, and Daily Create #3. I attempt to complete the daily creations as early in the day as possible since I think they help me get started on other things that has to be done and they also seem to stimulate my brain. I loved looking at my classmates’ work as I concluded the week by making typical comments. Based on their daily creations and videos, I get the impression that many of my classmates are highly creative individuals.
Starting with the radio show listening assignment, I thoroughly enjoyed both of this week’s assignments. We shouldn’t take advantage of these rare opportunities to engage in class activities, therefore we should treasure each one of them. In contrast to my group, I found it interesting to hear how other people choose to do their radio show. I also liked how many of us were using Discord throughout the radio shows, as I indicated in the line above. Next, it was fun to plan and outline the video project. We lay the framework for creating the video the next week and have a ton of exciting stuff in mind for it. In any case, working with Rishi was enjoyable, and I hope everything goes smoothly the next week!
I really wouldn’t alter a thing. I believe I did the best I could on each assignment. At this moment, I have no questions. As of right now, everything is completed accurately thus there aren’t any significant problems with my work.
Radio Shows were….Great!
Fortunately, I was able to listen to both radio shows on Monday night because I would be unable to attend the other shows on Tuesday or Wednesday. Logic Pod was the first to play on Monday, and Ravioli Radio came next.
What I think about the Logic Pod is as follows: This podcast’s conversation, in my opinion, mostly concentrated on the negative elements of AI, especially the argument about AI supremacy and how it might be utilized as a weapon. The goal of the radio program, in my opinion, seems to be raising awareness about artificial intelligence and the need for increased human conversation about it given its pervasiveness in today’s world. I even recall seeing the speaker or guest suggest creating towns or nations that are only accessible to AI, which seems like a completely absurd concept. As I write this on Wednesday, I can’t quite recall what I was thinking when I was listening, but I do recall that the most of the podcasters seemed to support AI as a sort of militarization, though I can clearly recall one who merely seemed to support its ethical use. The topic of AI rights was also discussed during the show, with varying viewpoints from the participants. The show’s quality was excellent in my opinion, particularly the background music and transitions. One of our group members employed AI-generated voices, which gave a distinctive element that, in my opinion, improved the listening experience for myself. Like my show, I felt that asking questions and getting other points of view led to an interesting conversation that resembled actual discussions. All in all, I thought the show was fascinating and did a good job of addressing the AI theme of our course.
In addition to enjoying the two audio shows, I had a great time interacting with the class on Discord!
Digital Discoveries in Video Project Plan
As detailed in the weekly assignment blog, during weeks 11 and 12 we are diving into video manipulation techniques. This assignment tasks us with utilizing a public domain source to make a video, focusing on the themes of: AI, Aggressive Technologies, Dr. Oblivion, our course characters, or a blend of some of the themes. As with all assignments, it is important to be creative because this assignment obviously wants us to experiment with various video elements to craft an engaging video.
Rishi and I worked well together on the audio show so we decided to run it back and work together again on this video project. Here is what we came up with in our outline of our video:
introduction (0:00-0:15) – The video will open with an animation of a futuristic cityscape, which will serve as the mood for the investigation of artificial intelligence. Text introducing the two main course characters and their journey via introducing everyone to the field of artificial intelligence and its beneficial implications for the world will be featured in this section.
Smart Home (0:15-0:45) –In this segment, Xander and Julius tour a smart home, showcasing every gadget in the house and demonstrating how artificial intelligence powers it all. To demonstrate how AI has permeated all of these industries, the text on the screen, for instance, will discuss security systems, visual assistants, and thermostats. It will also demonstrate how these techniques are utilized in conjunction with AI to simplify duties considerably.
Healthcare (0:45-1:15) – Xander and Julius will evaluate the effects of AI in the healthcare industry in this section. After that, the protagonists enter an environment reminiscent of a hospital, where they begin by showcasing the computers that are evaluating patient data, making diagnoses based on information provided by the doctors, and generally supporting medical staff. They showcase all of these features while a text explanation explaining what’s happening and how AI is affecting the healthcare industry appears on the screen.
Entertainment (1:15-1:45) – The characters find themselves at an entertainment complex full of different AI-led experiences and attractions in the third and final segment of the video. Put another way, Xander and Julius will highlight how artificial intelligence (AI) fully and entirely drives the creation of virtual reality games, AI-generated art, and personalized entertainment recommendations, improving and elevating these subfields within the entertainment industry for the benefit of all parties involved. Similar to the previous sections, while the images play in the background, there will be writing on the screen explaining everything.
Conclusion (1:45-2:00) – This completes the last segment of the video and serves as its ending. Each character will share a brief speech-style statement detailing their experiences exploring the AI world and sharing their opinions on the direction the field is headed. The last few frames of the video will be shown to the audience as a last message is displayed on screen, probably against a black background. It will stay visible for a few seconds. This will guarantee that the audience remembers anything and make them continue to consider it after watching the movie. Perhaps it will even attract more viewers to the video.
While lots of this will be hard to pull off in the video next week, we have set the groundwork for what we need to do. I look forward to getting started later this week and making a great video! Let me know below what you think of this outline.
Listening Experience
by Andrew Johnson
While listening to Aggressive Testimonials on ds106 Radio, I found the use of the AI voiceover caught my attention. I am not sure which AI voiceover was used exactly or where the source came from but it was definitely really cool to hear it asking questions and responding with adequate reason. Also, since I enjoy the NBA, the use of AI & analytics seemed very interesting and will for sure be used more in the future. I heard many pros & cons about AI being used in professional sports, but I am still not totally positive about how I feel about the use of AI in sports. One thing that could have been added to the downside of AI analytics is the fact of human reasoning & factors. Overall, this was my favorite ds106 Radio show, other than mine :).
Lips Waving “My Way” Video Plan:
by Greta Hammen
My animated video plan is to use the film, The House I live in, from the Library of Congress. Frank Sinatra was a young man in this, who does some singing and talking nice to a group of children. I hope to have one boy ask him, “What is artificial intelligence anyway? His response will be, AI is like a super-smart computer that can do lots of things for us, like play games, recognize pictures, and even talk to us! But it’s important to remember that AI is just a machine, and it can’t do everything that humans can do. One cool thing about AI is that it can help us learn new things and make our lives easier. For example, AI can help us find the best route to take when we’re driving, or it can suggest the perfect gift for a friend based on their interests. However, it’s important to remember that AI is not a human, and it can’t feel the same way that we do. It can’t experience emotions like happiness, sadness, or anger. When you are older, you can watch Black Mirror, episode titled, Be Right Back, for an example of what I am saying. And it’s important to be careful when we’re talking to AI, because it can’t understand sarcasm or jokes the same way that humans do. Overall, AI is a really cool technology that can help us in many ways, but it’s important to use it responsibly and safely. And always remember that AI is just a machine, and it can’t replace the love and support of real humans!
I have not used Wav2lip before and I understand that the script needs to be 60 seconds or less. I plan to stack those one-minute sections. If that is unsuccessful, I will refer to the list of AI tools, for other options to troubleshoot.
Video Plan
I am currently working alone on my video project. I have come up with an idea to do an investigative journalist report or documentary about Evil Bricks. Where do they come from? What do they want?
I plan to find videos to turn into victim testimonials. I want to animate an Evil Brick to yell about something. I plan to do a voice over of footage of people walking on brick paths. I want Dr Oblivion to be the industry expert interviewed about AI. I am going to make Aggressive Technologies the accidental creator of Evil Bricks. So, if this doesn’t anger AT and make them sue what will?
I am currently trying to decide if Lady Alice is going to make the video in an effort to discredit AT or if I am going to make it as a student. I would be a student journalist and that would anger AT legal counsel.
What are evil bricks?
outline
Video of people walking on paved walkways
narration: Across the globe people have been the victims of evil bricks. Once peaceful walks and scenic routes are now filled with danger. Where did they come from? What do they want? Are they organized or work alone?
People are asking why now? What is the cause? Some people have suggested magic, evolution, aliens, and robots. While some of these ideas seem ridiculous it is even more ridiculous that bricks are somehow coming alive.
Testimonials
Stories from victims.
Tabitha’s writing: show her art and record her talking about it.
Falling on a walk – use pictures of my fall on campus
House being torn apart by bricks leaving the walls.
Front steps falling apart. (I have a loose brick)
animate the evil brick have it say something
While looking into this problem of why good bricks have turned to a life of crime, I came across a company called Aggressive Technologies. They have been working on advanced AI and robotics. They are the makers of Everlast Pets. Could these bricks be an escaped project?
I found an industry expert to ask.
Dr Oblivion video interview use lipsync
People talking about aliens and magic say AI isn’t real. find movie clips to use with new dialog via lipSync
Use video clips of alien movies. Change dialog.
Aggressive technologies have had their hands in many projects. Some have even gone so far as to call them a shadow government. AT has been unreachable for comment.
Lady Alice quote here
Warning from Frank and Everlast pets
Life will never be the same now that the genie is out of the bottle, and we can no longer trust building materials.
One thing is for sure, life has either entered the twilight zone or the outer limits. We are no longer in control of the vertical and the horizontal.
Show billboard PSA evil bricks. flash evil brick art.
End
I am not sure how much of this I will be able to pull off, but I will do my best. I don’t have a length in mind for the video just that I want it to feel cohesive. It can feel like part one of a documentary series though.
What made me smile?
The daily create asked what made you smile today? It has been a rough week, and it is only Wednesday. I don’t have high hopes of things turning around anytime soon. Finding something that even gave me a hint of joy was a little difficult. After I found something to be happy about today fate rewarded me with a 2nd one.
MsMapex: “#tdc4464 #ds106 What made me …” – ds106 Social
Now the reward from The Fates!
My children returned home from school this afternoon. They were told no electronics until they match socks today. The sock basket is full, and they need to have socks for school tomorrow. My youngest, age 7, snuck to the basement to watch TV. Suddenly I heard crying. so much despair. She comes up stairs and tells me she knows she was bad but something more terrible has happened! She has accidently deleted all the Netflix profiles! This is end of the world stuff for the 7 and 9 years old. They thought they would have to rebuild all the Netflix profiles from scratch. I am trying my best not to laugh at them. I said, “Well I can fix it but not until all the laundry is folded now.” So much anger and despair. So much joy and laughter on my end. I did end up showing them on the laptop that everything is still there they just lost access on the TV.
MsMapex: “Update my 7 year old is crying…” – ds106 Social
It’s the little things one should find joy in. I could have gotten mad but why? The whole thing was hilarious. They are punishing themselves enough and I need help with the laundry. I got a big win here.
Daily Create
by Andrew Johnson
Something Good on a Rainy Day
As I woke up on the morning of April 3rd, I peeped out the window to see rain falling onto the streets below. Now many would see a rainy day as slow & perhaps even sad, but not me. As I walked to class, I felt a presence of nature and silence, something we don’t find very often in our everyday lives. Towards the middle of my walk through campus, I noticed a small bird, a wren, sitting on a broken tree branch with a fellow mate. This made me smile because it reminded me of how even though the dead tree branch was incapable of living, there was another life form taking its place, with death, comes life.
Bleeping video
Ooops! Someone forgot to hit the Publish button.
Jim and I have periodic conversations about what we’re doing and where we’re going in de106. I had this idea that the chief legal counsel from Aggressive Technologies would drop in and threaten us with a cease and desist order if we didn’t stop talking about their company. This would create another potential plot point the class might build stories around. We invited ds106 co-founder Martha Burtis to play the part of the lawyer, and her performance left us, me at least, literally dumbfounded.
Jim recorded our meeting and I went through and edited it. I downloaded a bleep sound effect to deal with some of the more aggressive language and imported the components into iMovie. I went through and chopped out extended pauses and “um”s and such, which ended up trimming three minutes off of the run time. At first I tried putting the bleeps in with iMovie, but between the small screen on my MacBook Air and the imprecision of the trackpad, it was getting very difficult. So instead I left the language in and shared the edited piece as a file. I imported the file into Audacity and added the bleeps there on an additional track, and used the Effect=>Amplify function to reduce the volume of the f-bombs.
The bleep track was still a little loud so I used the volume slider to take it down a few dbs. I exported it as an MP3 and then imported that into iMovie. I reduced the video soundtrack to zero and dropped the MP3 in to get the final version. Obviously my bleeping skills leave something to be desired, but it’s the thought that counts, right?