Podcast/Audacity

I decided to do my podcast script about Deltopia in Isla Vista simply because I am a huge fan of the event, I am always looking forward to this event when the spring quarter to enjoy with my friends. What I learned as a reader, writer, and thinker from doing this assignment was learning how to come up with a script and to think like a radio host so I can keep an engaging podcast to have listeners also may feel like they can talk about as well. I listen to the radio almost everyday and the ways different radio host uses their tone of voice and the topics they discussed. Since this class is about multimedia writing/technology and the readings that are pertain to this class that I got a chance to gain some knowledge from helped make me think like a multimedia researcher and a radio host. For the most part I felt as if I were a radio host because I was so excited to talk about the discussion of my topic and what deltopia is all about.

I hope this podcast goes how I planned it from the script from the way I imagine it to be from listening to other radio stations and the way the discuss topics. I want to make sure I can stay on track with my script and bring up things that can keep the listeners engaged. I wanted to be able to talk about my topic freely and talk the way any radio host would on air or on a podcast. For my first podcast I think I did a fairly well job because my podcast sounded exactly the way I wanted it to sound and they way the listeners should hear it.

Time to get Audacious with Audacity

So far, working with audacity has been a positive experience.  I think that having done some work with sound in Final Cut Pro in the past has helped me to pick up on how to use Audacity more easily.  On the other hand, while I worked with pre-recorded music and sounds in Final Cut Pro, a definite challenge for me with using Audacity is having to hear and work with the sound of my own voice. Ahh it’s so strange and feels a little awkward… I can’t stop thinking wait—do I really sounds like that?!  I’m hoping I’ll just get used to it, and if not, I guess I’ll just have to learn to deal haha.  Another challenge I haven’t had toooo much trouble with (yet), but know I definitely will in the near future is finding somewhere quiet enough to do recording.  I live in a house with 11 awesome, amazing, and wonderful yet unbelievably vocal girls whom I absolutely love… but whom are going to make recording a full five-minute podcast using Audacity extremely difficult.  I’m thinking I’ll either have to a.) find a way to use Audacity to block out the background noise… or b.) set an alarm for an obscure time of day/night (4-5 AM in this house is usually a pretty quite time) and do my recording then.. sigh… a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.

I believe that in terms of podcasting, text is tied to audio in the sense that text represents the first draft of the podcast whereas audio allows you to take that textual, possibly shitty, first draft script and turn it into a sparkling, unique, personality ridden, and engaging podcast that people might—wait for it—actually want to listen to!  One way that I think audio isn’t tied to text in terms of podcasting is when the use of sound effects comes into play.  With text, you can try to convey an emotion, reaction, or idea using a sound effect by using random letters or elooooongated words, but it definitely doesn’t have the same engaging effect that audio allows you to have with the use of actual sound effects. 

Good luck to all you Bloggin Outt-ers with your podcasts and with using Audacity—see ya tuedsay J

Ode to Really Shitty First Drafts

The reading “Shitty First Drafts” may quite possibly be one of my favorite readings I’ve ever been assigned to do for a class.  I’m not exaggerating, I literally bookmarked the reading on my computer so that I wouldn’t forget/lose it.  This reading really resonated with me because, for some reason that I am currently unaware of, I get really self-conscious when other people read my writing.  I’m not just talking about people reading more personal writing  pieces (like poems or song lyrics), I’m talking about all my writing—even dry, academic, cut-and-paste assignments that contain none of my personal opinions  or beliefs whatsoever.  Basically, I’m the person in class who absolutely cringes when the teacher utters the words “peer-review.”

This reading really caught my attention when the author said that “very few writers really know what they are doing until they've done it.”  Yesssssss.  I thought it was just me (maybe it is and I’m interpreting this wrong)—but every time I receive an assignment I think back to the last frustratingly stressful, indecisive, and chaotic process I went through to complete my last writing assignment and I say to myself “This time—I will plan, I will organize, I will make decisions, I will commit!” Yet still to this very day, I feel like I’ve never used the same process, or any efficient process for that matter, twice.  When I thought about this sad but true fact, I realized that I have so much trouble using a systematic process when writing because I write best and come up with my best ideas when I figure out what I’m writing as I go.  I cannot tell you how many times I’ve found myself writing my thesis after my conclusion… 

[in a nutshell]

Hi, my name is Jaime Crowley, I'm a third year comm major and professional writing minor, and I'm from Potomac, MD-- about 20 minutes outside of Washington, D.C.  My goal this quarter it to make the following statement true: "I like to read the news." (I'll keep ya posted). In terms of writing, I weirdly don't mind writing long research papers.  They're just so broken down, almost formulaic in a sense, that they make writing academic papers somewhat bearable for a scatterbrained person such as myself.  On the other hand-- I'm not quite sure how to describe this-- but I enjoy "writing in my own voice," if that makes any sense at all... basically just imagine the complete opposite of the serious and "scholarly" tone you adopt when trying to impress someone in a highly formal and professional job interview.  In high school I did some work with InDesign and Photoshop but it pains me to admit that my skills have become considerably dusty.  I've also recently gotten into video editing using Final Cut Pro--split-scren editing--obsesssssssed <3 (but still relatively new at it)... 

A couple of fun facts about me..

-I love going to concerts and festivals
-I'm clumsy
-I think that for people our age, traveling (for cheap) should be a major priority because before we know it we'll be tied down with husbands & kids & mortgages.... meep!

-I love long distance running, it keeps me sane & gives me space to think
-I can't stand pickles or the taste of the last bit of milk at the end of the carton 

-I'm a bit scatterbrained...  and I have absolutely no idea how that's going to be reflected in my blogging (sorry in advance) 

-I use ellipsis [...] way too often... can't help it... must draw out thoughts. . . 

-When I was a kid, my nickname was "Dumbo"

... see why? Lolz gooood times

Let's see, what else

I spent last quarter (semester?) abroad studying and interning in London. The most important thing I learned while abroad dawned on me after I made a comment to one of my professors about how "behaviour" was spelled wrong on a handout.  His response, "Just because a word isn't spelled the American way, doesn't mean it's spelled wrong."  Mind blown.  That day, I learned a very important life lesson-- wait for it-- there's a whole wide world out there beyond our little American bubble... it actually exists... people actually live there... insane, right? 

Anyways... I am really excited to be in this class because, after the plethora of random and seemingly irrelevant lower division GE courses I've taken in my time here at UCSB, it's nice to be in a class that I find to be genuinely interesting, useful, and even exciting to learn.