Em's Blog

In this semester’s technology class, we have been working on mashups. These mashups could be an audio mashup, movie mashup, or a picture mashup. For the final part, we had to make one. I had desided to make an audio mashup, which I will talk about more later. Before I talk about that though, in the beginning of this project, we had to write a design specification. The design specification was a bunch of questions that relate to what a mashup must include, and such. Questions from this include: is this mashup under the fair use policy? Is this a mashup? Using the design specification, I can happily say that my mashup meets all of the specifications, and is therefore a proper mashup.

My mashup was an audio mashup. The background song was the instrumental of Secrets, by OneRepublic  (I already had this song on my iTunes for some reason). Then, I used the vocals only version of Apologize, Someone Like You, and Somebody That I Used to Know.

My mashup could definitely be improved. For example, I only used one song for the backtrack, and usual a good mashup will use several songs for that. Not only that, but I feel that the transitions could have been done better. I’m not entirely sure how, but it wasn’t the best.

I think that throughout the entire design cycle, that I did pretty well. I think this because I was able to finish the majority of assessments for the cycles on time, and get a good score as well. I think that I did really well on the investigating and design, because I really knew what to do, and I was able to explain thoroughly. My investigating was well done, because it was detailed, took several notes, and had answered what needed to be answered. My design was good, because, just like the investigating, it was detailed, and seemed to fill what was being asked. My plan was alright, but was very brief, but it did explain what I had planned to do. The create process had taken a very long time to do, as it was very time consuming to change the tempo of the songs. Even though I had changed the tempo, when I had to put the songs together, the tempo wouldn’t be correct, so I had to re-change the BPM. My evaluation was alright I think. I don’t think I was really detailed in this, and was quite last minute. But overall, I think I did well in this project.

After several weeks of this unit, we are now wrapping up the unit on generations, and what it’s like to be a historian. We all know what a historian is, but do we know the real detail about one? A historian is, of course, someone who studies about history, but there is so much more than that. First of all, there are so many types of history that a historian can study. Some historians might only like certain types of history: my humanities teacher Ms. Madrid like social and cultural history, but hates military history. My father loves studying about family history. Every type of history is different from each other. For example, social history is the study of customs, family, education, and such. Political history though, is about the government, and the making of policy, and such. Another thing historians have to do, is have artifacts, and analyse the facts. Our class experimented this. What we did was, bring several artifacts into class, and students would have to write about these artifacts. Then those papers that the notes were written on, was brought to another humanities class, and then based mainly on those notes, someone would have to write a biography about that person, and the same was done to us. I found out that I mainly assumed facts, and the information given me wasn’t helpful. The person who wrote my biography was actually spot on, but wasn’t mainly based of my artifacts.

Afterwards, we had to do a generations project. In this project, we had to find out information about three generations including ours. So I researched about my grandfather, my father, and I, when we’re all 14 years old. First, I had to make questions, that I could interview to these three people. These questions were based of off categories, and overall I had 46 questions. Then, I had to sort out which questions that I could search up online, that I could ask, and questions that I didn’t need. After that, I conducted the 2 interviews. After sorting out the answers, I had to get primary and secondary sources. A primary source is an artifact that comes directly from the time, so in this case I used plenty of photos of my generation’s when they were 14, and report cards. A secondary source is a source that is related to the time, so for example a map, or a news article. I used maps, and calendars. After I had organised this, I started filming my generations project. What I did, was using my bedroom door, I put up the pictures and artifacts on the door, while filming, so I could speed it up on iMovie, and voiceover it. The difficulty of this project was making sure that I could get enough information, under 5 minutes. Another thing was making sure that I had enough secondary sources, which I don’t think I had enough of. My message of my project was that, even though my past generations might be different, they all have some similarities.

Technology has defiantly changed the way history is recorded. Before, they would write down the history, and then be stored in an archive, or in a library. I know this because, my dad is a huge fan of family history, and just history in general, and often spends mosts of his weekends at the archives/library, and at home, he’s looking at old articles that he scanned onto the computer. But these days, you could write an article online, where it would be on and easy to find. Or, like what everyone did for the generation project, make a video, filled with primary and secondary photos with a voiceover with the information. It takes less effort to get the information, and is just easier.

Impromptu Speech:

The blog post about this speech is here.

Persuasive Speech:

8B Drama: Persuasive Speeches from YIS Arts on Vimeo.

So my persuasive speech was about Coca-Cola vs Pepsi. I think that this speech was different from others because it wasn’t really convincing people to choose one side, but instead I stated the facts of both sides, and let the audience choose which one they would rather like.

I think that I did alright on this speech. I was able to go over 3 minutes, and I projected my voice and spoke clearly. I used lots of hand gestures, and perhaps may have over done it. Also, I fidgeted a lot, especially with my hair, and I looked down on my cue cards lots of times. I think that the structure of my speech was good, but I’m not too sure if the history of both drinks were relevant. But the structure was well done, with a good introduction that wasn’t “Hello I’m going to talk about Coca-Cola and Pepsi.” and I ended with a good conclusion  about my opinion, and just an overall summary.

I think that my best speech was the persuasive one, because I spoke clearly, and it was easier for me to do. Also there weren’t any awkward pauses, because I knew what I was going to say, unlike the impromptu speech where it was entirely improv, and I had a huge pause in the middle. I think I can improve on not over doing my hand gestures, which I always seem to do. When ever I talk, I will use hand gestures, and fidget a little. Another speech that was captivating was Daniel’s (here) because he spoke clearly and had very good eye contact with everyone. He spoke loudly and slowly, and unlike me, he didn’t use lots and lots of hand gestures.

Right now in technology we have been learning about mashups, and about the fair use policy, and such. So in this blog post I will be answering the question  ”Does copyright hinder or cultivate creativity?”

I think that copyright hinders creativity, meaning that I believe that copyright prevents creativity. Online, I have seen so much creativity that might not necessarily be legal (depends which way you look at it.) I have seen videos that have been based off of TV shows and movies, or drawings and art that have been based off of those. Though I do believe that there should be a law that doesn’t allow you to copy something exactly like the original. But instead of that, change the meaning, which is the point of making mashups. I think that it’s quite stupid to sue someone for having a five second moment that sounds exactly like a part from another song, because with the rate of creativity that growing, there are bound to be things that are the same. But, if someone bases a short video off of a movie, and it’s free, I believe that it’s alright. Though of course it matters how you got the clips or songs, illegally or legally, but it’s not like the companies are going to give those to you, if you pay a certain amount of money, because you might just enjoy making videos for a hobby, and aren’t looking to make money out of it, and I think that’s alright. So overall, I think that copyright hinders creativity, because it limits or imagination, by not letting people express their ideas from movies/books/TV shows. Though the people who express their ideas should not ask for money, unless they have permission to do so, and it shouldn’t be practically the same as the original (meaning that it should change the meaning of the video.)

So in drama, we had to do an improv speech, where you pick a topic out of a hat, and then you’re given 30 seconds to think about it. From there, you have to give a speech about it for one minute.

8B Drama: Impromptu Speeches from YIS Arts on Vimeo.

My topic was truck.

I think that I did alright on this speech. I was able to project my voice, and I think that I had good pronunciation  and people were able to hear and understand what I said. Though I think that I problem that I had was I spoke fast (as I usually do when I get nervous) and because I didn’t have any palm cards, my hand gestures were over-done.  Though I think the structure of my speech was well done, I did have a huge pause in the middle of it, but I think that it was alright though. I don’t think there was a lot of emphasis, because I didn’t have to put emphasis on really anything. Except for the part where I was explaining what I didn’t like about trucks, and there I don’t think I used a lot of emphasis. Though overall, this wasn’t a bad speech, as I was able to complete over that one minute, and I spoke clearly, and projected.

1. Appearances and deception are a common theme in literature, how does Hinton demonstrate this?

Throughout the story, there is plenty of appearances and deception. The appearance of a character in the book The Outsiders is what makes him/her a Soc or a Greaser. Greasers are defined by making sure that they have plenty of grease in their hair, while the Socs are sophisticated. I think that the deception in the book is that everybody is the same. Even though there are two groups, Cherry explains to Ponyboy that everybody is a person, and they all have feelings. Not only that, there was one scene where Ponyboy believed that Darry didn’t love him at all, whereas in reality Darry was just afraid of his family separating.

2. Do narrators always tell the truth? Is Ponyboy a reliable narrator?

Narrators don’t always tell the truth, especially if they’re first person. I think this, because when the narrator is in first person it tends to be very biased. So perhaps if the first person narrator doesn’t like a certain character, she’ll/he’ll make that character look very bad, when in reality that character might be very nice.

3. Is The Outsiders relevant to you? Can you relate to it? Why or why not?

I think everyone can relate to The Outsiders.  This book is all about friendship, and family, and helping them in need. Though in school we aren’t divided into two groups and hate each other very much, but we all have friends that we would call family. At least I do. And we always help them, when they need it.

4. Should The Outsiders be taught in school? If so, at what grade level?

 I think that The Outsiders should be taught in school, as it shows friendship, and reality, not just fairytale fiction. I think grade 8 is a good grade to teach this book, because it’s the right age where we understand these kind of books.

5. Who is your favourite character and why? Who is your least favourite? Explain your choice.

 Straight from the beginning when Ponyboy was introducing the Greasers, Johnny was my favourite character. Johnny was my favourite character, cause he was the glue that held the Greasers together, and the fact that he wasn’t as brash as the majority of Greasers. Then when I found out what he went through, my heart just went out to him (even though he’s just a fictional character.) I don’t exactly have a least favourite. The majority of characters were just kind of there. I guess I didn’t really like Cherry, at one point. Because when she wouldn’t meet Johnny in the hospital because Johnny killed her boyfriend in an act of self-defense just really bugged me.

6. Which character impacts you the most? What emotions do you feel for that character? Does he/she remind you of someone else you know? Of yourself?

Johnny, once again. Just because he had so much trouble around him. His parents beating him up, the Socs beating him up. Then running away, and then ending up in the hospital and then dying. But the fact that he sacrificed himself for the children just did it for me. Because perhaps some characters would just want torture for everyone just to make everybody how they felt, but Johnny is the complete opposite. He doesn’t remind me of anybody though, and not myself.

My investigation was done well I think, because I learnt several different things about presenting. The problem with my investigation was that in the beginning, I didn’t write as much as I could have, but throughout it I started improving. I think that my plan and create were a bit rushed, and had I worked on them earlier, I would have done a lot better, and have added more details into them. My plan could’ve been improved on the part where we had to write about how the topic was relatable to yourself, the school, and such. IThe most important part of my create stage, making the slides, was literally done in one day, which was horrid timing on my part, so I could work on time-managment.
My topic was chosen when I wasn’t feeling the brightest, and when I had to find out information, I realised that it wasn’t the best topic to talk about, and I would have preferred to talk about how tumblr changes your view on everything. My presentation itself though, was alright I think. I’m really happy that I was able to remember my presentation, and that my presentation was timed, because that was something I wanted to be able to do for a long time. Sadly, the timed presentation didn’t exactly work, because when I get nervous, I start to talk too fast, which is a habit of mine. What I want to work on is how I can change up my slides. My slides are always the same thing, a big picture that relates to the topic, with the title somewhere. I want to make it more like a friends, because hers was simple, but wasn’t just one picture like mine. She had different colours, and pictures that all related to what she was talking about.