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.