Assignment #2: Listening and Blogging

OK, we're doing good so far. Everyone has a blog and twitter account. We're going to use our blogs quite a bit and I want us to share our work with one another this way, too. So, look at the boxes to the right - you'll see I have links posted to everyone's blog and twitter accounts. Go in and bookmark them, or RSS them, and check them often.

For the weekend, I want you to do a few things:

1. Twitter

There are a couple of articles about Twitter I want you to read:

How Twitter Creates a Social Sixth Sense and
Friends Swap Twitters and Frustration

Tweet at least 10 times over the weekend.

2. Listen and Blog

During class we're going to talk a bit about creating a sense of location, especially with sound. For this part of the assignment I want you to pick 3 very different locations. At least one should be a public space - restaurant, theme park, work, etc. - and one should be a "quiet" place - a lake, your patio, bedroom, etc. Your choice on the third but make it different from the other two (don't go to a different part of the park, etc.).

When you get to this space, close your eyes and just listen. Try to be there alone. If you can't avoid people that's fine but we aren't listening to conversations here. We want to listen to the natural sound of this space. Do you hear instects buzzing? Car horns in the distance? The whoosing of an overhead fan? Conversations? (Very likely if you're in a public space...)

Spend at least 5 minutes in each spot and pick out as many sounds as possible. In your blog, use those sounds to describe the place where you were.

When we come back on Tuesday we're going to see if we can recognize your locations, so be as descriptive as possible!