Web206: Topic 2.1: Narrating The Self

This week we talked about how we portray ourselves on the Internet. Do we keep our professional lives separate to our personal lives? We discussed the topic of avatars and personally I can live without them. Avatars or lack thereof make no difference to my web experience.  In fact when I do have to choose an avatar I stress over it for so long that I end up making a rubbish one just to get it out of the way.  Every time we choose an avatar or nickname for an online service, we perform a small act of self-presentation. We choose whether to use our real names, to choose a name that reflects something about our personality or situation in the world or we create a fictitious personality (Walker, 2005).

Identity is characterised by the tension between how a person defines themselves as an individual and how they connect to others and social groups in affiliative relationships. In cyberspace meaning is communicated far beyond the people in proximity to the communicator; instead the world is watching (Gilly & Schau, 2003).


We were asked why we were doing this subject. I've always been interested in computers and began building basic websites in the 90s. When my last job was made redundant I decided to enrol in uni and follow my dreams of becoming a web designer. Well I'm only a third of the way along this journey but am loving every minute.

I feel it is important as a web designer to learn about web publishing, different platforms, different online spaces, copyright and creative commons among other topics. I've only been blogging for about 3yrs so am fairly new. I want to learn more about increasing my followers, getting more of an audience, writing in an appealing and creative way to get attention, because the more people I get to notice me (my blogs, my website, my social media profiles) the more potential customers my business will attract. On that note - Mojo Online Solutions is the name of my business. We have a Facebook Page, Twitter account and blog. I use all platforms on a regular basis to increase my 'followers' and 'likes' in the hope of securing some work.

We are creating a blog for this subject on a topic of our choice. My blog is called Pure & Simple Food and is about food allergies and special diets. This is my bio:

My name is Michelle and my passion is cooking. It wasn't always! For as long as I can remember I have always cooked fairly plain, boring but familiar meals. However last year my husband and I decided to renovate our house. The first job on our list was a new kitchen. I was very excited and it was a challenge being without a kitchen for a few weeks. The BBQ and microwave got a work-out and we had no kitchen sink for a month and had to wash up in the bath!

Now I have my new kitchen, my love for cooking has really increased. With a family of fussy eaters - dinner time can be a challenge, but with forward planning cooking can definitely be enjoyable.

We have many friends and family members with food intolerances, food allergies, have special diets like Veganism and Vegetarianism, and others require either a gluten-free diet, nut-free diet, egg-free diet, or dairy-free diet. Over time I have researched these conditions and have gained useful information which I believe is important to share with others.

References:


Schau, H. J., & Gilly, M. (2003). We Are What We Post? Self-Presentation in Personal Web Space. The Journal of Consumer Research, 30(3), 385-404.

Walker, J. (2005). Mirrors and Shadows: The Digital Aestheticisation of Oneself. Paper presented at the Digital Arts and Culture Conference. Retrieved from : https://bora.uib.no/handle/1956/1136

NED11: Module 10

Audio on the web
Background music can set an emotional tone, dialogue and narration can supplement written passages. Sound effects can also be used for interactive functions suck as button clicks.

Terminology of audio:

• AAD - Analog Record, Analog Produce and Digital Master
• ADD - Analog Record, Digital Produce and Digital Master
• DDD - Digital Record, Produce and Master (this format is the cleanest
• Bits are like digital information - zeros and ones. The more bits the more accurate the sound reproduction
• Sample Rate and Bit Depth - the higher the sample rate and bit depth recorded, the better the quality 8 bit sound uses 256 amplitude levels while 16 bit sound uses 32,768 amplitude levels
• Compression (ie MPEG) uses lossy compression that strips out sounds that are not discernible to the human ear to achieve very high compression ratios while maintaining near-original sound quality.

Audio Tips and Tricks:

• Keep everything DDD if you can
• Make sure you normalise your files. This trims off amplitudes above or below certain levels. and leaves you with a steady and stable signal
• Use a good pair of headphones or speakers while editing sounds
• Equalise your files, this ensures proper ratio of treble to bass. Be careful with bass - some smaller computer speakers can't handle it very well
• Test your audio on different systems
• Keep it simple, resist the temptation to get carried away with all the special effects
• Use the best equipment possible 

How to keep sound files small for quicker downloads:

• Keep the length of your audio clips short - the shorter, the better
• Limit the number of channels you use - mono is half the size of stereo
• Reduce your bit depth to only what you need
• Keep your sampling rate down - 22.05kHz is half the size of 44.1kHz
• Voice only files can be reduced down to 8kHz without any discernible loss in quality while music will sound acceptable at 22kHz

Googling 'sound effects' produces many websites where you can obtain sound effects, many are free. However if you decide to record sound effects yourself, some software suggestions are QuickTime, Bias Peak, Sonic Foundry Sound Forge and GoldWave Audio.

Using sound in your document:

• Let the user have the option of turning off or adjusting the sound volume
• Choose the right voice talent for any planned narration. The wrong voice. accent or inflections can seem inappropriate or even grating to the user
• Choose sound effects wisely, and only use those sounds that add meaning to your project

Online delivery strategies:

Non-streaming audio must be downloaded before playback and usually results in larger files. File formats include:

• WAV - originally developed as the standard audio format for Windows but is now supported on Macs. Most commonly used at 8kHz to 11.025kHz at 8 or 16 bit
• AIFF was developed as Mac standard but now supported on PC. Most commonly used at 8kHz to 11.127kHz at 8, 16 or 32 bit. Similar performance to WAV
• MPEG - maintains pristine sound quality at compression rates as high as 10.1. The higher the number, the more complex the coding and the more powerful a processor you will need to compress and decompress
• MIDI was originally developed as a standard way for electronic instruments to communication with each other. They are a mathematical command that describes a series of notes. MIDI files are incredibly compact and are capable of packing a minute of music into just 10K which is 1000 times smaller than one minute WAV file. Unfortunately MIDI's can only contain notes, not real sounds.

Non-streaming advantages are they don't require a special server and they are simple to create audio flew in standard formats. The disadvantages are file size which can result in unacceptably long wait times for files to download and start playing. Because the audio file is being downloaded to the user's computer - it is difficult for artists and publishers to limit distribution and protect copyright.

Streaming Audio begins playback almost immediately. There are 3 components to streaming audio - the Encoder (used to create the file format), the Player (used by the user to hear the audio) and the Server Software (used to provide optimum streaming). Other advantages are the sound quality doesn't need to be severely sacrificed and artists and publishers can control distribution and protect copyright because the file doesn't get copied to the user's computer. The disadvantages however are the high cost of server software and the sound quality and stream may be affected by low speed or inconsistent Internet connections.