Create an audio essay that explores the significance of a topic associated with our class. The aim of your audio essay is to conduct research, identify audio samples to compose with, and then use your voice to narrate an "argument" that delivers that research in way that takes advantage of the medium of audio. The informal and aural qualities of sound will need to be balanced with the academic and informational aspects of the research.
You will narrow your focus after starting with a broad topic like:
- Online culture
- Digital texts
- Social media and community
- Human cognition and networks
- Screen-mediated reading
- Multimedia
You can use these broad areas to zoom in on a specific angle for your audio essay. It will be much easier to develop something about politics-related memes or the selfie, than something as broad as online culture. Take some time to arrive at something that will have enough relevance to enable you to conduct research but that is also narrow enough to focus the essay.
Start with internet research to get a better sense of the topic. Also, conduct research with library databases. Finally, search as widely as you can for scholarly research in audio format--Ted Talks, online education resources, YouTube videos, news outlets, documentaries, etc. Look for items that lend themselves to inclusion in an audio essay. Look for items that help you decide or revise your topic. Continue researching, making decisions and narrowing your focus even as you locate at least three potential audio sources for your essay.
Next, once you complete the steps above, compose a script for the audio essay. The script should be between 400-600 and not more than 800 words.
The script must be posted before class on Wednesday September 11th:
The script should be the text of the narration you want to include in the essay.
Also add notes for the use of sounds like: [Insert interview clip with Aunt discussing writing in the 1970s] or [play typewriter sound effect].
Narration segments should aim for tone that is not overly formal, but that also seriously takes listeners through the research topic. You will want to distill the research into key questions so that you can tighten the language as much as possible. Learn what is most interesting, provide key details, but cut to the chase.
Use the Audio Essay Script Option to upload your script before class on the 11th.
As you begin planning, you should also think about how you will make use of sound.
You will need to spend some time getting to know the Audacity audio editor. (You can use an alternate audio editor if you prefer.) Take time to read any overviews, help pages, or tutorials that can get you started with the program.
You will also need to spend some time working on your audio composing skills. As you discuss an audio sample, you will need to compose narration that situates, extends, or clarifies rather than repeats what has been said. Use your voice to help listeners through your materials. Edit the materials to fit with what you are saying, and zoom out to make connections with your topic.
Also, be sure to come up with ways of weaving additional audio materials into the piece beyond your own voice. You will guide people through the materials as the "narrator" of the essay, so you need to weave them in so you don't have a single voice talking but also have a kind of back and forth with the materials.
Make similar decisions about the ambient or background noises that you weave into the essay. You can use audio to create a mood, to deliver a message, to punctuate a statement, etc. Recall our listening to the A Tale of Two Soundscapes piece and the way the author used a range of sounds to compose the essay.
Although your project and your audio editor will influence your composing process, you can follow some general steps.
- Become adept at recording your own voice to narrate the audio essay. Find a quiet environment where you can work. Experiment with your available microphones. (Built in laptop microphones often work fine; affordable USB microphones work well; more advanced microphones might be worth a look.) Try some practice recordings, working with your equipment and software until you get audio that is loud enough to be easily heard and that does not contain undue levels of background sound. The MRC has podcasting recording equipment you can use.
- Get comfortable with your voice. Experiment with cadences, tempo, and pitch as you begin working. Don’t be shy about trying out new tones or giving your voice presence in your recordings. Use the audio essay as an opportunity to think about how you can use your voice as you communicate and about how you can develop a “voice” in both spoken and written contexts.
- Learn the moves needed to import audio files into your editor. You may also need to learn something about converting audio files. Experiment with cutting, copying, and moving segments of the audio that you import. Learn to fade clips in and out and to adjust the volume levels of clips.
- Ensure that you have an outline or plan for developing the essay. Import a clip and begin editing it and adding your narration. Check that you are writing into and out of the clips in ways that clarify and extend your topic.
- Continue tightening your script, reworking phrases as needed to translate them from page to microphone.
- Continue importing materials and adding narration. Add background sounds for ambiance as needed. Adjust and polish the composition.
Post the file to the class Web site by Friday, September 20th.
Below find resources to refer to as you work:
You will need to download and install the Audacity audio editor to work with the sounds. (You will also need to download the lame encoder.) I will give you instructions about how to use the program.
You may also want to collect interview clips. You can probably use the built in microphone on your laptop, or I have some microphones that you can use with your laptop to record people.
You will also need to gather resources from the net. As you do so, you may need to capture audio from YouTube or otherwise find ways of collecting the sounds you need. We will work in class on any of these tasks that you need help with.
This should be a project that raises some new challenges for you. Some will be technical; be sure to save your files often and give yourself time to learn how to compose with audio. Most of the challenges should be conceptual; you'll need to learn to imagine how you can organize a project based in sound, create transitions, convey information succinctly, create a mood through audio, etc. There will also be content challenges. You will be working to deliver an essay, so research, concise writing, editing, and all the typical communication moves will be needed. Hopefuly the level of challenges will still allow the project to be creative and fun.
Our reading assignment includes some samples.