Week 8 Report

Part I: Video Project Reviews

Otter This World - Genomics

Otter this world put together a solid video presentation. It's obvious that the research used was plentiful and of high caliber. The topic is thoroughly covered, though one area in which the video can be improved is in engagement. As the video stands, it is somewhat too plain, and I think having some soft music in the background can really help improve audience engagement. Another facet in which the video can be improved is in Lia's audio - essentially, either she recorded a mono track or the video editing process was executed in a manner that resulted in her audio being contained only within the left audio track of the stereo sound, which can bother some listeners. Centering her audio in the stereo track can help fix this issue. The presentation is appropriate for professionals, and I appreciate their work because I learned quite a bit, especially about the Human Genome project. 

Super4 Web Solutions -The Eternal Human

Super4 Web Solutions did a good job on their video presentation. The research is clearly quality, and so is collaboration between members. I'm a big fan of the topic, since it is quite philosophical in addition to it's relevance to modern technology. The team did a good job covering such a broad topic, in an engaging way. One area in which the video could be made better is slightly improving the audio, for example Ichiro's voice is producing harsh sounds that could be mitigated with better mic placement or using a pop shield (this is mostly nitpicking though). The presentation itself is absolutely appropriate for professional audiences and I am more educated as a result of watching it. 

Stack Otterflow - Autonomous Vehicles

Stack Overflow put together a great video presentation. I particularly liked how well edited the video is, with plenty of moving parts and graphics, though for some it may have been too much or too distracting. The topic was well covered, and the research is outstanding. The audio sounds good, although there is one improvement I believe could be made: the music. Currently, the soundtrack has a solo instrument in it which can be distracting for viewers. I recommend that the music be changed to a different track lower in frequency and more repetitive so that the music does not collide with the speaker audio as much. The video is certainly appropriate for professionals and I learned all about autonomous vehicles thanks to it.

Part II: Weekly Reflection

Link to our professional video

Link to our casual video

Overall, this course was interesting. I think we gained a considerable amount of experience with team collaboration and writing skills. I would say this course was worth taking, for that reason and especially since I was able to meet my awesome team, Gigabit Goon Squad. Our team collaborates and communicates quite well, I am proud of their hard work this course. I think one way to improve is to perhaps be more specific with assigning who does what part of a given project in the future, which should be easy to implement. Another improvement can be for all of us to purchase high quality microphones like the one Victoria has, since we are probably going to do more presentations in the program. Ultimately, I am hyped to work together on our future programming projects, doubly so since that is why we are in the CS program for in the first place.

Week 7 Report

Final Research Video Project Planning

The video project went very smooth overall. The Gigabit Goon Squad tends to excel when it comes to collaboration and this time was no exception. We collaborated primarily through Discord as usual, and at least once every day. I got a lot more experience learning how to edit videos with Vegas, which is great. The difficult part was not actually the editing (that was fun), but rather the researching and creation of the script. Thankfully our team simply blew it out of the water with our recordings and contributions, I am proud of them.

 

Reflection of Week 

The TED Video I selected was by Kwabena Boahen, a Stanford scientist developing a computer that works like the brain, in this case the Neurogrid. The brain processes information extremely efficiently, at least a hundred thousand times more so than current computers which is amazing. The natural neural network found in the human brain has zero bottlenecks, its ridiculously well designed. Boahens team is doing their best to find a way to alter computers to work like natural neural networks, basically. Their designed retina chip shows promise in accomplishing this task.

Week 6 Report

Capstone Discussion w/ Gigabit Goon Squad

For Eddie, he has an internal conflict because everything he writes about is related to education. Because he is a teacher, all of his capstone ideas are about education. His first idea is to create a grading and management system, allowing people to create different groups and seating charts, size of groups. It can integrate student's individual education plans. The goal is to create the perfect seating chart. His second idea is to create an all in one school environment, where students don't have to go to different apps. Sort of like google classroom, but more involved such as with deadlines and homework assignments. It allows teachers to observe student's position in many regards. His third idea is a video game like Kahoot!, a quiz game with four options that is also timed.

For Victoria, first idea: an app that helps parents see children's current grades and also be able to communicate with teachers, among many other features. Second idea: an app that helps people scan food and/or food products and it can tell you if any ingredients may be toxic or carcinogenic. Third idea: a fitness app that enables more in-depth customization and has reminders for vitamin and medication regimens. The app can also include exercises that help with the user's age or condition. Another idea that Victoria has is a book app that can help reading enthusiasts to connect and form clubs. It can have a rating system for users to review books.

For Guillermo, his first idea is something simple, like a pantry storage app. With a phone, one is able to scan items that they have in their pantry and manage grocery inventory. People can have different profiles. His second idea is to make an app that takes a recording and turns it into music sheets or tabs. Third idea: weather app that can form air quality maps from existing APIs. A cool re-creation of features that many weather platforms have.  

 

Weekly Learning Summary

This week was overall fairly challenging but also rewarding. This is mostly because Gigabit Goon Squad decided to get ahead with the video project, and therefore there was considerably more work condensed into this week. However, now that most of the project has been handled, things will feel a bit more downhill from here on out. We learned how to compose video scripts, advance our video editing knowledge, and even gain some more audio editing experience which is great since I am an amateur musician. 

The ethics paper was surprisingly smooth to complete once I understood the gist of each section. Critical thinking is truthfully easy for me, so getting into the nitty gritty of each argument from stakeholders was sort of fun. Creating our website shells for ILP portfolios was also a good experience, and a cool brief look into web development (I think, or rather hope). Another good experience was creating our cover letters and resumes, which will no doubt prove useful in the near future when we graduate and enter the workforce. 

Week 5 Report

 Support and Comment on Teammates Goals 

Possible Capstone Ideas

One possible capstone idea I have is to develop a small game, such as a basic 2D platformer. I have always been amazed by the development of video games and this would be really good experience for possibly pursuing it in the future. 

A possible second idea is to build a program that works with sound, since I am also a musician. Perhaps some type of tuning application, or a pitch shifter. I may actually end up using such a program in my own practice room, which sounds fun. 

Third, another good idea could be some type of database management program for a local business. This project would be more practical and since I like to help others, it could end up being a win-win situation. 

Summary of Weekly Learning

This week was great overall. I had quite the grind while researching and forming arguments for my ethics paper, but learned a ton about how companies and consumers relate to each other ethically, and how stakeholders may have opposing priorities. More importantly, learning how to compromise and find a middle solution for utilitarian end goals is rewarding. Going forward in the future, I believe companies will need to begin actually listening to consumers and prioritizing their health, and my paper touched on this topic a fair amount. 

We also picked our three proposed topics for our final video project, which looks fun. I am confident that our team can handle any of the three topics proposed, especially since I have at least a bit of video editing experience with sony vegas (now rebranded to magix studio vegas). Next week is looking quite exciting, truthfully, and I am hyped to train even harder.