Overview

This week, I worked on creating three audio-related media based on the activities on the Today’s Daily Create (TDC) website. I first created an image using Google’s Seeing Music experiment, where I sung into the microphone as the platform transformed my singing into art. I then made an audio recording of me pronouncing the word Floccinaucinihilification. Finally, I recorded an audio of machines and attempted to write about what kind of conversations they would be having with one another if they could speak.

My Daily Creates

Visualize the Music

Art created using Google’s Seeing Music tool.

Pronounce This

Floccinaucinihilification.

Machine Conversations

Cars pass by as a bird tweets overhead.

I imagine these cars passing by like businesspeople who know each other in a neighbourhood or in an urban setting on their way to work − the same way I believe I’ve seen businessmen do in old movies.

Two cars stop at a stoplight and begin to converse.

“Why hello Ms. Mercedes, how do you do?” said the black Volvo.

“Oh I am exceptionally well, Mr. Volvo! How are you on this fine morning?” said the blue Mercedes.

“Never better, ma’am! Just heading down to the office to drop off my human at work. Beautiful asphalt we’re having!”

“Marvelous pavement indeed! Brand new blacktop, not a single pothole. Say hi to the Missus for me! You both should stop by for a quart of oil one of these evenings.”

Reflection

The first Daily Create I did this week was creating an image of art using Google’s Seeing Music experiment, where I sung into the microphone as the platform transformed my singing into art. I first used Merrill’s First Principle of Demonstration to read/watch a tutorial on the platform so I knew how to use the tool. I then used Merrill’s First Principle of Application as I applied my new knowledge to using the tools and creating art from my voice. I noticed that the lines of art drawn on the page followed the pitch of my voice as I sang. It took a few tries to be able to screenshot the art being created, as the created art did not stop when I stopped recording − instead, the page simply kept rolling until the canvas turned onto a blank piece of paper and the art went off the page. However, practicing and trying again allowed me to use active learning, both in my singing and using the tool.

The second Daily Create I did was pronouncing the word Floccinaucinihilification. I had to practice this a few times before pressing record because I was utterly confused as to how to pronounce the word. I did not watch or listen to a demonstration of the pronunciation as I wanted to guess how to pronounce it based on reading it alone. I recorded it and attached it to this blog post. Unfortunately, I was not that close to pronouncing it right as I later found out that the word was spelled incorrectly on the Today’s Daily Create (TDC) website. The actual word is Floccinaucinihilipilification. Perhaps I pronounced it correctly if Floccinaucinihilification were the correct word in another world? Either way, after multiple attempts I think I put active learning into practice until I believed I was pronouncing the word to the best of my ability.

Finally, I recorded an audio of machines − that is, cars − and attempted to write about what kind of conversations they would be having with one another if they could speak. These cars were passing by outside my partner’s house on a busy street. It was hard to think of a conversation that they would be having, but my previous experiences with creative writing during last week’s Daily Creates helped. This allowed me to apply Merrill’s First Principles of Application and maybe even Integration as I applied my learnings and continue to integrate it into my work at university.

One thing I had trouble with during these Daily Creates was turning my M4A audio files on my Macbook into MP3 files to upload onto this blog. I did some research which required passive reading online, and then put it into practice only to find out certain things did not align with what I found online. For example, I could not find an option to download the M4A file from the Voice Memos app to the files on my computer, although it stated to do so online. However, I did eventually figure out that I could drag and drop it into my desktop, and then go online to an M4A to MP3 converter and download the converted file. This ultimately required quite a bit of active learning.