My final installment for the podcast took a shift in subject matter. Shiven, the producer of this episode, and I decided that we would would choose a more interactive type of new media for this episode. After, deciding on Rockstar’s Grand theft Auto V, we got to work learning the intricacies of the game.

We wanted to show off the realism the game presents.The best way to do this was to introduce Shiven to the game for the first time. This prompted many questions about what you can and can’t do in the game. This string of questions is what lead the conversation in our podcast. From this, we compiled a set of topics in bullet point format which we wanted to approach. We organized our information in an order we felt introduced the listener to the game and took them through an analysis of the game as new media.

The realism the game attempts to mimic is one of the main topics of the podcast as it is also played out in choices within the game. I found that the best way to display this was to include a segment of the game in which one of he characters presented several choices a player could make within a mission. Our hope was to successfully and effectively show the segment we needed while obliging with online free-use of creative work. This was what I believe to have been one of the key learning points of this episode. As Digital Citizenship is one of the main objectives of the is course, its gratifying to have taken this opportunity to incorporate a apart of the media in our episode.

Of course with any podcast we’ve made, there are a few things I wish I could change. In this episode, I would have wanted to increase the amount of realistic aspects we talk about. However, Shiven and I were concerned with the repetitiveness of simply listing small parts of the game and so we chose to include those which we found the most interesting. Beyond that, I wish we had compared the game to more aspects of other games. This could have been an easy way to see large contrasts with GTA V to show how GTA is expanding as its own genre.

The next logical step in our process should probably be to visualize the data we have for the top 20 schools now and find trends among these institutions. After, we have these trends, figuring why these attributes allow for a higher mobility rate might be one of our priorities. We may also want to compare these common traits to schools with a lower mobility rate in order to see what those schools can change to increase their respective rates.

Ideally by the end of the project we will be able to add on to the conversation about which elements in the school system offer students the chance to succeed in their undergraduate education. We may be able to combine our new found data with other groups and ultimately come to a different interpretation than what we originally thought as well.

I am glad that Jacob and I were able to exchange perspectives on different topics. Collaborating and depending on each other to complete an overarching task was quite new, especially with the long distance and email only communication. Seeing as how cooperative efforts are a large part of online media, this project with some faults and drawbacks, was still a learning experience. It give me the insight to understanding what was key for media related success. On my next interdependent project, I will be aware of what is necessary for its success.

Literacy Narrative: The Present

Understanding my own actions is something I try to do often. Why do I eat the way I do? How can I improve my diet? What patterns do I see among my friends?

One aspect I hadn’t thought about analyzing was my online presence as a small media creator. Perhaps this was because I haven’t previously cared too much about my writing or improving it. However, since the only way to improve in such a field is through practice, my present narrative is about helping myself understand my love for tech mixed with the contradiction of my lack of open media practice.

After finishing our latest episode on Lynda.com, Greer, Shiven, and I have gained new insight on creating our podcasts. By having a more integrated relationship with the topic of this weeks analysis, we were able to approach more subjects in a distinct way. However,that does not mean that our episode was without its faults.

As Greer and I have both used Lynda, we were able to talk about what made the site so different, which was our ultimate goal. First, we discussed topics of study and differences in format of the website. After establishing what it is that made Lynda new media, we researched the websites background and model and started recording soon after. By bouncing ideas off and critical topics in conversation, I believe we were able to record an episode where the speech wasn’t so scripted, but also didn’t devolve into two people simply talking. Shiven, our line producer later came in and offered suggestions on the linearity of the topics and helped us adjust the conversation appropriately.

In the production of this episode, I felt that improving it from what we’ve learned works or doesn’t from others was the hardest task to approach. Instead of doing a hard switch from description to conversation as we had done in our episode on fivethirtyeight, I tried to structure the content so that it would contain the necessary information in a structure that resembled intrigue in the conversation, but still had elements of prepared speech.The outcome was far from perfect, but I think it was an improvement on the first episode I helped produce in terms of style.

If I could go back, I would probably adjust the sound jumps that occur and re-record some segments. Parts of the episode sound too disconnected audio-wise and distract from the content. In addition, I would have liked to include the perspective of someone who used Lynda but did not enjoy it. I would add this segment because even though Greer and I acknowledged some faults in the site, we were both clearly biased in our analysis since we liked and regularly used its content. Unfortunately, our bias lead to a more one sided appraisal of Lynda’s model, rather than a fair discussion.

My understanding of our bias and the shortcomings associated with our episode reflect the goals of thinking of writing as a process. Greer and I originally had over 23 minutes of recorded audio which included repeated conversation, unconnected anecdotes,and even some parts we liked but had to cut. We also had to add in segments and re-record parts as we decided what it is we needed to keep. This overall has helped practice focusing on improving my writing and also learning what parts of my writing need more focus, especially in such a new setting of creation like these podcasts.

Understanding Tech

Just how much have I grown in my understanding of technology and the media which I use everyday? This is what I attempted to answer in my Understanding Technology page. I went from destroying a laptop, to subtle internet user, to a Computer Science Major.

Writing out my experiences with the web allowed me to understand that my previous ignorance in regards to media i used every day, is in fact what propelled my curiosity. I aimed to learn something new, and now I don’t want to stop learning.

Above is the image I designed for the podcast. Originally I wanted to play off of the stacked words or the lowercase lettering. However, the alliteration made me think of somehow combining the words into one and adding a digital aspect. That idea sparked the above graphic which I’m fond of, but I wouldn’t mind editing it to make it better.

I’m not a very sentimental person, so when attempting to connect an image, myself, and this class, I struggled to find one I liked. However, there are very few photos I enjoy looking at more than this one. On my first ever flight to Emory, I took the image above out of the airplane window. While the picture quality caused by now outdated  Iphone5 takes away from the beauty, I’m happy to say that this picture is unedited, with the exception of my name. Although, it would be great if there was a giant sign of my name in the middle of no where.

Due to its origin, the picture in its most basic sense reminds me of new beginnings. Hopefully, that is what this class will be, an exploration of new media and an area of writing I haven’t previously had the opportunity of exploring. I usually enjoy diving into a subject of which I am ignorant as it opens up new topics to explore. Ideally, this picture and its background have captured the essence of novelty I feel in connection to this class.