For my final reflection of the Oral History project that was assigned, I was to pick four other stories to listen and reviews. It was interesting to hear different people’s experiences and how the themes that they choose to discuss.

Image taken from https://unsplash.com/photos/Kj4o6jCPulI (Produced by Photographer Wei-Cheng Wu)

The first person audio project I listened to was Shawn Stephen’s and his theme mostly centralized on art and graphic design. He interviewed a graphic designer by the name of Jiemei Lin, a graphic designer that has experienced both past and present methods of designing and constructing designs for various purposes. The interview was primarily about graphic design but also hinted on parts that explained a little bit about fine arts. The relevant issues addressed here were about computer/software programs impacting the way designers work. Shawn’s Interview could be a Oral History because Lin’s experience coming from a different country and transitioning. Lin sounded really comfortable and I think that Shawn generated good questions. Possibly, the audio could of been a little more clear at times there were sounds in the background.

The second project I listened to was Deyanira Tovar-Moreno’s. Deyanira interviewed  her childhood friend Selma. The central theme was the progression on music devices and consumption. The different music device that she used throughout life was relevant to the topic. It’s interesting because like my own roommate she also used tapes and boomboxes to listen to music. The conversation also turned to her birth place that connects both her culture and evolving technology, which fit in nicely. The audio was edited very well, there wasn’t any (that I could hear) background noise and clarity was good. Maybe she could of included an intro to get a general idea of who she was. Dey’s project could be an Oral History because like Shawn’s it includes a different perspective from a person whose experience changed in both culture and tech.

The third project was CJ’s soundscape. CJ produced a soundscape project that captured sounds that both intertwined her experiences here at WSU and her trip to New York. The sounds reminded me a lot of a busy city center or a busy situation in general. In comparing its relevance to WSU, I assumed that it had to do with the comparison of students getting to class, heading to bus stops, or work. The overall concept of a soundscape is to take sounds that is not always recognizable but give us the audience an idea of what could be happening. CJ did a good job, as I listened I got a like that vibe of a lot of people heading in different directions. The quality was very good and well put together.

The last project was Timmy Huynh and his topic of eSports or electronic sports. He interviewed Nathan Unruh on how eSports and how it is portrayed. There of course are many biases to people who are in these competitions. The audio of the voices sounded like a lot of static and it was kind of hard to decipher the words out clearly. The concept of eSports is interesting because of now that we continue to advance various demographics shift and have more diversity in terms of audiences and competitors. The interviewee seems to know quite a bit about the overall theme which created a bit of credibility.

After listening to them, it was easy to distinguish the connections they all made to the project criteria. This project was interesting and I enjoyed listening to other peoples story’s and how that went about.