Will Amari: 2015 Capstone, Our Beautiful Voices

Evidence: 

Link to the website: http://ourbeautifulvoicesheyhowsyourdaygoing.weebly.com/

Abstract: 

Hello hello hello! My name is Will Amari. Welcome to my 2015 Senior Capstone Project. For this project, my partner, Alex, and I wanted to collaborate on a podcast centered around passion. It is called, Our Beautiful Voices or: Hey! How’s Your day Going? 

We wanted to use this name because we felt that it would help illustrate what we are all about: true stories, honest views, and the occasional quip from passionate people. In other words, we wanted SLA students and their beautiful voices to be heard. We wanted them to express themselves on our show and get the rundown on what they have to say on a subject or subjects that they are interested in. 

I learned so many different things about other SLA students—things that I don’t think I would have known if I hadn’t taken the time to interview them. There seems to be a lot of fire in the halls of SLA. What I mean by this is that I learned that SLA students truly do have a drive that is both refreshing and inspiring. That being said, we knew that this podcast had to be good if we were going to paint an accurate portrait of the many characters in our school. 

The work was abundant and I was afraid at times that we bit off more than we could chew, but somehow thanks to the guidance of our mentor, Mr. Douglas Herman, and to the encouragement of my partner and I, we managed to complete a professional website along with at least four completed episodes. 

I feel confident that others will enjoy our episodes and everything we have to say. 

Annotated Bibliography: 

Abumrad, Jad, and Robert Krulwich. "Http://www.radiolab.org/series/podcasts/." Audio blog post. Radiolab. WYNC, n.d. Web.

< http://www.radiolab.org/series/podcasts/ >.

Radiolab is this cool NPR podcast that was suggested to me by Mr. Best himself. After reviewing this source I saw some cool stuff that gave me many ideas. It made me think about how long I want my radio talk show to be. I noticed that the real show, made for radio, was sixty minutes. I know I didn’t want to listen to myself for that long so I thought about what I should do. On the website, Radiolab has these twenty minute shorts that get straight down to the point. I thought that (twenty minutes) would be the perfect length of a podcast. That way people can tune in on their way to and from school.

Basset, Lynda M. "Interview Tips for the Interviewer." Interview Tips for the Interviewer. Monster Worldwide, n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2015. < http://hiring.monster.com/hr/hr-best-practices/recruiting-hiring-advice/interviewing-candidate s/interview-tips-for-the-interviewerus.aspx >.

I found this source useful because it provided me with nine helpful tips for an interviewer. It’s interesting because people are always laying down the philosophy on how to become a good interviewee, and not too many people seem to realize that an interviewer has an art to it as well. I realized this is an article for a business website and not for a communications website, but I still found the source credible and started practicing some of the skills, or should I say tips, when interviewing and it is my humble opinion that it works. I found myself asking behavioral questions (tip number 2) and kept my interviews on a more, dare I say, professional level.

Davies, Sharron. "How to Involve Your Community." Sustrans. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2015. < http://www.sustrans.org.uk/change-your-travel/your-community/how-involve-your-community >.

Now, I was a little skeptical of this source at first because the author who wrote this is someone I has not heard of before. Given that is about community involvement (a main focus on my talk show) and she being an outsider from what I believe is the U.K.—what would she know about American community. Well it turns out quite a bit because I’ve learned so much from this source. In fact, I thought this source was so effective that I had to show this to my partner Alex who is really interested in community leadership. Some of the points were stuff I already knew, and could agree with, and some of them I learned. For example, playing people’s strengths. Talking about and learning about people’s ideas, hobbies, and talents on the show really enriches our interviews and thus, their voices are heard.

EduCon 2.7. What Is EduCon? n.d.: n. pag. Print.

I used the topic of EduCon as one of my topics for a show. Even more specifically, an EduCon advertisement. This was used to help me gather my thoughts when trying to explain the concept behind EduCon. EduCon is some of the many topics my partner (Alex) and I enjoy to talk about on our show. EduCon promotes education, education makes for interesting conversations. I was talking about how education was going down hill, and yet we have these wonderful conventions that do nothing but help to improve the education system of today. We also interviewed an EduCon volunteer named Imani Bey who had some interesting input.

Glass, Ira. "Http://www.thisamericanlife.org/." Audio blog post. This Week. Chicago Public Media, n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2015. < http://www.thisamericanlife.org/ >.

It may seem strange to use a radio show as a source, but you have to start somewhere. I have always admired This American Life because of Ira Glasses ability to engage the listener with the use of stories. In a way my show, and Glasses show are very similar. I use this show as a model and as a source of inspiration. I would go as far as to say that we used this show, American Life, to base it on our (Alex and I) own. This was during the beginning when we were brainstorming and coming up with ideas. Our show engages in the community the same way American Life does, which I think is very cool.

Nia Hammond. “Nia Hammond on the arts of Philadelphia.” Personal interview.

For the second interview, I interviewed Senior, Nia Hammond, to discuss the arts in SLA and in Philadelphia as well. Alex and I were curious to get her input on Philadelphia's thriving art scene as well as how SLA students contribute to the creative world. I knew Nia would have a good intake as well as an interesting philosophy. She is a praised dancer, musician, and photographer. I’ve even seen her perform, and I was very impressed. We got her to talk about herself and her achievements as well as the achievements of her fellow peers. She believes the art world is in full blast. It was interesting to hear how she expresses herself through song and dance.

Huffington, Arianna. "Breaking News." The Huffington Post. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2015. < www.huffingtonpost.com%2F >.

This source, the breaking news section of The Huffington Post, is one of the many sites that I like to get the latest of information from. I have used Huff. Po. many times before. A radio show that promises the latest of information must use reliable sources like The Post and others in order to stay up to date. This is the now. Reviewing the source, I see a wide variety of information and articles. First there are the plans for the 2016 elections and news of the patriots, and then off to the side I see news on Iggy Azalea’s new style. There is lots of information to explore here and plenty to talk about.

Long, Dylan. "Dylan Long on the Rave Culture." Personal interview.

Our first interview, which we may or may not use, was with Dylan P. Long. We figured he’d be good to talk to because of his immense interest in the rave culture with fellow teenages. He’s a photographer who goes to the rave concerts and Alex and I were interested in his point of view of the much dreaded Rave culture. His insight was very informative and convincing. Turns out he is a very good interviewer. Alex and I had our own opinions about the Rave culture and interestingly enough, Dylan agreed with me more. But that’s neither here nor there.

Seiter, Courtney. "6 Powerful Interview Tips." Web log post. Buffer Social. N.p., 7 Jan. 2014. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. < https://blog.bufferapp.com/6-powerful-communication-tricks-from-some-of-the-worlds-best-in terviewers >.

This source, I know is a blog, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be effective and useful. In the blog she, Courtney Seiter, writes the 6 powerful communications tips. I found this site useful for a radio show personality because it is all about radio skills. I discovered it was a fairly decent blog. It talks about preparing notes, but not to be afraid of going off script. One could learn a lot, be daring, research, listen carefully. Then of course, Seiter offers examples of where interviews have gone successful—using Katie Couric and Gay Talese as examples. Seems pretty legit.

Stirewalt, Chris, Howard Kurtz, Dana Blanton, Howard Kurtz, and Serafin Gómez. "Politics." Fox News. FOX News Network, n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2015. < http://www.foxnews.com/politics/index.html >.

Ah yes. I know it’s a common taboo to use Fox News as a resource, but I can’t help myself. I can’t say I’m open minded until I get news and ideas from all perspectives, even if that perspective is the conservative type or better yet fabricated. I like to get the point of view from all angles—look at the full picture—that’s why I read/watch Fox News politics It comes in handy whenever you wish to intensify debates. Whenever the conversation gets dry, I play devils advocate and use Fox News to guide me. This will challenge the interviewee and sometimes even my partner, Alex.

Winter, Jennifer. "How to Play the Devil's Advocate (Without Being Evil)."How to Play the Devil's Advocate (Without Being Evil). Daily Muse, n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2015. < https://www.themuse.com/advice/how-to-play-the-devils-advocate-without-being-evil >.

Now this resource I find to be just plain old fascinating. Devil’s Advocate had always been a social concept that intrigues me. This lovely article, written by Jennifer Winter, is all about how to use Devil’s Advocate effectively and correctly, without being too mean which I think is important to know. Winter seems to have a lot to say and I can’t wait to use more of her tips to spice up the conversations on our radio talk show. In the article she mentions the importance of listening, following along as well as knowing the right time to play the part. This could come into use in real life.