Shiven – New Media Writing

GTA V Podcast Reflection

Shiven — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 01:39:16 +0000

For this podcast, we decided on the topic of video games, specifically, Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V). The topic strayed from what most of the podcast episodes have covered throughout the semester. At first, I was skeptical at choosing to analyze a video game, but I think it turned out well. On this episode, I was the producer, Jose was the assistant producer, and Greer was the line producer.

Coming into the podcast, I had never played GTA V so we started with me actually playing the game and Jose showing me the different things you could do in the game. Immediately, I was surprised by the reality of the various characteristics in the game and the amount of activities you could do in the game in addition to the main missions. From this, we knew the direction we wanted our podcast to go in.

For the first podcast we made in the semester, we initially scripted the beginning and then just had an open dialogue for the rest of the episode. This strategy wasn’t the best, in that the scripted portion of the episode sounded fairly boring and there was a sudden jump in the middle of the episode. For the second episode, I was the line producer so I didn’t have a huge role in the content, but primarily did the editing. We didn’t make a script but just kept the microphone on and again had an open dialogue. From these two episodes, I found that this strategy made it easy for the podcast to go off track quickly and the editing process was long.

After some discussion, Jose and I decided to somewhat script this episode. Once we decided we wanted to focus on the reality of the game, we made a list of specific talking points we wanted to cover. I think this helped keep the episode on track and kept us from having to edit so much of the episode, while still not sounding completely scripted.

As for the learning outcomes for this class, I think this episode was a great example of Digital Citizenship. To help drive our discussion of the reality of the game, we recorded a clip from the game and incorporated it into our episode. Neither of our other episodes had integrated other sources of input other than the two people talking. Also, we branched out in this episode and looked at something that wasn’t in written form or academic in nature.

Technology Literacy Narrative: The Present

Shiven — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 00:12:33 +0000

In my Technology Literacy Narrative: The Present, I attempt to describe my current relationship with technology and the possible reasons why it is where it is. In doing so, I discuss my new media literacies and explore the places where I can improve. I found it diffcult to put my current relationship with technology into words, especially compared to when I talked about my past relationship. I’d say this was because as technology has expanded and become more complex, the ways in which we interact with it have as well. Beyond discussing my current relationship, I consider where I’d like my interactions with technology to go in the future.

Data Visualization Sketch

Shiven — Thu, 23 Mar 2017 05:50:02 +0000

Trying to come up with a picture of what I thought this project would turn into seemed like a daunting task. I wasn’t successful until I just dove into the data. After looking for trends and comparing different different values, I came up with this map. The three variables represented on this map are location, mobility rate, and change in percentage of parents from the bottom quintile. As you can tell, the data is divided by the state in which the college is located. The size of the circle represents mobility rate of students in the early 2000s (the larger the circle, the higher the mobility rate). The color of the circle represents the change in percentage of parents from the bottom quintile from 1980-1991 (the darker the red, the greater the decrease in percentage and the darker the blue, the greater the increase). I found it interesting that many states had a decline in the percentage of parents from the bottom quintile Could this simply be because there were less people in the bottom 20% in general or just less parents in the bottom 20% whose children could attend college? Also, the states with the greatest decrease in percentage of parents in the bottom 20% had some of the highest mobility rates. Could one be causing the other? The greatest disparities are in New York, California, Texas, and Florida which are the four most populous states, meaning that location could play a role. If we digged a little deeper, we may find some confounding variables at play, or it could just all be a coincidence.

Fivethirtyeight Podcast Reflection

Shiven — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 13:41:46 +0000

Making this podcast on fivethirtyeight was a challenging yet rewarding process. I was the assistant producer on this episode, Greer was the producer, and Jose was the line producer. Greer and I were primarily responsible for the content and Jose helped with the editing process and gave suggestions during recording. In terms of collaboration, we started with a group chat where shared links to articles that we found interesting. Then, Greer and I spent some time on the fivethirtyeight site and bounced ideas off one another. This collaborative brainstorming was fruitful in that it gave us a clear direction for our podcast.

The primary goal of this podcast series is to look at a source and analyze it in the realm of new media. For our episode, we wanted to give a background of how fivethirtyeight.com got to the place it is today. In addition, we attempted to discuss the various aspects of the site that make it “new media”. The first portion of our podcast was very scripted and probably not the most interesting. Once we just started recording our conversation, we were able to just continue to build off each other’s points.

The 10-15 minute time frame was definitely the hardest part of the podcast. Due to the broad nature and our familiarity of the site, we had many things we could have included. Even after deciding to only keep a few talking points, the podcast ended up being 22 minutes. If we had more time, I would have liked to interview someone else for his or her perspective on fivethirtyeight. Greer and I look at the other portions on the site, but primarily focus on the sports section and the statistical side of fivethirtyeight. It would have been nice to get the angle of someone who focuses less on the sports and stats.

As far as the learning outcomes for this class go, producing this podcast was definitely similar to rhetorical composition. While the podcast isn’t a rhetorical composition in the traditional sense, it ended up requiring a similar process. While planning the podcast, we had to keep in mind the audience we wanted to reach and what the goal of the podcast was, all while staying within the time range. Additionally, we needed to make sure our talking points were presented in a coherent manner. In the end, planning out the podcast ended up being more difficult than traditional writing.

Narrative

Shiven — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 04:07:34 +0000

Writing this narrative was definitely a trip down memory lane. Almost everything I have to write these days is about some book or a historical topic. It was refreshing to write about something else. I began by doing the pre-writing tasks and soon found there were many things I could’ve added. Doing this really helped me pick and choose what I wanted to include. I didn’t really incorporate any of the strategies Pullman talked about but I think as we explore his book further, I will be able to implement new techniques in my writing.

Podcast Logo Sketch Assignment

Shiven — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 13:15:03 +0000

I made my logo using Canva. This was my first experience with this program but I found it easy to use. My original idea was different from what I ended up making. I just played around with different elements and settled on this.

Hello world!

Shiven — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 21:46:41 +0000

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!