Podcasting Links

Here is a helpful site dealing with outlining and scripting your podcast:

http://www.voices.com/podcasting/plan-your-podcast.html

Note, in particular, the differences between and outline and a script. During today's (Tuesday's) class period you should be developing your outline into a script. You can see a useful (but very short) example of a script here:

Podcasting Script

If you want to add music and other sounds to your podcast you must observe others' intellectual property rights. You can find music that is legal to add to podcasts on this site:

http://www.musicalley.com/

and a vast library of other sound effects and samples on this one:

http://www.sonomic.com/

If you need any other info, Google is your friend. There are lot of people out there who are interested in podcasting and lots of resources to help them.

Homework: Listen to the “Making the Hippo Dance” Radiolab podcast:

http://blogs.wnyc.org/radiolab/2008/09/09/making-the-hippo-dance/

Outlining Activity: Feeder 2.2

Take a few moments to read these questions and start brainstorming answers. Jot some ideas down on your computer or on a piece of paper. Try to think of a few different potential answers for each question; don’t just accept the first idea you have.

1. How will you hook your listener? Explain how this hook will draw the listener in and transition into your hypothesis.

2. What background information will you need to present in order for your listener to understand your experiment? Are there any complex terms or concepts that you will need to explain?

3. How will you establish and maintain your credibility as an author?

4. Where can you insert interviews, extempore speech, or other non-scripted content in order to keep your answers interesting?

5. Why should your listener be interested in your experiment? How will you convey this reason to the listener?

Once you’ve thought about your answers and jotted down a few potential answers, discuss your answers to each question with your group and note any feedback or ideas they have.
Once everyone has discussed his or her ideas, start shaping them into a script. You might want to work on an outline first: what do you need to tell your reader? What is the most logical order for presenting those ideas? What will each section of the podcast sound like? Note anything else you will need (other voices, sound effects, etc.) to complete each section.

Homework for Thursday, March 4

Listen to the RadioLab podcast titled “Lucy.” You can hear it here: http://blogs.wnyc.org/radiolab/2010/02/19/lucy/ or you can download the mp3 directly here: http://feeds.wnyc.org/~r/radiolab/~5/m9kyh3Sq7mk/radiolab_podcast702lucy.mp3
Read through these questions before you listen to the podcast, but answer them after you listen. Post your answers to the course wave (search your wave inbox for “course wave” and you should be able to find it).

1. What kind of “hook” do they use to draw in the listener? (Note: ignore the plea for money that precedes the podcast.)

2. Estimate what proportion of the program is based on extempore speech and what seems to be read from a script. How can you tell?

3. Note any background music or sound effects that seem to have been added in post-production. Why were these things added? How do they make the podcast clearer or more interesting?

4. Note any terms or concepts that you learned about from listening to the podcast. How were these explained? How did the authors make these complex ideas and terms easy to understand?

Small-Group Discussions about Your Experiment

Explain your proposed study to your group members. As you explain, make sure you explain the following details:

1. What behavior you intend to modify
2. Your system of rewards and punishments
3. Your hypothesis

Also show your group members the form that you will use to collect your data.
After each person has presented his or her experiment and data form, the other group members should discuss the experiment, including the following questions. The author should take notes during this discussion.

1. Do you think the experiment seems reasonable? Do you think the author can actually perform this in a week?

2. Is the hypothesis interesting? Does it merely restate the prompt, or does it offer an original claim about what the experiment will prove?

3. Does the behavior the author is attempting to modify recur daily? Will the experiment generate enough data to make a reasonable conclusion about the hypothesis?

4. Are the rewards and punishments in order? Are the punishments merely a lack of reward, or vice versa? Do you think the rewards and punishments adequately reinforce the desired behavior?

5. Examine the data form. Will the form collect the data necessary to prove the hypothesis? Explain how the evidence gathered on the data form will prove the claim made in the hypothesis.

6. Do you recognize any confounding variables? Check this site for information about confounding variables: http://score.kings.k12.ca.us/lessons/wwwstats/confounding.variables.html

7. Do you notice anything else that may affect the experiment’s success?

Draft Workshop: March 2

1. Analyze the first paragraph. Does the draft have a strong hook? Does it immediately give the reader information s/he didn’t know already? Do the sentences rely on simple, active verbs? Is the thesis statement clear and powerful? Suggest ways the writer can improve the introduction.

2. What contextual or background information is given in addition to the summary of the article? Has the author done any additional research? Does the draft explain not only what the research is, but also why it matters?

3. If the author were to add another paragraph of additional background information where should that paragraph go? What information should it contain?

Paramedic Method Activity

1. Circle the prepositions (of, in, about, for, onto, into)
2. Draw a box around the "is" verb forms
3. Ask, "Where's the action?"
4. Change the "action" into a simple verb
5. Move the doer into the subject (Who's kicking whom?)
6. Eliminate any unnecessary slow wind-ups
7. Eliminate any redundancies.

Sample paragraph:

When a person hears of a major occurrence they are automatically going to form some sort of opinion about its morality or correctness. This was the case when six health professionals were sentenced to death in Libya charged on the basis that they deliberately infected 400 children with HIV. The charge was controversial on the grounds that many of the children were infected some time before the medics were even working at the hospital. While this is where many chose to disagree, the main controversy lies in deciding who the actual victims in the case were. The author of an editorial published in Nature, felt that the main victims in this case were the Libyan public who has to deal with a poor healthcare system, whereas the author of an editorial published in the New York Times felt that the doctors and nurses sentenced to death were the only victims, and were being overlooked.

Libya recently sentenced six health professionals to death for allegedly infecting 400 children with HIV. However, these children contracted the virus before the medics worked at the hospital. Authors disagree about who suffers most. George Stencil focuses on the Libyans who deal with a poor health care system. However, Bob Saget turns our attention back to the doctors who have been sentenced to death.

Sample Data Sheets for Feeder 2.2

Sample 1

Sample 2