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In the course Composing Digital Media, I have learned a lot more than I expected. Going into the course, I knew a good bit about Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere, and other digital composition software, however, I was pretty much only familiar with the basics. The project requirements we determined together as a class were really useful for setting our own boundaries to be exceeded, which forced me to experiment with effects outside of my comfort zone. Those discussions about setting boundaries were probably the most helpful in determining the direction of my project, such as the design and whatnot, in addition to seeing example projects when we did group critiques of individual projects. read more

For this project, I chose to read a poem that I’ve recently written titled “Consuming Agriculture.” The three audio tracks that I used are the spoken track, a track of white noise, and the experimental music I found on the Free Music Archives website (http://freemusicarchive.org/genre/piano/?sort=track_date_published&d=1&page=9). The name of the artist I used is Dora’li, and the song is titled “1” on the album Unreleased Tracks. The song is in the public domain, presumably with a CC0 license, as the bottom of the page says, “The Free Music Archive offers free downloads under Creative Commons and other licenses.” read more

Bresland's audio version of "Future Ex Buys Pajamas" was very different from the text version. Ignoring the minor content changes, the tone of voice was not the same as the one in my head. Bresland's tone was sort of eerie; it made the essay so suspenseful compared to the original. The ending of the audio essay seemed a little more conclusive as well, as the music trailed off, whereas in the text version, the essay just kind of ends abruptly. Overall, the audio version just feels more complete. It makes me wonder why audio essays/podcasts aren't more popular, but   from experience, I've found that it takes longer to listen to essays/books/etc than it does to read, which is probably a big factor.

The images I found for lesson 3 were from Google, so they are easily accessible. I didn't embed any citation information, as I think I've heard previously that you can use images from Google for educational purposes, and the book clarifies that. However, I think there is a misconception that any image found on Google can be used for any purpose, which is far from the truth. If you look up, "Alyssa Hernandez pittsburgh," my image will come up. That doesn't mean anyone can take my image and use it for whatever purpose, as it technically has a copyright on it, unofficially. At least, that's what I've heard anyway; I've heard that any artist/creator has an unofficial copyright on their work, and if someone else tries to use it, the original creator (if there is no official copyright) must provide proof that they created it first. However, I have also heard that as long as a user modifies found images, they are free to use them for whatever purpose. read more

At first, even with a little coding experience, I was very confused reading Stolley's article. However, by the end of all of the GitHub videos, it started to make a little sense. From what I'm understanding, lo-fi production technologies are the preferred method of coding (and such) if practicality is the goal. If aesthetics are the goal, then hi-fi technologies are probably the way to go. I have to agree with Stolley's fifth major point, as she says, "If a hi-fi element seems necessary, keep researching until you conclude that it isn't." In my opinion, people mainly use the web as a way to share things, whether it's with themselves (such as documents via Google Drive or via email), or with others (such as social media). If that is the goal, then why would anyone not want their content to be consistent across all devices/platforms? read more

Hi, everyone! My name is Alyssa Hernandez and I'm a junior/senior at Pitt. I'll graduate as an english writing major with a studio arts minor, and a digital media certificate. I'm excited about taking this course because I usually stick to non-digital forms of art, such as poetry, painting, and photography. So, I hope this class will expand my creativity and help me grow as both an artist and a writer in terms of shifting to the digital world. I look forward to creating/composing with you all!

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