Category Archives: podcast

Audio/Podcasting Project: Link is here.  Transcript is here.

       In the project, Naomi and I were interested in modernizing, summarizing, and getting contemporary opinions about the Nakamura reading that we did this semester. We searched for modern examples of some of Nakamura’s observations, and we wanted to talk to computer users to see if Nakamura’s concerns were still relevant to the Pomona student body. In many ways, we found echoes of Nakamura’s messages — one interviewee gave a succinct explanation of race tourism and described it as emblematic of our digital culture as a whole. In other ways, however, we had to dig deeper to find analogies to Nakamura’s observations. Many users described their interactions with race, gender, and similar characteristics online as being cursory or non-existent, and we thought it was interesting that many users do not consider these issues when going online. While we initially thought that this might lend credence to the idea of the Internet being a “neutral” space for race, gender, and other characteristics, we then realized that this failure to observe diversity in digital culture might be an indication of how thoroughly cyberculture now embodies a monoculture, providing users with a constant stream of websites with writers from similar backgrounds and circumstances.  We tried to redefine Nakamura’s examples of exclusion and inclusion in the digital age in order to make her concept of “cosmetic cosmopolitanism” more relevant to a modern audience.  

        We were also inspired by Nakamura’s point at the end of Cybertypes, in which she describes how something as simple as a menu can present choices that have radical cultural consequences. We then looked at popular sites like Digg, Huffington Post, and that ubiquitous home page Yahoo. We tried to look at how each site’s content or user base might lead to discrimination that we might not initially see, and we found a surprising amount of evidence for each site’s biases. We chose Digg after reading this article about sexism on Digg. After browsing the site for a while, we encountered our own personal examples of this sexism on the site and decided to include it in our audio report. Huffington Post was an unconventional site to examine, but the site’s demographic statistics were shocking. Only 4% of Huffington Post’s audience was Latino, compared to 8% of the browsing public and 15% of the population as a whole. We decided to bring Yahoo into our conversation about diversity on the Internet after reading this article about racial discrimination in Silicon Valley. Yahoo’s mention in the article because Yahoo acts as a major content creator online and because Yahoo is typically not considered to be a negligent corporate entity (not, say, in the same way that Microsoft is maligned.)

Sources:

    We got our audio clip describing racism from this independent news source:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-q4MDQ0cDI.  

   The early description of the Internet that we include in our Podcast comes from a Canadian news broadcast about the Internet.  The clip that this audio segment comes from has just been made unaccessible to American Internet users, but I am working to try to post this clip online.

    Obviously, a variety of interviews that we did with different people, many of whom suggested that they wanted to remain anonymous.  We ended up using four clips from those interviews in our final project.  

    The Fast Company article that inspired us to feature Digg on our podcast can be found here.  To put the community’s attitudes in perspective, I would suggest that you take a look at the commentary Digg users posted to this article here.  

     The musical interlude that we included in our recording comes from Freeplay Music, which kindly makes the music on its website available to students doing projects like this one.  The website can be found at freeplaymusic.com, and the specific song that we used is called Evolution 10.

      We used this article and looked at several similar articles when looking for more information on Yahoo.  

      Our group also ended up using a few other assorted website while doing research, including this one:    http://articles.sfgate.com/2000-06-15/business/17649523_1_asian-americans-online-population-     households.  

      We found Quantcast surveys to be particularly useful when doing this project.  In particular, we used the websites quantcast.com/huffingtonpost.com, quantcast.com/digg.com, and quantcast.com/4Chan.com.  

      And, most importantly, we used the Nakamura work as the basis of our entire project.  In particular, we generously took our inspiration the first chapter (the one we read), the second chapter, and the closing chapter of Cybertypes.  The one scholar reference I make in the last section is from the end of Cybertypes’ last chapter.

Here’s our project about Alan Turing’s Computing Machinery and Intelligence and pop culture’s reaction to the progress he predicted.

Our sources:
2001: A Space Odyssey Internet Resource Archive
I, Robot- the movie…
Computing Machinery and Intelligence
The Uncanny Valley

In case you were wondering, our script is here.

http://pages.pomona.edu/~ber01925/finalproject.mp3

For our podcast, we decided to explore artificial intelligence and contrast it with another modern technology: brain computer interfaces. Both technologies approach the concept of human intelligence in drastically different ways. Artificial intelligence technology attempts to mimic and eventually replicate human intelligence and behavior, while brain computer interfaces capture and interpret the signals from a person’s brain, so that the person can perform external digital tasks.

Our topic choice allowed us to contrast the ideas of Turing about artificial intelligence with more practical views on the role of technology, such as those of Bush. We also looked to add some humor and by introducing references to relevant science fiction films.

We found that audio was an excellent medium to discuss this topic, as it allows the listener to consider the intellectual merits of humans and technology without the biases that visual differences might create. We also enjoyed using audio to convey our ideas as we have already used text (blog, website) and visuals (website) in this course to do so. We hope you guys enjoy it.

Sources:

‘The Matrix’ Scene

Brain Computer Interface Video

ASIMO Video

Terminator Movie Trailer

Terminator 2 Theme Song

As We May Think

Computing Machinery and Intelligence

Here is Drew and my podcast on the subject of video game violence:

Podcast

In looking through the syllabus, video game culture and criticism of video games and their effects on people (particularly youth) struck us as an interesting topic.  There is a lot of research currently being done on this topic, and very strongly outspoken critics and supporters of video games.  A topic that is of immediate relevance to most college students and one of the more heated debates in recent history relating to digital media seemed like the perfect subject for a podcast in which Drew and Nick discuss the research and arguments presented by both sides of this issue.  Enjoy!

Video/Audio sources:

Tony Romando and Jack Thompson Interview

Jack Thompson Interview

Indiana Study

Villanova Study

The Onion

8-bit music station

Text Source:

APA Article

Audio/Podcasting Project

Here is our project:

http://www.pages.pomona.edu/~irt02009/grownup.mp3

What do you want to be when you grow up? Usually you will answer with a single word—a doctor, an engineer, a teacher. However, in the new age of cyber culture, we are no longer limited to only one choice. In virtual reality, we can be multiple things at the same time, thus forming a multi-layer identity. Based on the chapters from the Turkle book, we take a semi-comical stand by defending the endless possibilities one has in cyberspace and overemphasize the wide range of choices one has in terms of finding the right identity. By exaggerating the excitement of putting a “virtual mask” on, we hope to bring awareness to the extremes that can follow from it. It is a nearly-cynical stand of how one can become a star and undermines talents and hard work, substituting them for technological enhancements. By bringing in the children’s dreams, we want to further question the formation of identity—who are we, what are we and how did we come about to be that? The world of “endless possibilities”: is it freeing or enslaving us?

Enjoy!

Sources used:

apnatvHD. Surrogates Movie Trailer #1 HD. Youtube. Web. May 21, 2009. March 7, 2010. < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qyg4GEjKkM4&feature=player_embedded>

PHUMCdigital. What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?. Youtube. Web. September 30, 2007. March 7, 2010. < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2JGMGut08U&feature=related>.

Pinto, Jim. The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence. April 1999. March 7, 2010. < http://www.jimpinto.com/writings/syntheticintelligence.html >.

Turkle, Sherry. Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet: Chapter 7. November 1995. March 7, 2010. < https://sakai.claremont.edu:8443/access/content/group/CX_mtg_44970/turkle-ch7.pdf>.

Turkle, Sherry. Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet: Introduction . November 1995. March 7, 2010. < https://sakai.claremont.edu:8443/access/content/group/CX_mtg_44970/turkle-intro.pdf>.

Jackie: “After we decided on what to podcast about (Second Life and the article about the man cheating on his wife), we thought of creating a newscast to simulate what would happen if the interview had occurred on a radio show. We searched for newscast theme songs, and found one to add to the beginning and end of our podcast. After creating our newscast script (using quotes from the interview), we decided to add Sue as a character in our radio show. Allison recorded her own voice, and then we used Audacity to edit her voice so it sounded a lot deeper and more distinct.”

Allison: “We looked through the syllabus for something that piqued our interest, yet something that not everyone would be doing their project on — and this article in particular really seemed to fit the bill. In short, it’s a news story talking about Ric Hoogestraat’s alleged online “affair” in Second Life, and the article (along with the accompanying texts) debates the idea of whether or not the act could really be considered “cheating” on his wife or not. He never called his “Second Wife,” or met with her offline, and the whole issue brought up some questions that both Jacke and I really related to earlier in the class (about how words are more or less analogous to actions online). When I was choosing the music for the background audio of the majority of the file, I wanted something that wouldn’t be too overbearing or emotional, but still get the point across that this was supposed to be a laid-back interview on a somewhat hip topic. I hope the soundtrack gets that feeling across to the listeners — it took me awhile to find something down-low enough to not be distracting from the actual content. I also want it to somewhat encapsulate the raunchiness of the subject we were adressing. As for the actual production of the MP3, Sue’s voice was really fun to generate. It still makes me laugh when I hear it, and I really think it fits the way she looks (that’s not mean to say, is it? I should probably feel terrible!)”

Audio Sources:

WIS-TV Newscast Intro 1990

CNN Breaking News Intro

best background music

ABC 7 News close with extended theme music

Text Sources:

Is This Man Cheating on His Wife?

Press Enter to “Say”

LINK

Turkle Audio Podcast

Our podcast discusses many of the ideas in Turkle’s Life On the Screen. We thought an audio format was an interesting format to discuss online identity, because we were able to use physical voices in contrast with online voices and personas without sound. We had a lot of fun going through old AIM sounds. We used the following sources in sound clips:

Big Thinkers: Sherry Turkle

Social Networking…Dangerous?

Social Networking Becoming Dangerous

Social Networking Workforce Dangers

Be Careful About Facebook Dangerous

Enjoy!

http://pages.pomona.edu/~bl041925/Audacityproject.mp3

Cool project overall. Presenting this information as audio instead of text definitely puts a different spin on the project.  I feel sound better exemplified the message we were trying to get across about the Memex and other elements of Vannevar Bush’s “As We May Think.” We thought making our piece like a movie trailer would be more captivating to a viewer and still allow our message to be informative.

(CITATIONS TO COME)