#dtc101

DTC 101 has changed my understanding on the ways in how Interact with the web. For starters I was worried when we learned about all of the information we as people allow websites to have access to by simply skipping the terms of service and just checking that right off. Another thing that I found pretty crazy was that websites sell the information that you look up, to social media sites in order to keep reminding you that you looked at it and might want to buy it. We learned that there are apps that have access to your microphone that don’t even have any use for the microphone, it is simply to spy on you. This creeps me out because that means there is always a way for someone to hear what you are saying or doing without your knowledge. Throughout the semester we have critiqued many technologies, and in doing so I think that it has changed my opinion on how I am going to use them. For instance one thing that I do now is regularly clear my cookies and history and other things like that, but I also watch out for what I am doing when I am logged onto public wifi, such as accessing my bank account because that can be hacked through the network but also not even searching for some things because if I do then they will be just popping up everywhere. The same goes with clicking on ads, I learned that if you click on an add one time it will appear more frequently not only in the space that you clicked it but in other forms of social media. 

Hannah Brenner

Artist Statement

  Statement of Purpose

By creating this work, I wanted to take the reader through the basic story of War of the Worlds from the original recording, just a little different. I wanted to remix the story into a radio drama instead of a radio broadcast and make it a little more modern.

  Influences

The recording that I was working with heavily influenced me; if the recording had been slightly different in any way (say, a different voice), my piece would’ve been different in how it was put together. I was also influenced a lot by radio dramas that my mom listens to and I have grown up hearing.

  Fit Within Larger Notion of Aesthetics

My piece is a sort of an in-between. It’s between the original work, which was a radio broadcast of Orson Welles novel, and a radio drama, with sound effects and different voice actors. The biggest difference with my piece and a radio drama is that usually in a radio drama the narrator is one of the characters, where in the original dialogue I was working with the author is narrating. Basically, I remixed a recording that was a remediation of a novel.

  Materials

The piece was created with Garage Band. A recording of the original 1938 radiobroadcast of Orson Welles War of the Worlds was used for dialogue. All other music and sound effects were from Garage Band.

  Methodology

Because the original piece was so long and my piece was only going to be around two minutes, I decided to take an easy approach, instead of listening to the entire recording. I started by just listening from the beginning, taking small clips of words and phrases that I liked and cutting out the extra. When I had a small collection of these, I would space them out or rearrange them in a way that still made sense even though I was skipping things that happened in the original. Then I looked for sound effects that would fit those clips and interesting music to fill the background.

  Desired Results

I had hoped to achieve a short bit that would remix the original recording and turn it into a more radio drama recording.

  Actual Results

I believe I accomplished my stated purpose and desired results. The finished product, to me, sounds a lot more like a radio drama, with sound effects and music, and more current.

  Outcome

Hannah Brenner

Artist Statement

  Statement of Purpose

            My purpose for creating this piece was to demonstrate my learning so far in my digital technology and culture class by creating a sound remix that focuses on a game environment. I chose to focus on the “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” for my project.

  Influences

            I was influenced mainly by the Skyrim music itself. There are so many different tracks that play throughout the game, and many of them are immediately recognizable, I wanted to challenge myself to put an entire gaming experience worth of music into a two minute long piece.

  Fit within Larger Notion of Aesthetics

            My piece is almost like a sampling of the most popular songs on the game. It’s a remix of the music of the game on a small scale. While it uses the original music by Jeremy Soule, the way that I pieced together the snips and added sound effects are completely original.

  Materials

            The songs were off of the album “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: The Original Game Soundtrack” that I purchased on iTunes. I clipped and edited the songs using Garage Band. List of songs used:

Dragon Born, The Bannered Mare, The Streets of Whiterun, One They Fear, Solitude, and Watch the Skies.

  Methodology

            First I picked a few songs off of the album to put into my piece. I wanted to chose songs that would be immediately recognized by someone who has played Skyrim, and also I wanted to chose songs that would encompass the entirety of the game. First I chose the theme song for Skyrim, and then I picked a couple songs that represented different locations in Skyrim, the Bannered Mare inn and the towns of Whiterun and Solitude. Then I chose a couple songs that come when fighting during the game: One They Fear and Watch the Skies. I then cut up pieces of the songs and fit them together in a way that I thought transitioned the best and still kept the essence of the game when pieced together. Finally I listened to the whole thing and added sound effects like a door opening, footsteps, and dripping water.

  Desired Results

            What I hope to achieve with this work is that when someone listens to this mix of songs from the game, they will be immediately be transported to their gaming experience. My ideal would be someone to listen and say, “Oh, I remember killing a dragon to this song,” or, “This music reminds me of that one quest. That was a great time.” For the listener that hasn’t experienced Skyrim, my hope is that they will be intrigued with the selection of music and have interest sparked for the game.

  Actual Results

            I believe that I accomplished my stated purpose. The actual result is not as finished as I would like and in the future I would like to add more sound effects to the piece to increase the connection a listener would have with the music and the game. For example, I would’ve liked to add swords clashing, dragons roaring, and the iconic phrase, “I used to be an adventurer, but then I took and arrow to the knee.”

  Outcome

The Hard Way Home By Brandi Carlile

I sometimes lose my faith in luck 

I don't know what I want to be when I grow up

I just count the rain

Wearing the floor through the boards again

I wish I could find a soul to steal

I could be the engine, you could be the wheel

When we're driving home, I never have to worry about being alone

Follow my tracks

See all the times I should have turned back

I wept alone

I know what it means to be on my own

The things I have known

Looks like I'm taking the hard way home

The seeds I've sown

Taking the hard way home

Taking the hard way home

I never did learn how to follow the rules

I never was good at sleeping while the moon was full

I just lie and burn

Wreck my mind while the planet turns

I sometimes wish I could start again

I'd try and do the right things every now and then

I'd step in line

That's what I would do if I could turn back time

Follow my tracks

See all the times I should have turned back

I wept alone

I know what it means to be on my own

The things I have known

Looks like I'm taking the hard way home

The seeds I've sown

Taking the hard way home

Taking the hard way home

I tell you how I want to live

Forget about the take

Forget about the give

I want to leave this town

Fake my death and never be found

Follow my tracks

See all the times I should have turned back

I wept alone

I know what it means to be on my own

The things I have known

Looks like I'm taking the hard way home

The seeds I've sown

Taking the hard way home

Taking the hard way home

Looks like I’m taking the hard way home.

 ________________________________________________________________

Artist Statement

Alyssa Karnes

Statement of Purpose This authoring project was done for my DTC101 class. I decided on the hypertext option because, after hearing other classmates give it as their reasons and I agreed with them, I really like words. It happens very often that I fall in love with a song, simply because I love one line in it or, in this case, multiple lines. That's why I decided to have song lyrics be the text I was working with for this project, because they mean a lot to me. Also, there were several different words/phrases that I really wanted to use because I had specific links I knew I wanted to share.

Influences Most of my influences for this project can be found in the links. I really wanted to only put in hyperlinks for things I really cared about and/or came from a specific aspect of my life. One example is the link for "moon." The author is Karen Karbo, who visited one of my classes as a guest speaker. What she had to say that night was very influential for me, so I was happy to be able to make a connection to her work. Another good example is the "Let it Grow" video (from The Lorax) because it is seriously one of my favorite movies. I could sit down and watch anytime of day, then when it finished, start it over and be completely happy with that decision. Which, now I  really want to because the song has been stuck in my head all weekend from adding it to this project. 

Fit within Larger Notion of Aesthetics Since I didn't choose to create this document using a short story or essay, it came out a little different. I ended up having to set a couple different hyperlinks for "Hard Way Home" as it appeared several times. The first one is actually just a hyperlink to the official YouTube video for it (because it's important to hear how incredible Brandi Carlile's voice is), but the others contain content that I believed were relevant stories of "hard way homes" for other people. Doing this helped paint a better picture for what is trying to be told in the song, and I believe it ended up working out really well for the overall message. 

Materials No special programs were used to create this document, with the exception of Pages-- which I used to originally create the document and then copy and pasted here. I did want to have a variety of different links, so their sources range from YouTube to home pages for websites to poems posted on webs forums. 

Methodology To begin this project, I first read through the lyrics and made note of what words I wanted to hyperlink. I then went and found the links for whatever first came to mind for those words. Any of the words leftover, I simply just searched it on Google and browsed through the results until I found the right one (sometimes adding "poem" or "artwork" to find more interesting/artsy content). 

Desired/Actual Results When this project was first assigned, I actually wanted to do the video game remix. Unfortunately, I found out it was a little to far out of my experience and I couldn't figure it out enough to create something (I believed would be) good. But after I got over that disappointment, I was able to get really excited about doing this option. One thing I would've liked to see in my finished results was to have more of clear story throughout my links. I would've also liked to have been able to upload my word document here, because I had different font sizes/color which I thought made it more visually appealing. Instead I had to copy and paste it on here and lose all that. But, the document doesn't necessarily need to be visually appealing, so I don't believe it takes too make away. In the end though, I do believe this was the best I could do with what I was able to find and with what resources I had. I was also very happy with the variety of different links I was able to find-- for awhile I thought I was only going to find videos because they were the only thing to come to mind!

Link to the DTC 101 Official Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/DTC101

Statement of Purpose:

With this Facebook page, I wanted to give an overview of what Digital Technology and Culture 101 is all about. I remember some confusion at the beginning of the semester with what exactly students would be learning in DTC 101 and I made this FB Page in the hopes of clearing that confusion.

DTC 101 is about learning the basics of every background of other DTC courses at WSUV. This semester DTC 101 was not necessarily about the physical software that students will be using in future DTC courses, but the theories and people behind what technology is today.

I published links about course topics that students would discuss in class, further information for them to read more on future topics. I also published links that related to WSU, and the CMDC program such as the ‘MOVE Lab’ and ‘Elit Lab’, which will be discussed in DTC 101; Especially the topic of Electronic Literature, which is what the ‘Elit Lab’ envelops.

Influences:         

            I looked at various company’s Facebook pages, as well as Twitter accounts. From there I noticed the educational links they listed along with their posts of text and photos, for people who are interested to find further information. Although the FB page is specifically for DTC 101 I wanted to add links about other WSUV topics such as, the ‘MOVE Lab’ and ‘The Collaboratory’ because although those aren’t “lessons” in the class, they do involved the CMDC Program which DTC 101 is the introductory course for. I also looked at the Digital Technology and Culture (the CMDC major) FB page for inspiration, and the Nouspace website.

Fit within Larger Notion of Aesthetics:

            My FB page made for DTC 101 is aesthetically pleasing, it is not only very professional as if someone was employed to make such a page, but is also easy to navigate. The posts are not confusing for readers, they give little blurbs about each link and the FB page itself has a short and long description about the DTC 101 course. I’ve also recognized people involved in the CMDC Program for interested students to further their knowledge.

Materials:

            I took links from Nouspace, Creativecommons.org, WSU FB page, Google Images for examples, pictures of the ‘Elit Lab’ I took myself when I visited the lab, took blurbs/photos from the ‘MOVE Lab’ and ‘Elit Lab’ official website, blurb about DTC 101 from John Barber’s Nouspace site about the program, and I also took info from the official DTC-WSUV.org site. Also used YouTube.com to add a video about a class topic.

Methodology:

            I did quite a bit of research on each topic that I posted on, whether it was from when I learned about it in class, or further research to make sure I was posting correct information. I looked to other WSUV, and DTC FB pages to make sure I used the correct type of speech, such as making it sound professional yet trying to intrigue future potential students. Once I knew how I wanted to set up the site, I had to find the photos and links to fill the page. It was a great learning experience making a real FB page for students, parents, and to gain general information.

Desired Results:

            My desired results were to execute a professional FB page for a CMDC, DTC course. I did not want it to be clear that a student was the admin of the page. I tried hard to use the correct type of language to keep it professional yet exciting and intriguing to future/potential students, and parents of students.

Actual Results:

I firmly believe that my FB page for DTC 101 was executed exactly how I wanted it to be. I did include some links that didn’t pertain exactly to the class, such as the ‘MOVE Lab’ and ‘The Collaboratory’ but they involve CMDC Students so can still be beneficial. I am pleased that I included the people behind the program, and course, as well as being able to highlight some of the many topics learned in DTC 101. I was also able to invite a couple CMDC Students to like the page, as well as my dad, who was pleased to be able to view links easily, and be updated on the information I am learning in school.

(The one issue I had was making a function Twitter site. I did create one, but in the process of making a new email account for both the FB and Twitter page, the DTC 101 Twitter page I made got suspended. The Twitter page does exist but it is currently out of commission.)

Outcome:         

I judge my success as a job well done. I did achieve my stated purpose, and would like to continue to add links to the page to educate future potential students on what the course entails. I think it is helpful to not just have a bio for a class, but to give specific examples on the course to know what the student will be studying. Also by giving a first look it can help prepare a student.

DTC 101 Facebook page Sceenshots