Category Archives: spring25bond

dr oblivion is part cyborg now

The Show Was a Success

The group radio listen, like last time, was really fun. I made sure to listen in on the day that my show was playing. I had listened to the final product only once before, but it was really great to see the positive feedback from the class.

So, my team’s show was first, and I really enjoyed how it turned out. I really liked how Robin did the different audio files together and the music that was incorporated was really cool. it really added a nice ambiance to the show. My team’s commercials also really impressed me, and they turned out great in the show. The music, the themes, were all on point for the class theme. But what i thought really turned out well were the characters. So, the theme of course was a bunch of pro AI people focusing on the future of AI, and it seemed to start out ok… but it got dark really fast. Rikaro was an absolute monster, and Isaiah just going along with it was kind of scary. It was neat that robin’s character and my character decided that being super pro AI has a limit and maybe they learned a thing or two about themselves.

Overall, I think it turned out great and our narrative really played out nicely. Some of the comments about the characters and narrative really let us know that what we intended to convey came across exactly as we intended. Mad props to Robin and the editing skills.

As for the second show, Ravioli Radio, that was a hoot. Having the whole topic be about mopeds was really funny and the abusive audience made it feel like a Jerry Springer episode. I loved the sound effects, and I loved the commercials, especially the one with Jennifer Coolidge haha. I also have a new quote, “get your stench on!”.

Overall, this was a fun experience and despite the initial tedium of working as a group with these media tools and trying to make a cohesive show, I think I worked out great and I would recommend it to anyone.

TDC Shenanigans

I managed to do my TDCs early this week. Sick kids and sick self gave me some time at home so why not knock em’ out early.

The first one was to write a one liner on a Dutch tile. I went with something my son started saying recently because one, it’s funny, and two, it’s kind of ridiculous to see something so informal on a nice tile.

Th next one was to see what kind of flag you are. I went more with flag substance than type, so I picked something that represents me.

The last one was to make some source code art. I decided to use the web page Card Kingdom where I order a lot of my cards.

It was nice to get the out of the way early, but I also had a great time doing it.

daily crate 4/3-4/4

For the daily crate for 4/3 we were tasked with showing and telling something that made me smile. Today was super busy per usual but there were a lot of things that made me smile. I consider myself to be a happy and positive person, so it was hard trying to pick one thing that made me smile. Call me basic but I think one of the things that made me smile a lot was all of the flowers blooming outside. I appreciate the beauty and the slowness of being able to stop and look at a newly bloomed flower. I created a design in Canva of the types of flowers that I have seen lately.

For today’s daily crate it was to look up DS106 and pick the funniest image. I used the search engine Flickr and typed in ds106 this image may not be the funniest, but this is the one that I liked the most.

dr oblivion is part cyborg now

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.

dr oblivion is part cyborg now

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!

dr oblivion is part cyborg now

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.

dr oblivion is part cyborg now

Week of 4.1.24 – Reap the benefits

This week fooled me. I saw the assignment page coming up on Friday and I looked over it and thought “Wow, easy week”. It probably would be easy if the wifi was better in the dorms here, but no use crying over spilled milk. If you see daily creates posted a little late it’s because the wifi has been in and out. Rest assured that they were completed the day of and not the day it was posted. Anything that I do post late was done by using my phone, but I can’t log into mastodon on my phone, So I have wait until the wifi in the dorms comes back to post! Thanks for you patience and understanding. That was the only major problem that I ran into this week. I am working on workshopping a lot so stayed tuned for my video project!

I also took some time to update my website, so feel free to look around while I get everything situated.

As always the assignments are below!

Assignments

Okay, So what now?

Behind the creation: For this, we had to come up with a plan. I am still workshopping but I think that I could get into animating something for this class!

And we are live!

Behind the creation: INTERNET, INTERNET, INTERNET, oh to have good internet. I had a great time listening to the portion of the radio show that the dorm wifi allowed me! I love how everything turned out and am looking forward to finishing this class on a high note in the coming weeks.

Daily Creates- We had three this week

4.1

Behind this creation: Just some good fun on April fools day and what I would be as a flag.

3.31

Behind the Creation: For this, I decided to add a proverb for easter on canva and upload it to mastadon.

3.30

Behind the creation: I finally decided to live out my life long dream to be tall… veggie form works too!
dr oblivion is part cyborg now

And we are live!

Today, I tuned into a radio show done by Feli, Georgia, and Andrea’s radio show. This show was really put together, but I am kind of surprised that there wasn’t an intro bumper. This also opens my eyes to how Aggressive technology, really tries to gaslight the public (No shade to the people behind the radio show). I feel like the radio show adds to the narrative that we as a class have built around aggressive technologies. I also think that the groups editing skills are really good and whoever edited it, I need your game-card because my editing feels subpar to yours (please teach me your ways!!)

Something else that I also noticed while listening was how well-structured the interview was and how the interviewer Desuna (I’m sorry if I butchered your name) had a broad array of questions that addressed almost everyone’s course character’s problems with AT. So props to everyone who worked on the radio show. The radio show is structured like a propaganda radio that would be played across all speakers in the factories, offices, and break rooms.

I also loved the fact that Feli joined in and answered my questions about how natural they got their AI to sound. I had problems with my internet, unfortunately, so I couldn’t hear the rest of the radio show. I am amazed about how all of the radio shows turned out!!

Also fun fact: Did you know that Aggressive Technologies inc is an actual company that operates out of Illinois? They unfortunately don’t deal with AI but more so with manufacturing.

Listening Experience

by Andrew Johnson

Everything You Need to Know About Active Listening - Gordon Training International

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 :).

dr oblivion is part cyborg now

radio thoughts..

I first want to say that the radio show done by Aggressive technologies was really well done. One would think this is a actual interview being conducted with the thought provoking questions and the well-expressed answers. I like how the voices for the response to the questions sound like something straight form a AI film and the way the questions were answered painted “Aggressive technologies” as something that’s actually kind of scary and indeed are involved in sketchy things. Some of the way the questions were answered it was very script like and cultish. When they used words like “sanctuary” and “right path” just gives cult vibes. I also found some of the responses very funny I appreciate that the interview is on a serios note but there are hints of humor in the show. I like the way the show was edited and how the background music gave a ere Ish vibe as well. I like the doorbell ring before the show cut too commercial too. The very end of the show when they closed with how “trustworthy” they are and then finished it off with a commercial was really well done. Overall, I think the show was really put together and I enjoyed listening to it.