Week 11: Where do we go from here?

1. ds106radio

The class shows will be broadcast Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at 7pm. I would like to do it at noon, but so far only three people indicated that they could be available. If we get a few more we may add a noon session. We will listen on ds106radio and discuss in Discord in the ds106radio channel. If the tech is cooperative and people are willing, I would like to get people on air to talk about their shows. Those may be big IFs. We would like at least one person from each group to be listening and on Discord when the group’s show is broadcast to answer questions about the show. Everyone should listen to at least one other group’s show and blog about the experience. Tag this post showlistening.

Schedule:
Monday 7PM: Ravioli Radio, Logic Pod
Tuesday 7PM: Pop Perceptive, Three Point Chatter
Wednesday 7PM: Digital Agencies, Aggressive Testimonials

2. Video

For weeks 11 and 12, we will expand on our video work, specifically looking at what we can do with manipulation. Some people were able to animate Dr. Oblivion a few weeks ago with the Wav2Lip script, and someone even got Frank to say a few words. Let’s experiment further. You can use that script on other videos. Some points to be aware of:

• For Wav2lip, video clips cannot be more than 60 seconds or the script will fail
• videos appear to work best when one person is talking, more or less directly at the camera. See video above.
• Google Drive may take issue with attempts at deepfakery, so it may be best to work with public domain sources
  • List of films in the public domain in the United States
  • Free to Use and Reuse: Public Domain Films from the National Film Registry
  • There is also public domain video in the Internet Archive, for example in the Prelinger Archives. Some content there is in questionable taste, so proceed cautiously.
• People found a few other ways to animate characters. Whatever works is okay. Even if you have to resort to the level of fakery from the other week’s video.
• If you find the idea of fakery objectionable, feel free to find another way to animate. There may be useful tools on the Week 8 list or in people’s AI pitches.

The video project for this and next week should have some sort of narrative involving the course theme of AI, your course character, Aggressive Technologies, Dr. Oblivion, or any combination thereof. As always, it is up to you to decide how to interpret this, and creativity is encouraged. You may choose to build off of ideas developed in your radio projects, or you may try something different. The project must incorporate editing, clips, audio, graphics and text or titles. It should have an opening and an ending.

The point here is to create a video narrative, and to push your boundaries by experimenting with a variety of video components and techniques. I am not specifying a time length because it can take hours of work to plan and produce a well-edited two-minute video, or it could take almost no work to point a camera at something for twenty minutes. If it’s something you want to show off to people and it gives you a lot to blog about, it is a good project.

You all have the option of working in groups on this project. All group members must blog about their work for the project. You can also work independently.

Due Friday, 4/5 by midnight:

• A blog post on the radio show listening experience
• A blog post on your video project plan and progress. Tag this videoplan. This post will include a detailed outline or storyboard of the script.

Due Friday, 4/12 by midnight:

• Embed your video in a post tagged videoproject, along with the usual detailed reflective analysis.

3. Daily Creates – Let’s do 3 each week.

4. Commenting – as usual.

5. Looking ahead

We have five weeks left in ds106. Here is our plan going forward.

• Week 11 & 12: ds106radio listening and video project planning
• Week 13: final project planning
• Week 14: final project completion
  • The final project will also be an optional group or individual project.
  • Your project should showcase the multiple digital media skills you have developed over the semester. It could take the form of a post or a subdomain with embedded media, or a complex video incorporating audio production and design, or something else if you have a better idea.
  • Potential final project prompts:
    • Aggressive Technologies vs ds106 – see the visit from AT’s legal counsel
    • Characters and Aggressive Technologies – bring some of the story threads the class has developed of the past several weeks to a conclusion
    • Analysis of pros & cons of artificial intelligence based on course experiences. What can we do with AI? What should we do with AI?
  • One of the things that makes ds106 what we know and love is the student input. Do you have ideas for final project prompts? It should be something that builds upon what we’ve been doing, involves the use of a variety of digital media, and gives people room for creative exploration. Feel free to post ideas, thoughts or questions in the #finalprojects channel in Discord
• Week 15: wrap-up: Aggressive Technologies conference
  • Everybody gets to do a short video presentation, no more than 2 minutes, on their experience with AI106. We hope to get these on ds106tv