Category Archives: Reflections

dr oblivion is part cyborg now

Goals for DS106 Revisited

Looking back at my first post, I made an honest reflection on why I decided to enroll in the course and what my outlook for the future is. I’d say that most of this still stands true, but I’d like to add how my perspective of audio and visual elements shifted within the last 2 weeks.

I listened to a variety of audio storytelling pieces in the assignments I did as well as the DS106 radio session. I was fascinated by the amount of detail and attention that goes into the careful crafting of sounds to create a narrative. The audio stories that I created for my assignment bank projects was my first venture into creating these myself, and although I’m still a novice, I found myself really enjoying the work. For the visual side, I’m currently working on the film analysis assignment, and this has also given me a new perspective on popular films that I have watched.

The bulk of this class is still storytelling and updating the blog, but I have definitely found a greater appreciation for the attributes that make up these stories. I’m looking forward to doing more audio and visual work for the rest of the semester.

dr oblivion is part cyborg now

Radio Show Ideas – Tennis Junkie Transitioning into Something New?

I’d like to say that I’m an avid listener of podcasts and radio shows. My long commutes to school and work often allows me to finish a chunk of these at a time, and I really enjoy the insights I get from my favorite podcasters. I will say however, that my scope of interests is severely limited, with the majority of my listening time being taken up by Gill Gross’ Tennis podcast.

Gill does a lot of tennis post-match commentaries detailing the strategies of players, historic implications, among many other things a tennis fanatic can get behind. However, I realize that for the purpose of DS106, I probably can’t do a tennis broadcast with my course character along with my partner’s characters.

To tell a story about AI with connections to our characters within a 20-30 minute window, I think that creating a little short story with sound effects and dialogue included would be an interesting way to fulfill the requirements, similar to the radio stories we listened to during the DS106 radio broadcast this week. I haven’t really thought of the specifics yet, but I think this will become more clear after the groups have been assigned and we get to talk about everyone’s characters and their interests.

dr oblivion is part cyborg now

DS106 Radio – What an Experience!

For the live DS106 radio session this week, I was working at night for all 3 of the sessions. However, I was able to check into the Wednesday night’s show and it was an absolute pleasure.

The first story called “A Logic Named Joe” was a lighthearted comedic interpretation of what the internet would look like back in the 50s. A lot of the transition effects sounded similar to a cartoon movie with its wonky antics. Some of the distance effects allowed for us to decipher the situation more clearly, and where each character was located during each part of the story. The most interesting thing I noticed was how the interpretation of an AI assistant didn’t sound very robotic at all. It sounded more like an older movie narrator with much more personality than what I imagined people in the 50s expected AI to be.

The second story was “Report on the Barnhouse Effect” and this was a big shift between the last story. A lot of the creeking of doors and chairs, footsteps, and other subtle sounds made the story eerie, with each one adding to a sense of overall urgency in the story. There was a lot more to take in with this story, and I really appreciated all of the intricate sound effects used to portray the story. Professor Bond mentioning that the bell ringing at the end of the story signaled that the location was at a service desk, and I wouldn’t have caught that without his insight.

Overall I took a lot of lessons away from this session, and I’d definitely tune in again for some more stories.

Design Thoughts Reflection

The videos presented in this week’s reflection material felt very familiar to me. I recently took a class in UI/UX designing and some of these design elements come into play in the field of technology as well.

One of the elements I would like to go in depth with is the strategic use of color. The Vanity Fair video featuring James Verdesoto was very insightful for making connections between the film industry and the tech space of UI/UX. A lot of my favorite movies were featured in this video, including Star Wars and Avatar. What surprised me is the dominant nature of a specific color within film genres. For example, the use of blue is prominent in almost every action thriller poster, used to bring out the technological, high speed natures of the films.

However, the introduction of orange as a complimentary color introduces new ways for the colors to be used, with blue often being a background while the orange/yellow highlights the most important subjects such as the main characters.

There are some comparisons to be made in films vs. UI/UX elements. Take a look at this chart describing the use of each color:

Blue is not implemented as a thrilling color in any way of the imagination, yet can still be used signaling intelligence and tech such as Microsoft’s implementation in windows. The use of colors in contrasting ways exemplifies that not every color has a specific correlation to a certain emotion, situation, or overall vibe. Who knows, maybe in our future AI world, colors are interpreted by AI in different ways to the point where they convey completely different meanings!

20 Minute Photoblitz and Reflections

I decided to take on this assignment in a public library, and I faced some difficulties with the tasks I was given. A few of them required me to go outside to take the pictures but luckily I was planning on leaving within the allotted 20 minutes anyways, so I was able to get these photos.

Start time: 5:05PM

  • Take a picture that emphasizes a single color.
  • Take a picture of an object that is a metaphor for your learning style
  • Make a portrait of someone with catchlights in their eyes.
  • Take a photo showing the wide open space, the great outdoors.
  • Make a photo dominated by your favourite colour and share it!
  • Take a photograph of a toy in action
  • Make a photograph of the front of a building.

End time: 5:25pm

I was surprised at how many of these could be done from the limited space of a tiny room. I had to be creative with the types of props to use for my images, such as my water bottle and the leftover trash from my snack. It forced me to be creative with photography and it was a fun way to get my creative juices flowing while taking a study break.