My final reflection includes a collection of three reviews from the Oral History blog post for DTC 201.

The first student interview I listened to was Melissa Urueta’s. In this oral history, she interviews a friend’s older brother about technological advancements. From this interview I gathered a central theme of “technology as life influence”, “technology within daily routine”,  and well as the sub-theme of “technological reliance”.  To detail how technologies effect life in both positive and negative ways, he speaks on his professional and everyday use of varying technologies. In this, the interviewee discusses advantages of portability and accessibility when using a device such as a smart phone and disadvantages of being addictive and distracting. In his professional life, he finds technology improving efficiency, but also expresses downsides consisting of a dependency on technology for business operation. Overall, I thought this interview was consistently on track and a good example of oral history. The music overlay did well to make the piece more engaging, though I think making smoother transitions in volume level could help this piece greatly.

The second interview I heard was by student Milo Larson. In this his father recalled his use of technology while he was in college. He talks about the advantages of having a word processor that made writing academic papers more efficient. He recalls a computer class, working from a “green-screen” personal computer, and using campus labs. He compares telephones to smartphones and black and white television to broadcast or streaming t.v. He talks about VHS players and renting movies when video rental stores first opened. The main idea I drew from this interview was that “technology has rapidly developed within the course of a lifetime” in conjunction with themes of “availability” and “growth and development”. The music attached to the interview was slightly awkward I think that the interview may be made better with clear introduction and conclusion sections, but overall this recording and edit is a good example of oral history, especially as it covers a wide range of topics and technologies.

The final interview I listened to was Melody Huerta’s interview with her younger brother on themes of “digital literacy” “ageism” “and usability”. The interviewee expresses that he’s learning new technology as quick as it is coming out, mentioning the contrast between the ease of a phone to the use of a laptop. He expresses that he feels more of an ability with a touch-screen interface. Using basic software was an exploratory practice in his educational experience. This conveys that he does not feel necessarily as reliant and savvy with digital technology as many would claim that younger generations are. This interview was conducted and edited very professionally and was a good example of oral history. I would urge Melody to record a concluding message to add to the interview to create a more polished piece of audio communication.