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Sabrina Cheung's Portfolio

work in progress





Aims

I'm going to be honest- I enrolled in this class because I had no idea what I was most interested in, and I still have only a vague idea. I'm kind of really all over the place. Literature is one of my interests, so I thought I'd check ENG 366H. Then, during the three months in the course, I realized that the exploring the digital humanities helped me understand an entirely different aspect of literature that I didn't even know existed. To me, novelty is a thrilling thing. Even though it was difficult at first to think in terms of sound (and it still is), I found a few things particularly interesting:

We do not use sound often enough with literature, although it is helpful in our understanding.
Never before in a literature class have I been able to analyze sound in such depth. I remember talking about sound imagery in poetry, but there is limited language to describe sound. When you put things in a video or audio essay format, however, the observer can actually see or hear what you mean. This is extremely helpful. Furthermore, technology can make things efficient. Instead of using up sentences of an essay to describe the cackling of a log fire, you could play a five second clip. 
There are some limitations, however, to how much we can convey over a video. Traditional essays are still important; there are some ideas that may be more effective in paragraph form. I get the sense that video technology works very well to enhance our understanding of literature, but should not completely replace a traditional essay. Different formats are useful in different settings. 
Thinking about the future, it would be beneficial to consider people with disabilities. For example, an audio essay embedded on a website would be of little use to someone who cannot hear. Perhaps there could be a script. Moving even further, multimedia projects could cater to those with special needs and also be incredibly interesting. I'm thinking of something with the magnitude of a storybook garden but on the internet, with sounds and visuals that you could click around with or maybe pan around to look at, like a video game. There really are unlimited possibilities. 

Sound is heavily linked to emotion.

You really shouldn't be scared of technology because it can be awesome.
It is too easy to shut out a new way of learning because you're unfamiliar with it or the thought of being bad at something scares you. I've worked with Photoshop and Illustrator for leisure, graphic design, and my job at a mapping center. I can tell you that it is a great feeling when you know little nuances such as keyboard shortcuts, what tools are most suited to the task, and the capabilities of your software. When we had to download Audacity and Camtasia, I initially dreaded having to learn everything. However, I got into a different mindset. Rather than thinking, "this is too hard," I tried to think, "this may be difficult, but I can rise to the challenge." While I definitely did not feel like diving in, I realized that it was rewarding to familiarize myself with something new. Putting projects together and trying to figure out how to mimic the techniques of the geniuses who make movie trailers or successful podcasts became a good kind of challenge.


Content

  1. Soundlist
  2. Audio Essay and Revisions
  3. Live E-Poem Performance
  4. Edited E-Poem
  5. The Sounds of the Road Video
  6. Learning with Sound Video
  7. Communication Page
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