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Author: Matt Donnelly
Pancakes are delicious, and that’s all my Reddit bot can say.
In reflection to Week 10’s lecture about non-human Twitter accounts, I decided to create a Reddit bot: /u/ReallyLikePancakes. Much like Twitter bots, there are already numerous Reddit bots including AutoWikiBot and CoinFlipBot. My ability to actually make an app that does this properly is pretty limited, so the bot itself isn’t exactly useful, but it can still be amusing at times.
What the bot does is constantly search all new comments posted to Reddit for the word “pancake”, and responds to these comments with “Yum! :)” That’s it. Useful, right?
After finishing the program and ironing out some pretty major issues such as the bot constantly replying to itself, I ran the bot for 24 hours to see some of the responses. To see all the comments, check out the bot’s Reddit profile. Here are some examples of the bot’s comments:
The bot’s still running, you can test it out by using the word “pancakes” in a comment! Note that /r/AskReddit bans all bots, so it doesn’t work there any more 😦
Digitized Vinyl: Daft Punk – Around The World 12″
As a reflection on the transitions between physical and digital media, I decided to convert a physical vinyl copy of Daft Punk’s ‘Around the World’ into a digital audio format on both Youtube and Soundcloud.
Basically what’s happening here is the record (consisting of one long, spiral groove towards the center) spins on the platter, and the needle at the end of the tonearm is tracking the groove. This needle oscillates side to side at the same frequency as the sound which was recorded to it (if you look at a vinyl groove under a microscope it pretty much looks like the soundwave itself is embedded in the vinyl). The needle contains a magnet which is moving in relation to a coil in the cartridge (I can’t explain this part in much more detail because I pretty much failed Physics) which converts the side-to-side movement of the needle into an electrical signal. This signal is then transferred to a pre-amp, which is really just an equalizer to lower the high frequencies and boost the bass frequencies, as it’s hard to fit low bass frequencies in the small grooves of a record. The signal from the pre-amp then heads to the amplifier (all speakers that require power have an amplifier built in), which dramatically boosts the signal of all frequencies (as the signal from the turntables cartridge and consecutively the pre-amp are very, very quiet). Finally, this electrical signal is applied to the speaker cones, causing them to vibrate in tune with the recording and create the soundwaves which go to your face holes. I’m sorry if this example is confusing, I tried :p
This video itself is an interesting example of media transformation, as this song was in a digital form to start with, due to the nature of its production. So the digital track was converted to an analog sound to be recorded to the vinyl, which was then transformed back into a digital format by the turntable’s ADC (analog to digital converter) to be sent to the computer via USB. Media transformation at its finest!
This is the 12″ single of Around the World from 1997, played on a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon turntable with the Ortofon OM 10 cartridge and captured in Audacity via the turntable’s USB output.
This video is super interesting to watch if you want to learn more about how vinyl records are made.
This is my second original YouTube video post.
‘Civilian journalism’ in concerts
This is my pet peeve at concerts. You pay somewhere in the region of $100 to see your favourite artist, only to have your view obstructed by these guys filming the entire set; after which they realize that their phone’s microphone made the whole thing sound like Chewbacca with a throat infection and end up posting 15 seconds of it to Instagram anyway. Just enjoy the concert boise.
/rant
BCM112 Transmedia Skittles Race!
I’ve made a goose chase spanning across a number of different media platforms. The first person to reach the end wins four packets of Skittles because honestly I’m sick of eating them and I have no idea why I bought so many.
Start by going to the link in the Vine and follow the instructions on each page to reach the next 🙂
Moral panic: Porn, art, or both?
There’s plenty of debate on where the line is between art and pornography, or whether there really is a line at all. But before we start comparing the two, it’s a good idea to first define both terms.
Art: “the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance” (Define Art at Dictionary.com, 2015).
Pornography: “obscene writings, drawings, photographs, or the like, especially those having little or no artistic merit” (Define Pornography at Dictionary.com, 2015).
So what are the differences and similarities between the raw definitions of these two terms? Looking at the definition of art on its own, it seems as though pornography fits the same criteria. Pornography is created for the sole purpose of being aesthetically beautiful, appealing, and of more than ordinary significance; as per the definition of art. However, the dictionary definition of pornography completely contradicts this, stating that the word ‘pornography’ is especially definitive of erotic images with little or no artistic merit. So why is it that one thing can essentially be defined by two vastly different terms?
Dictionary definitions aside, art and pornography share many fundamental concepts. I created the cover image above to illustrate an art gallery hosting content that some people would consider pornographic, though many would also argue that there is plenty of artistic merit to the images, allowing them to essentially fall under both definitions. The dictionary definition of pornography is fairly broad as it relies heavily on the reader’s perception of what can be considered ‘obscene’. For example, in some cultures where faces or complete bodies are to be covered, a facial portrait may be considered obscene. So is there any art that can’t be considered pornographic? Or any porn that can’t be considered art?
The two following characteristics can often be used, to an extent, to determine if an artwork can be considered pornographic:
- Viewer intention
- “It’s what people are going to use it for. Are they going to look at it and admire it? Or are they going to use it in a sexual way?” (The Resident 2009). However, using this alone to determine whether or not an artwork is pornographic is unreliable, as it’s impossible to determine the intention of every viewer of an artwork.
- Artist’s intention
- Many would also say that it’s more so the intention of the content creator than the viewer, however artists aren’t always able to convey their intended meaning to their audience. It’s possible that their artwork could be interpreted as something completely different to what they intended, and this also relies on the viewer intention.
What I’ve concluded from this is that it’s often hard to determine whether an image can be defined as art, pornography, or even both. The way in which we define both of these terms are too broad to draw any sort of definitive line between the two. Contributing to this are the ambiguous dictionary definition of pornography, varying cultural perceptions of what is obscene, and difficulties in determining the intent of both the viewer and artist of a piece of content. Until we can refine these, we will always have issues differing between what is and isn’t porn.
References:
Cover image Photoshop’d from the following images: 1 2 3 4 5 6
Scerra, S., 2011, Drawing the line between art and porn… if there is one, Called To Write, viewed 19 April 2015, <http://www.stephaniescerra.com/2011/12/drawing-the-line-between-art-and-porn-if-there-is-one/>
The Resident 2009, Nudity: Art or Porn?, online video, 22 December, The Resident, viewed 20 April 2015, <http://www.theresident.net/nudity-art-or-porn/>
Jason Derulo – Wiggle (ft. The Wiggles)
To compliment this week’s lecture, I created a short video mashup to demonstrate how virtually anyone
has the ability to take existing content and edit it to create an entirely new message.
This is my YouTube video post.
Crowdfunding: Empowering ambitious entrepreneurs without the capital to bring their ideas to life.
New entrepreneurs are always coming up with fresh ideas for new products and services to revolutionize the way we do things. The problem for many aspiring entrepreneurs, however, is that they lack the upfront money required to develop and produce their idea into a finished product. Previously, the only solutions to this were bank loans or angel investors; both of which can be high-risk.
This is where crowdfunding platforms are the ideal solution for these entrepreneurs, as they enable project creators to raise the necessary funds and prove that there’s a market for their product before they even begin. This essentially opens up the ability to create a brand new product to anyone with an idea. Platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo have also opened up a whole new level of interaction between consumers and project creators, allowing backers to provide their opinions on aspects of the project throughout the development process.
This is my text post.
Cover image: www.megasharkmedia.com
Open vs. Closed Platforms: Which is More Viable For Long-Term Success?
I decided that a Prezi mindmap would be a decent way to compare various different types of OS platforms and users’ ability to create and distribute content for these platforms, and compare this to how each platform’s market share has changed over time.
http://prezi.com/9dvreobjyr1b/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy
Are open platforms the new big thing? Let me know your stance in the comments.
This is my Prezi mindmap post.
28 Tracks Using The Same “Woo” Sample
What you’re hearing at the start of the podcast is one of the most frequently sampled tracks in electronic music – the acapella from Loreatta Holloway’s Crash Goes Love, released in 1984. It’s now been sampled in 129 tracks from artists such as deadmau5, Calvin Harris, Don Diablo and David Guetta.
In light of this, I decided to make a compilation of 28 tracks that use the Crash Goes Love sample to demonstrate just how often it is used in dance music. The name/artist of each song is annotated on the Soundcloud track in real time 🙂
Should the artists of sampled tracks make a commission for their content being used in new media? Let me know what you think in the comments.
This is my Soundcloud podcast post.
How Do Flies Land On The Ceiling? 
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