On a side note, the interview was conducted with an M-Audio Microtrack--a portable digital recorder that will run a phantom powered microphone. I'll report back when I experiment with the equipment a bit more.

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 12:29 AM
Taged as >> reflecting images through images and sounds | Permalink

My take is that, while it's possible to balk at a single print essay in a composition or literature course, an assignment that takes that essay and works it and reworks it over the course of a semester might mitigate against concerns about abandoning print (which I share). The realization, though, wouldn't have happened without the compressed schedule of summer. In four weeks, it makes sense to work steadily on an essay, but I wouldn't have seen that in the middle of a fifteen week semester. I don't see why the strategy couldn't translate to a larger session. Zooming out, I see what I'm trying to do is take the spread across genres from a typical compostion class--profile essay, research essay, persuasive essay, etc.--and translate it using media--print essay, audio essay, collage, video essay. Keeping the prose composition going the whole time somehow makes sense in this context.

Let me also share a couple of projects from the classes.

The first is the podcast, The N-Word, by Josh Wallace. I don't think this piece should be heard as offensive, though it does take up offensive language. I do like the way it weaves in music, television, and student voices to explore the topic.

Next, let me point to a collage by Crystal Borne, who also did the Poke Hemingway profile. I like how Crystal has created a first, a second, and a third version of her character analysis collage. She mentioned to me her questions about how the different versions might be read, based on the subtle changes in the lower-right corner. For instance, the splash of color in the green flatline vs. the subdued tones in the same spot in the other two versions might add a contemporary feel and resonate with the drug connotations in the red needle.

Today we should be collecting some mid-term portfolios so hopefully I can learn more through some of the reflections and responses.

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 09:01 AM
Taged as >> teaching really fast | Permalink | Comments (2)

I also came across this piece today with the engaging headline IPods More Popular Than Beer. Not much to the piece beyond its pointing out a wide open avenue for extending teaching and writing. Steve also recently discussed some of his podcasting efforts, and I really like the audioblogger channel he has set up for his classes. It seems like he's well on the way to streamlining the process of creating teaching materials and getting them to the earbuds.

Also this week, Jenny has posted about the enviable week she is spending at audio camp. She offers this helpful reflection,

- Think in terms of “scenes.” Audio documentaries need to create action and sounds/images within certain “sites” for the listener. This means that your sounds will need to create certain textures of scenes. Setting the action and narrative within scenes will help to make your words “thicker” for the audience. For example, one of our instructors played us an audio documentary about military wives, and the “scenes” included a woman talking in her kitchen. You could hear the sounds of kids playing around the table, while the narrative voice talks over the sounds. A little thing, maybe, but it gives the listener *some* image to hold see.

- Create layers and textures of sounds. More than just a music soundtrack (my audio drug of choice), textures of sounds include the kind of thing I just mentioned. This means, practically speaking, that you have to think about recording *sound*, and not just words for an interview. The sound should be 3-D so that scenes are created.

Finally, I need to make one connection with my previous post about e-books. One of the things that bothers me about Roger Sperberg's reaction to John Updike's speech was the sense I picked up in the podcast of Updike's struggle against new publication paradigms and media. Sure, it's easy to denigrate the speech for its unwillingness to seek common assumptions. But listening to the speech gives me pause. Perhaps I'm just too forgiving, but I read a confusion, a fish-out-of water effort to survive the e-book phenomenon. The key, though, is that I get this reading not from the words, which convey resistance, but from the sounds, the tone and resignation in the voice, which for some reason evokes in my sympathy. Here (to show I'm not a knee-jerk defender of Updike and the book paradigm) is a small snippet.

So, I'm eager to hear more sounds, to better learn to read them.

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 08:05 AM
Taged as >> there's something happening here | Permalink

The feedback suggests that particularly helpful was the equipment demonstration. We worked through hardware with the aim of pointing people toward solutions with a range of costs--the free option, the $20 microphone, the $75 microphone, etc. I think it was also helpful for people to see that the time and complexity investments are also pretty easily manageable, so hopefully many of the participants will take the plunge and play around with podcasts when they get back to from the ranch.

Seeing the live podcast setup and production was also a big help for people thinking about doing in-class speech-based activities or regular broadcasts. These take a lot longer to figure out, so having one conducted and seeing how the cables, microphones, and mixing board fit together and then how one plays music or other snippets into the mix probably saved people some time if they want to try this as well.

It was also a joy to work with such great people; still the best group of academics I know of by far. If you want to hear one of the podcasts that came out of the partnered exercise, I'm going to recommend Smelly Cat--how could I not. If you're Jonesing for some conference thoughts or want to listen to what are probably some familiar voices, try Live from Lubbock on KPOD.

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 07:48 AM
Taged as >> workshop report from computers and writing | Permalink

We've set up a Web site to facilitate the workshop. We are collecting assignments and resources, and by the end of the week hope to have some of the projects from the workshop up. If you have ideas for podcasting or for a podcast workshop or if you know of great audio resources, feel free to sign on to the site and post materials.

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 11:14 PM
Taged as >> spreading the audio wealth | Permalink

In reflection, I can see that this is a very difficult assignment. Yes, there are issues related to using Audacity with multiple tracks--some crashing and visual overload. But more tough is figuring out how to observe copyright and integrate the snippets of songs into a larger narrative. We used (mostly) a 30 second rule in line with the amount of music legally offered in samples from online music stores. Limiting the song excerpts to 30 seconds makes using the music to tell the story challenging. On top of this, we have the option of reading lyrics into the listcast. Here the impulse is to sing the lyrics, but in retrospect it seems worth exploring other ways of reading. The lyrics work better, I think, when they are read anew, twisted to match the mood of the listcast. On top of this we had the option of weaving in the author's own voice. Here there are some technical hurdles that make getting good sound a challenge, but more than that it takes a good while to develop a microphone presence, to find a recorded voice one can feel comfortable with.

Finally, there is the story. This is in many ways comforting, because we return to the perennial quest to find something to say and then find a way to express that something--nothing new under the sun. My own listcast drifted until I went outside with paper and pen and wrote poetry with a good snow melt flowing down the stream of consciousness. The audio work can easily become random stitching, but instead needs to contribute to a more specific weave. The assignment, then, is one of narration and insight delivery, and that makes it tough. I list below my sample listcast and a few others that I have culled from the class.

A playlist considering the missing days in the Easter story, Three Days Dead (Daniel Anderson)

A playlist exploring archetypes of martyrdom , The Hanged Man (Jenny Bridgers)

A playlist based on the Dicken's novel Great Expectations, Kip's Aching Heart (Kara Spencer)

A playlist exploring how songs themselves have beginings, middles, and endings, Short Stories, Various Endings (Lauren Frohne)

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 11:03 AM
Taged as >> new media composing is still idea generation | Permalink

In the meantime, here are my workarounds: The enhanced podcast hosted on my personal Web site (http://teachmix.com/podcasts/collagecast.m4a), and an m4a file embedded as an object in a Web page, which seems to allow it to display even without the mime type setup--the file opens in a pop-up window and is 4.8mb in size--a nod to Bradley Dilger here; I'm probably violating all kinds of usability issues, but wanted to embed the file without forcing people to download it on the main blog. I will keep testing these now that they are posted. By the way, the audio is recorded using the Blue Snowball.

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 11:16 AM
Taged as >> collage composing podcast delivery | Permalink

I am still testing out the microphone and having some trouble getting it fired up on the Windows XP machine. It is working great on the Mac. Here is a sample with the audio and some images in case anyone is curious about the quality. (I'm posting this as an m4a file, so hopefully it will work. You may need to play it in iTunes or QuickTime.) I think the product bodes well for prosumer podcasting--it is much simpler than going with a mixing board and phantom-powered microphones, but has a nice sound and more power and features than a basic USB microphone.

UPDATE: To fix the problem of the Blue Snowball not working with audacity on Windows, I downloading the firmware update from the bluemic.com Web site. All is now well. I tested the omnidirectional setting and, while volume does fall off, from about 15 feet away the sound is still acceptable.

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 08:12 AM
Taged as >> prosumer podcasting product design | Permalink

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 12:23 AM
Taged as >> thought fodder audio file | Permalink

Three Days Dead

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 10:54 PM
Taged as >> playlist narrative podcast | Permalink

One other observation: Stephanie and I sat down for the podcast after I turned over the idea of writing yet another progress report and snapshot of our technology efforts. With the three or so blank word processor pages and a set of points to make staring me in the face, I decided it would be easier to just record a conversation and make the points that way. It took about two hours to record and then clean up. Maybe a wash, but the impulse not to type and instead record was undeniable.

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 06:01 PM
Taged as >> SITES lab status report | Permalink

The reason we decided on this idea is because really, it seems like a good way to think of how one ought to go about explicating poetry--if you think of it as a mystery to be solved, you're more likely to get somewhere because you're open to more possibilities.

The second podcast, Greenlaw Poets, works more as a community snapshot, capturing a current slice of what is happening in the building with faculty poets. Again, the clips woven into the podcast, in this case poetry readings, give it oomph. Zach Jepson added the clips and audio post-recording.

We're realizing that podcasts open lots of questions about intellectual property. In Greenlaw Poets, for instance, Jim Seay reads the poem “Flat Out in 5/4 Time” with "Take Five" in the background. Jepson reports that Seay wrote the poem with the song in mind

He was inspired by a Paul Desmond performance. It’s an unusual piece because it is done with a five/four time signature and it’s a little bit defiant. And because of that he purposely wrote the poem with iambic pentameter and iambic tetrameter lines.

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 01:30 PM
Taged as >> poetry podcast property decisions. | Permalink

On another level, these live podcasts open avenues for pushing writing. The most comfortable participants include both those who have caught up their expertise on the topic and those who establish a relaxed and confident delivery. Having information at hand is crucial. Performance matters. A conversational tone works. Weaving in media clips is hard; they can disrupt the flow. The first try is often stilted and needs tweaking. Familiar assignments may or may not adapt to the medium; the research report/radio show models strike me as less "grippy" than the free flowing weekly report formats we have tried. The collaboration and engagement facilitated by the assignments is quite grippy.

Technically, our goal is not impeccable production values, but clearly audible speaking and minimal background noise; on our last effort we came up short with an irritating echo that in part stems from (I think) our efforts to allow listeners in the room to hear the audio clips we are playing in the podcast. We'd love any advice about cleaning that up.

Finally, a bit of information about the setup we are using. We have an Alesis usb mixing board ($149) and two phantom powered microphones. The key piece that we discovered for doing the live podcasts is incorporating audio clips into the mix using a splitter cable from the laptop headphone jack that then feeds into the mixing board. Then, by opening audio files in separate quicktime windows we can play clips at key points in the podcast. The mixing board allows the audio files to be faded in or out and the result is blended into the overall stream that is recorded (in this case, using Audacity). It just takes a few tries to get the feel for weaving in the pre-recorded snippets and the result is a recording that is pretty close to being ready to post once the session is over.

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 10:27 PM
Taged as >> podcast setup live ideas | Permalink | Comments (2)

The screencast is made with Camtasia on the PC. I find it easier and better-sounding to record the audio using iMovie. So, I record on the PC and save as an avi file, then bring that to the Mac to record the audio in iMovie, then send it back to the PC as a wav file that can then be imported back into Camtasia for the final print of the tutorial. Composing using Camtasia, for me, involves a process in which one sketches out a model project while thinking along the way about how to capture the screens necessary to demonstrate the most important steps. I find it to be an odd herky jerky version of writing and teaching blended together. One tries to imagine voice-overs and advice to writers, while winding one's way through the composition of the sample project.

What I haven't been able to do in making screencasts is develop a clear sense of how to integrate voice or style into the compositions. Although the idea in the more teacherly screencasts is to layer rhetorical instruction over the technical steps depicted on screen, the ethos is one of informative technology tutor and not much else. Perhaps that sense of speaker is appropriate, but it makes me wonder about recent conversations and postings by Bradley Dilger and on if:book about voice and authorship. I wonder how much these concerns of voice are amplified as one actually records voice, and then (ugh!) plays it back. At some point, I'd like to experiment with a narrative screencast or perhaps with some other form.

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 09:05 AM
Taged as >> audacity tutorial composing screencast voice | Permalink | Comments (3)

In the meantime, here is a link to what could prove valuable for the groups about to conduct their recordings: some tips from Strongbad about how best to do a radio show. I hadn't thought to include pointers in the assignment to concepts like the voice/appearance mismatch, but . . . wait for it, wait for it . . . I'm learning slowly.

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 08:27 AM
Taged as >> strongbad radio podcast advice | Permalink

Sound waves are acoustic waves, with no electrical component. They are simply vibrations in the air, a physical pressure made by the utterance of the speaker.

I love that phrase, "physical pressure made by the utterance of the speaker." We tend to translate movement wrought through discourse into abstract terms--changing the views of listeners, prompting written response, shifting policy--intellectual reactions to the linguistic core of the statement. The image and blockquote suggest other possibilities.

If you'll permit a bit of hurdy gurdy digression ("The association . . . is obvious, since both are played with [by] a crank"*), I'll display another image from the Privateline site. The inference is that waves roll meta through the spaces of the universe, so that our own small disturbances given voice never work in a vacuum but mix with the invisible rhythm of the waves all around.

Visible light is only one small part of the omnipresent electromagnetic field or spectrum, that great, universal energy force that constantly washes over and through us.

I can only vouch for myself in saying that word writing (and reading), when it's good, taps into the wave world in a physical way. But I can suppose that sound writing offers a variation on the phenomenon, perhaps one less removed than silent text from physical waves (primordial or other). And, as a last digression, I'll argue with this image--which may or may not depict the disruption of sound visually.

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 10:49 AM
Taged as >> writing sound waves | Permalink

facebook (verb) : 1.to search for another person through the online directory know[n] as facebook 2. to send a message through the online directory know as facebook I facebooked Lauren yesterday to see where she goes to college. Submitted by: Anonymous on Dec. 11, 2005 23:24

facebook (verb) : To add someone to your list of friends on the "facebook.com" website. Hey, I saw you facebooked me. (also a noun, as in "Look him up on facebook.") Submitted by: Selena from North Carolina on Dec. 11, 2005 12:03

Facebooking (verb) : it means to checking out your Facebook.com profile or your friend's Facebook.com profile. I was facebooking my friend's profiles. Submitted by: Joshua Wilson from Florida on Jan. 29, 2006 20:21

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 11:54 PM
Taged as >> playlist composing podcast refelection | Permalink

We touch on the ways that traditional publishers have struggled to monetize electronic work created by academics. We also speak about the difficulties for scholars working with electronic media when familiar publishing mechanisms are not relevant to their work. And, we think about institutional changes and tools that might help address some of these challenges.

The conversation is recorded in this podcast about blogs, electronic scholarship, publishing, and the academy. You can hear about more of the economic issues related to blogs and electronic publishin in the first podcast covering our conversation.

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 11:32 PM
Taged as >> publish electronic scholarship transform institutions | Permalink

One tension in our discussion centered around the ways that blogging can be configured as a professional activity. As blogging moves from a personal to a professional writing mode, what models can be put in place to support it? How might free market or commercial models such as advertising-supported funding alter the spirit of blogging? How do folksonomies and attention economies alter familiar commercial models? How can or should the academy subsidize professional blogging? Are there alternative models such as cooperatives that might sustain and extend blogging?

A good bit of our discussion also focused on tensions wrought by blogging that might be felt particularly by academics. We worried about losing proven models of editorial control but noted the evolving self correcting nature of blogging and its communities of knowledge. We wondered about the impact of the severely compressed time to production for blog writing. And we thought about the concerns raised by the forms of blog writing and about aspects of academic culture that determine how knowledge is created and counted.

I have compiled some of the conversation into a podcast covering blogs, economics, and the academy. The segments of the discussion included in the podcast treat some of the concerns sketched out above. It shouldn't be too surprising upon listening to the podcast to learn that our conversation touched on these issues, but served less to provide solid answers and more to open questions.

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 10:30 PM
Taged as >> academic economic blog writing models | Permalink

Apple's early-October debut of the new iPod and its video-capable iTunes 6.0 hasn't had nearly the same effect [as the integration of podcasts into iTunes]. One podcast directory, PodcastPickle, had 27 videocasts at that launch and, four weeks later, has added just six.

The piece does a good job of questioning the value of that kind of podcaster gazing, but does not really look at the shifts in composition likely to emerge if videocasting acheives a ubiquity similar to that of podcasts. On one level, the simple mixed media nature of even the simplest iMovie blends the aural with the visual. Digital videos can also display text, albeit not as well as pages of prose. Still, bringing image, text, and audio together is a different ball of wax. Add to that composition the social engine enabled by casting videos from person to person and you have a great space for new media authors.

Perhaps my biggest question, though, about contrasting podcasts and video casts is the way we seem to treat them as discreet media. I guess this has to do with sharing them as objects. At the same time, opportunities for writers are likely to really expand when the video casts can load images or the podcasts load video casts and so on. Through iTunes, it seems like enhanced podcasts already allow this kind of functionality. So the real question or problem, and the Wired piece mentions this, is the format issues that arise when moving to video. Video casts go nicely in the writing quiver, but as long as they are disparate objects to be shot through the social net, they won't likely radically transform the already shifting processes of digital composition.

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 04:07 PM
Permalink

Following up on a couple of postings on Steve Krause's Blog, I thought I'd compose a few thoughts on the role of audio in providing feedback to writers. First, it seems clear to me that things are shifting, at least in the computers and writing community, so that working with sound files is becoming a mainstream academic activity. Steve references a Kairos piece written by Jack Wilson that discusses the use of audio files for providing feedback on written papers, but on e-mail discussions and in blogs it is becoming much more common to hear of scholars moving toward recording lectures, podcasting observations about topics, or making audio files for course materials. It feels as if another evolutionary step in composition is playing out as we move toward not only thinking about sound, but practicing composing with audio

So what can be said about audio feedback for students papers? First, there is the longstanding problem to note of expertise and activity differentials between students and instructors. The one thing that stands out to me is that these audio files are being created by instructors to discuss student papers. The service ethic that so permeates writing programs and the need to see students creating academic discourse still holds so that students are often consuming rather than producing these new media commentaries. Of course, deciding what students need to be writing and how those projects are shifting or may change is a large topic, but it's worth observing.

Perhaps more fruitful for consideration, though, is the differential in modes that one finds with writers producing one form and readers creating another. For me the question is not as much, What comes across differently for readers in audio instead of print? but more how do we read and respond differently when we compose through audio or print? Do audio comments create a more conversational writer/responder dynamic? Or, might written comments bring the reader more in line with the original author, composing thoughts in text about the topic under study?

On a related note, I think audio allure might be dangerous or enabling depending on how well it facilitates the kinds of writer and reader relationships one wishes to acheive. A recent exercise conducted in one of my classes asked readers to act as co-writers or the papers they were reviewing. The comment feature in MS word served as the technical engine for opening the paper to other voices and readers were forbidden to hunt for surface errors, and instead called to write their own thoughts out about the topic under discussion and the issues raised by the paper. The assignment sought to enable the kind of conversational ideal envisioned by Richard Straub in his writings about providing feedback. This podcast on the process of conducting conversational peer review allowed me to reflect on the activities.

So, there is much to be thought about and practiced when it comes to bringing audio into the writer and reader relationship. Audio files alone, won't create an ideal review environment and in fact might hinder the process. Or, they might be the next logical step in creating activities in which writers and readers converse about topics in a realistic and engaging way.

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 07:50 AM
Taged as >> audio teaching peer review podcast | Permalink

Writing Podcasts is not necessarily easy, but I believe the opportunities they provide for helping students develop authentic audience-based compositions makes them worth it. I'm learning, though, that teaching through podcasts will take several tries before I have a strong sense of the potential pitfalls and of how best to configure asssignments and guide students as they work.

My initial foray into using podcasts in a first year writing class brought some interesting results. The strongest characterstic of the assignment, I would say was the motivation factor it added to the literary scholarship undertaken by students. The podcast format galvanized group work and engaged students with the research and explication of poetry that was the goal of the task. The results are striking in that the class activities for the unit developed into some of those instances where the energy of the podcast project clearly courses through the class and the instructor can easily step back, toward the edge of the picture and watch while the learning and the writing play out.

Here are archived postings of the podcasts from the literary explication assignment:

Poetry by the Fireside, A discussion of William
Carlos Williams's "As the Cat"

All Poems Considered, An exploration of
William Carlos Williams and his poetry

The Fruitbasket, A Discussion of William Carlos
Williams's "This is Just to Say"

The Compton Morning News, A Discussion of Gwendolyn
Brooks's "We Real Cool"

We Get Lit, An Exploration of Ron Wallace's "Hardware"

Posted by Daniel Anderson at 11:07 PM
Permalink