New Media Narratives 2014

Friday, 31 January 2014

Digital Literacy & Me

This was my first experience recording a podcast. I’ve never created this type of content for the Web before and it was a really interesting experience. I must have re-recorded my podcast at least a dozen times because I’d always make some mistake near the end, and because I’m new the audio editing, I wasn’t sure that I would be able to fix any missteps. I used the memo recorder on my iPhone and Audacity audio editor to add the music in the background. This was first time using Audacity, and I was surprised how easy it was to use, though I need to keep practicing because it was hard to get the background music volume levels just right.

This experience really taught me how easy it is to create something like a podcast with essentially free software –the recorder on my phone, free audio editors, and to post directly on to Audioboo. I didn’t realize how accessible participating in this type of activity really is for most people. Creating a podcast is not something I would have really considered in the past, because I would have assumed you needed special audio equipment or a special hosting site. This assignment really showed me that truly anyone, with very little skill or equipment, can indeed participate in podcasting – and my digital literacy has increased a little bit more!

The music I use on my podcast is from a great Fredericton band called Sleep Driver (with the band’s permission) http://sleepydriver.ca/

http://digitalliteracy.cornell.edu/

listen to ‘Digital Literacy & Me - Assignment 1’ on Audioboo

Thursday, 30 January 2014

Digital Literacy & Me

I found creating the podcast to be a great exercise. It was amazing to reflect back on my life and see just how digital technology became engrained and intertwined within it. Our ability to read, write, and publish has drastically changed in the last twenty years and one can only imagine what it will be like in another twenty years, let alone in the next few.

The freedom of expression and the creativeness that new media affords is something that resonates with me. I’m big fan of remix and mashable culture and being able tie other people ideas with my own to create something that is new and refreshing is enjoyable. I struggled with narrating the podcast a bit but I managed to work my way through after several attempts. Overall, I found working on the podcast to be a great experience, however as good as technology can be, it can still be super frustrating to work with. One would think that different computers and programs could by now be able to work seamlessly together…. well, that’s still not the case and was cause for some concern while working the project.

Digital literacy & me - Andrea Soler

Creating this podcast (and video) was such a fun learning experience. Thinking and writing about my digital literacy and my online presence was one thing, but the actually trans-literacy needed to be able to put it together was quite a challenge. It tested my trans-literacy resourcefulness; it pushed me to learn new tools and to communicate in different media.

From a creative perspective I found the assignment very stimulating, as I had to think in so many ways: the written word, the spoken word, music, visual images, timing and most importantly a conceptual thread. Similar to other creative experiences I learned that it is all about the process.

Further to my comments and reflections about digital literacy mentioned in the podcast, I learned that as we use different social media tools we developed a voice. A podcast is no different, especially when you have a thick Latin accent like me. It was certainly a struggle to remain natural and at the same time enunciate and be clear. By the end I decided to accept the fact that when it comes to communication, my voice has an accent.

Digital Literacy & Me

listen to ‘An Entrepreneur's Social Media Story’ on Audioboo

An Entrepreneur's Social Media Story - My Story - My Prezi! Enjoy

This assignment was fun to put together. I used a Prezi template with feet to walk through my journey into the world of social media. The Prezi is also included if you want to watch the slides. I think Audio.boo is a very good tool that we will use on education/information blogs such as those in the insurance industry. It’s great to have the image and then be able to talk through it; the audio quality is excellent. Also, it’s generally easier to talk through an audio than write out a presentation; and, my experience is that consumers in general would rather listen than read.

Although I work in the world of online marketing which includes social media properties, I don’t spend a lot of time on my own social media. I use LinkedIn for recruiting, connecting with others, and reading the blog feed several times weekly. I am a regular Facebook user: I like many of the business pages we create to check their development and functionality. I use Facebook to connect with family and friends for birthdays and just to keep in the general extended family news. I use the Twitter feed for sourcing information but I don’t tweet except for #NMN!

I created a Pinterest account for the first time and made a Social Media Tips board. I was amazed at the amount of excellent resources to pin. Pinterest has a much bigger scope than I thought and I will use it more in the future. I will definitely be using Delicious to bookmark sites going forward. I just made my account! Here’s how to connect with me:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/lynnemotkoski

https://www.facebook.com/lynnemotkoski

https://twitter.com/LynneMotkoski

http://www.pinterest.com/lynnemotkoski/social-media-tips/

https://delicious.com/lynnemotkoski

Wednesday, 29 January 2014

Digital Literacy & Me

By: Mandeep Jawanda

Hello Everyone,

Creating a podcast was something I had never done before; I have gained a greater appreciation for those who do it on a regular basis. The biggest obstacle/ hurdle that I faced in creating my podcasts was limiting my information and articulating it in a creative fashion. There were also times in my podcast were I forget to mention something important, even with written notes.

The overall experience of creating a podcast was very good, and I am confident that I will use it again in the future, either for another assignment or in my professional career. It is another tool that I did not use prior to enrolling in this class much like Pinterest, but once you start and figure-out the basics, it is not so bad, and was actually a great experience.

I created three podcasts in total, I may have confused the three minute limit of the podcast in the grading rubric to mean we need to create three different podcast files, anyways I hope everyone enjoys them regardless. I have also included the PowerPoint presentation in the link below, as I mentioned in my podcast. If there are any questions or concerns please let me know, thank you.

Additional Material:

YouTube Microsoft Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwj2s_5e12U

PowerPoint Presentation Available Through SkyDrive (Please Click Here)

References:

Podcast Picture 1: http://rickrainerludwig.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/introduction_small.jpg

Podcast Picture 2: http://www.worksmartmompreneurs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/url-5.jpg

Podcast Picture 3: http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/future-technology-arrow-26322788.jpg

Digital Literacy & Me

The Evolution of the "Selfie"

by: Lenie Lucci

This was my first time creating a podcast! I have to say, I was a bit nervous at first, but Audioboo made it really easy. That said, I hate watching or listening to myself, so the actual editing process was a bit painful.

I had a bit of technical difficulty only because I didn't update my flash player on my computer and it made recording right off Audioboo a bit difficult. When it hit me that I could record my podcast off my iphone, I was super excited because I felt more comfortable that way anyway. Then I imported my audio and some free piano music I found online into Adobe premier to edit, and then uploaded that file to Audioboo

Thinking about how to make this an interesting podcast took awhile. I took a very narrative approach to producing my podcast - speaking about how social media provided a new outlet for this very embarrassing selfie addiction, but I think you'll see after listening, that unlike what a lot of scholars think about social media, I don't think Facebook is the culprit behind our infatuations with ourselves in pictures, but rather, we were just waiting for something to come along that would make this existing desire ok.

I hope you all enjoy this honest look at the relationship between social media and the selfie!

listen to ‘Digital Literacy & Me’ on Audioboo

Tuesday, 28 January 2014

Digital Literacy & Me

By Nicole Basaraba

This was my first attempt at creating a podcast and in doing so, it increased my digital literacy. My first challenge was figuring out what software to use. I have worked in iMovie before so my first thought was to create a YouTube video, but taking on the challenge of creating a true podcast was something I wanted to learn. After doing some online research on Apple forums, I found that GarageBand has a podcast feature so I learned how to use it.

Nicole Basaraba's social media networks

After selecting the software, I wrote the script. It was 900 words and way too long for a three-minute podcast! I spent a while editing it down to the bare minimum. The 500 words I was left with doesn't seem to capture the whole narrative of my digital literacy, but it does give the listener the highlights. The time constraint was also great practice in learning to be more concise. I tend to be write a lot so this assignment was a real test for editing and capturing what listeners really need to know.

I noticed that a lot of podcasts on Audioboo use introductory music, so I added some music and sounds in an attempt to garner more listener interest. Overall it was a great way to focus on developing a concise auditory-focused communication rather than written/visual.

A couple of introductory notes I didn't have time to say in the podcast is that I'm a Communications and Events Coordinator with the University of Alberta. I've been working in communications for over four years and I'm also a freelance writer. Most of my technical and communicative digital literacies are self-taught because working in the communications field, I feel responsible to continually improve my skills and be aware of current digital practices and trends. My podcast focuses on more recent digital literacies that I have developed on my own time.

I use over a dozen social media platforms, but I could not cover my experience with all of them in this short podcast. The following links are to my main professionally-focused accounts: