Kristin Becker's DTC Classes at WSU

For my Final Reflection Blog #8, I decided to listen to Zach Larson’s, Issaya Salemsay’s, and Melissa Urueta audio story for the DTC 201 project #3.

For the 1st different audio story posted, I decided to listen to Issaya Salemsay’s audio story. Issaya’s story was about the progression of cell phones, in which he interviewed his mother. Her main message from the interview was to address how dependent society is on cell phones nowadays. In our day and age, our smartphone can control almost anything such as the tv, a gaming device, stereo system, and home alarm. This is a decent example of oral history because it addresses a major change in different generations in terms of communication.

For the 2nd different audio story posted, I decided to listen to Zach Larson’s audio story. Zach’s story was focusing on the progression of cameras. The subject of the interview was Blake Gurney. An interesting fact was when Gurney mentioned how nowadays it seems as if everyone has access to a camera with them. This is true to anyone who owns a newer version of a cellphone, smartphone, ipad, laptop, etc. This is a decent example of oral history because it addresses change in different generation’s technologies being able to have access to a camera.

For the 3rd different audio story posted, I decided to listen to Melissa Urueta’s audio story. Melissa’s story was focusing on someone’s first hands-on experience with technology. He mentioned that he has the ability to text or check his bank account or even go on social media accounts all on one device. The smartphone has made his as well as everyone else in this world’s life easier balancing work and social lives. He also claims that its a blessing yet also curse because technology can be addicting but also extremely useful. It sometimes then becomes to useful and we overuse these powers since most of the time when we have technical difficulties with technology, we seem like we are lost without it. This is a decent example of oral history because it addresses change in our cellular technological advancement being able to have our phones almost be able to do anything and everything.

For my Project 3, I decided to interview my 50 year old dad. The topic and theme for my audio-edited interview is about surgeries in my family while comparing the advancement in health technology, specifically surgeries from different generations. During the interview process, it felt kind of weird trying to interview my dad asking him the questions I wrote down instead of just talking with him because it felt less natural. It felt like I had to follow a guideline when interviewing him when instead I feel like good interviews are just when people are naturally talking. I was able to have an active conversation but I feel like I could have had a better conversation if I was a little more prepared about things to bring up. A few things seemed to surprise me when we were doing the interview. The first thing was that I seemed a little nervous, but I don’t know why because it’s my father and I am never nervous around him. As the interview view went on, it seemed to be normal and went good. Even after the questions I wanted to discuss, the interview kept going even though it wasn’t documented. Even though I interviewed my father, I also wish I would have interviewed another person like my mom or grandma since they’ve been their for my fathers and I’s surgeries. The most prominent themes that surfaced in relation to technology was surgery and the advancement of health technology. The advancement in surgery is a crazy thing because how technology has developed, its made surgeries a lot faster and the recovery time quicker like orthoscopic surgery that I had. Finally, I decided to edit the interview into the audio story I turned in because it best reflected my knowledge of the audio audition program and also I thought it sounded good.

Brandon Bliesner – Interviewed his father Brain Bliesner and talks about the walkman vs the ipod. They discuss the differences between the two, one being that the walkman was only around $150 and the ipod was about $399. One story his father talks about during the interview is when the first time he used a walkman was back in 1970 when he was cutting asparagus in the fields and how it helped to pass the time. This was a great interview and was very smooth, overall great quality. The father mentions how the ipod had a much more convenient the ipod is as how it was much easier to use than a walkman because a walkman would skip and you would have to get individual cds for it. This was a great example of an Oral History.

Melody Huerta – Interviewed her younger brother Dorian. Although this is supposed to be an oral history she interviews her younger brother and asks him what digital literacy means. She also asks him if he ever feels pressured to learn a new technology and or if technology is advancing faster then our generation can comprehend. This was an interesting interview but I wouldn’t say it’s a good example of a oral history because she interviewed her younger brother, therefore the history aspect was missing. It was also majority of her talking, there were multiple long pauses an lots of ums that all could of been edited out.

Melissa Urueta – Interviewed her friend’s older brother Garrt and he stated that the smartphone was the first technological device that had an impact on his life. He has the ability to text/check his bank/go on social media/ connect with his work. The smartphone has made his everyday life easier between work and social life. He claims its a blessing and a curse because technology can be addicting but also extremely useful. Although when technology crashes it can make his work life every difficult. This was a solid overall interview of a oral history and only had a few editing errors.

For my final reflection is listened to three very well done oral history projects created by my classmates. First, I listened to Chrisitian Solovey’s interview with DJ Tommy Gunz. Christian’s questions focus on music equipment throughout Tommy’s life. I found it interesting that his first run in with DJ equipment was in 1996 when his friend had two turn tables. DJ Tommy Gunz talks about “mixing songs together” back when he was younger which I found very interesting because in today’s music mashups, which is mixing songs together, is still very popular. I found the concept of CDJs very intriguing because I have never seen one of those before. Also, this was the first DJ equipment Tommy Gunz has ever owned when he started his career in 2003. Now, Tommy Gunz uses music from his computer to create beat. I think it’s shocking how much DJ equipment has changed over time. I think this story is very relevant to technological development because with the new DJ equipment, it makes it easier for DJs to create music that expresses themselves and makes their audience engaged. Also, with the new technology DJ’s can create more variety. I think this story is a perfect example of oral history because Christian asks Tommy Gunz questions about how he started DJing and what equipment he started with all the way to the present.

Next, I listened to Angela Basinger’s interview with her grandmother Donita Basinger. I love how this oral history explored technology within the medical field. One thing that really stood out to me was when Donita explained that things that used to take forever, with technology, and accomplish very little in the past now take “no time at all” and accomplish wonderful things. I think this really adds to our course’s conversation on technological development because in the medical field, time is everything and because of this technology nurses and doctors can help people faster. After, listening to Donita’s view from a medical stand point, I found it very reassuring that she mentions its important in the medical field to make the patient feel important and that they aren’t just seen as a “condition”. I think this was an awesome oral history that not only took its listener through Donita’s history with technology in the medical field but also showed many powerful messages.

Lastly, I listened to Rachel Lentz’s interview with her father Michael Lentz. This interview was a perfect oral history project because it not only explored Michaels personal journey from 1997 to now but it also had many technological development themes. I never knew that truck now days have so much technology involved in them. For example, Michael talks about how his truck has sensors that will inform the drive when they are too close to the center lines, or cameras to show behind the truck and the blind spots. Personally, I think this is an awesome advancement in trucks because I am always scared driving next to them on the freeway because they are so big and I always think that they won’t be able to see me but this interview is very safety reassuring. I like how Rachel also asked her dad about the future of commercial vehicles because it was interesting hearing his opinion on self-driving cars.

Oral History #1: Christian Solovey: I would say that this is a very good example of an oral history partly because there is a lot of talking about the advancement of the technology that they talk about. In this case the technology that they are talking about is the DJ equipment that DJ Tommy Gunz uses and has used throughout his career experimenting with music. They talk about the digital aspect of being a DJ and the technology that field originated with is becoming obsolete. The way the person being interviewed talks about being changed is that now that things are more digital when he’s up there playing music to a lot of people it may seem like he’s just pressing play. This is because as they talk about the physicality of moving around vinyls is no longer there.

Oral History #2: Melissa Urueta: In this oral history they talk about their first experiences with technology, in this case they talk about when they were young and learning about what technology is like watching television. Then later they talk about how they believed the smartphone to have had the biggest effect on their life because it is something that people recognize as having the same abilities as a computer and in our time that is still something that is relatively new. I would say this is a good example of an oral history because they talk about the effects of technology through a bigger scope than just one piece of technology and we get to hear of an experience with many different technologies throughout the years.

Oral History #3: Milo Larson: They talk about the interesting point in time where computers were starting to become something many people could access. I think the interesting part was when they talked about having typing classes, that is something that I didn’t have and so I found it interesting that people older and even my age were introduced to computers in school. I would say this is a good example of an oral history because they make sure to cover how that person felt about that specific advancement in technology.

For the final blog I decided to review the interviews of Rachel Lentz, Melissa Urueta, and Juan Guzman.

Melissa Urueta: After listening to Melissa’s audio clip a few times, one of the things I liked the effects of using chilling background music. Very similar to my interviewee, her interviewee talked about the influence the smartphone had on him. Talked about how we have the whole world at our fingertips with the smartphone. You can check emails, bank accounts and the like all from a small device in your pocket. Also during the interview, they talked about that there are disadvantages to smartphones like a short attention span, how social media affects us and using an example from the restaurant industry if the power went out then they have no way to get orders in and the like making it much harder to serve people. Overall the interview seemed like it went good for both the interviewer and interviewee.  

Juan Guzman: Listening to Juan’s interview is very cool to learn about another one of friends experience with music growing up. The person Juan was interviewing was a friend from my hometown Sebastian and him being older than me his perspective on listening to music is different than my own. Some of the elements from the interview I enjoyed was when Sebastian was talking about listening to music from boomboxes. It’s interesting to me because I only saw people use those in movies so finding out they were actually used in real life was really cool to learn. Also similar to my interviewee, Sebastian talked about using Limewire to get his music growing up as well. I liked this interview it was very insightful.

Rachel Lentz: Last interview I listened to was again a very extremely interesting video, with Rachel interviewing her father a former UPS driver. I liked how the interview flowed smoothly with Rachel asking the right questions to actually make it more like a conversation. I found it interesting to learn about all the technology that goes into the UPS trucks that I had no clue on. Also it was interesting to learn about what an older person thinks about the way vehicle transportation is going with stuff like self driving cars. This interview was definitely one of the more interesting ones I listened, very nicely done.

Angela Basinger interviews her grandmother, Donita, about the technological advancements in hospice care and how these changes have influenced the job experience. Donita is a retired nurse who highlights the efficiency and accuracy of the technologies we have today compared to her time in the field. These progressions have eliminated a lot of the long and inaccurate methods she had to use back in the day. Donita shares the example of the thermometer where, nowadays, all they do is take a wand to your head and have the information they need in seconds. Donita worries that people today are becoming so dependent on technology that they have forgotten the importance of a personal connection. This is a good example of oral history because it shows the progression of a technology and how it has impacted society.

Issaya Saleumsay interviews his mother about the progression of cell phones. She shares about having her first brick phone and what it was like sharing the same device as everyone else. Her main message from the interview was to address how dependent society is on cell phones nowadays. In the digital age we find ourselves in, you can control a significant amount of technology from your pocket including your car, home, alarm systems, etc. This is a decent example of oral history because it addresses a major change in generations in terms of communication and instant gratification.

Jaclyn Erickson interviews her Aunt Melissa about record players and how the technology has held onto its nostalgic experience. Melissa begins talking about her dad owning a record player with a collection of albums to go along with it. She shares how it use to be a bonding experience between her friends as they go over to each other’s houses and share their personal music collections. The two discuss how the record player has many variations now including a compact portable version Jaclyn owns. Overall, this was a great example of oral history because it illustrates a different perspective on the progression of technology. Sometimes, technology can provide an experience efficiency can’t replace.