Copyright and creativity

Posted on September 16, 2010 by Stephen Eyre

One of the great things about being a student whilst working is that occasionally , you meet a subject in one part of your life from a fundamentally different perspective, in another part. Following a link on a fellow research students Facebook page led me to this YouTube clip that is a discussion of copyright and creativity from an experimental music perspective. There was (and is) a movement in music of re-sampling  pre-recorded music to create new works that whilst were sometimes entirely made up of sampled material, were nonetheless original works of art. This was taking place on the fringes of academia in the last century before copyright threats began to close the practice down. However, the concept of creating new art from old was radically established and the practice of sampling is, of course,  rife today – though normally not in the way Chris Cutler describes in:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Audio-Culture-Readings-Modern-Music/dp/0826416152/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284647823&sr=8-1

This YouTube clip is interesting for educators in the way it critiques copyright and uses a very distinct example of what is happening with copyright – the tensions that intellectual property provoke in our society.

The Amen Brake

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Pure data

Posted on May 4, 2010 by Stephen Eyre

Pure data is a graphical programming application that allows for a wide variety of sound design, either with oscillator objects or from outside sound files. It been around for quite some time and has a famous commercial sibling in MAX MSP. Pure Data is free to download and use and is available cross platform. Like all good open source software, it has been enhanced by other developer/users and is now certainly well established in academic music departments. Like many other good open source examples it has suffered a little from having a less than intuitive gui interface and difficult to find documentation/tutorials.

That has changed recently with the existence of:

http://www.pd-tutorial.com/

This clear introduction might not be the only resource available for Pure Data but it is very clearly written comes high on search results for the application. Even someone with little programming experience can work through the material and see some progress. In the absence of a well-taught class (still unsurpassed for turbo-charging your learning), it has given me enough help explore the software with enough enthusiasm to try and use it in forthcoming projects.

As a teacher it points to the value of good support materials. A combination of core class support and excellent online material for long term learning support is a powerful blend that offers continuous  benefits to the users.

the pure data interface and a working file

The main PD interface and a working file in the right window. A simple patch that plays pitches chosen by mousing over the number box at the top of the diagram.

If you are interested in music and sound and havn’t given Pure Data a test run you should. It won’t suit everyone but if you like exploring sound and sound design, it is well worth the effort.

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Workflows

Posted on February 4, 2010 by Stephen Eyre

We’ve been discussing workflows and how to support them in our teaching recently at ITLP. The idea that many applications can be dipped into to create a fluid workflow that modifies to the user’s specific needs isn’t that new – but it is difficult to anticipate in teaching support and still requires core knowledge of each individual part of the process. How do you teach people the freedom of creating workflows if you are not a master of all the components (an impossible task, especially when you consider the growing presence of web 2.0 in academic practice)?

I think in this arena, expectations have to shift. Teachers might adopt the approach of the adventurous scout rather than the master of a controlled environment. And users should adjust their expectations of a carefully planned master tutorial to something much more open-ended and introductory in nature. The pay-off is of course sessions that open up new possibilities of outcomes as well as greater knowledge of an applications use – teaching that genuinely changes accepted paradigms and gives academics fresh options.

Software manufacturers are aware of this trend – a core strength of iLife has always been it’s ability to share data amongst its applications and produce a blended output to the user’s wishes. Microsoft’s launch of Office 2010 will see further integration and key leaps into Web 2.0 output such as sharing a PowerPoint online with a single key stroke. How we disseminate our work (how to make this easy/simple) is sharply in focus at the present and there is no reason to think that this will change. We are living in an age when the user and his/her individual demands are being addressed by integration and sharing.

Where all this will end is not clear but it certainly makes new demands of teaching. Whilst there will always be a need for focussed and expert tutorials in key and specialised apps, there will be a growing demand to step outside of  the parameters of a particular product and think creatively about delivering possibilities as well as givens. Our long standing relationship with our users will be a huge asset once again as we deliver teaching to meet these creative times.

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My iPad wishes

Posted on January 29, 2010 by Stephen Eyre

As the whole industrialised world knows, Apple have launched the iPad and it seems set to sell very well. Basically an expanded iTouch, the increased screen size and the continuing explosion of media to take advantage of it will make it one of the key consumer products of this year.

When I heard that a tablet device was immanent and didn’t know it would be based on the iTouch/Phone technology I was hoping for the processing power and application set that come with the macbook level of  product.Working with pro apps using a touch based interface would have been revolutionary and worthy of the “game-changing” hype that the iPad received. I am told rumours exist of an Imac with some touch based interfacing being available sometime in Autumn. I genuinely look forward to that as a giant leap. Mocking up multimedia projects using hand gestures and then being able to zoom in and lock movement to a grid to facilitate fine editing would be infinitely preferable and faster than mouse and keystroke manipulation. Post-production real-time effect mixing and automation would become a pleasure and a whole generation of new users would find their creative software more immediate and intuitive to use.

Lets not forget that the art of creating and the craft of production often demand opposite approaches and any improvement in the interface of the two is going to reap real rewards.

As for the iPad, it can only help with our Podcast marketing and we will be able to use it to show off the wider educational market of free and inspiring media that is now available.

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The emerging teacher

Posted on January 14, 2010 by Stephen Eyre

Hello and welcome to my blog. As this is my first post, I think it would be a good idea to say something about my experiences as a relatively new recruit to teaching and the computing services. I am currently engaged with teaching Word and a whole raft of multimedia software which supports our Podcasting team and hopefully gives any student a lot of confidence to try digital media projects whatever their aims.

I often suspect that the diversity of choice in this field is as bewildering to the casual user as it is empowering. Of course, much of the software available does very similar things in slightly different ways so once a project is started the choices will become clearer and task orientated. There is no substitute to having a go and the process should liberate us from the fear of new tools as we see how easily we assimilate them.

As a new teacher I am still finding that preparation is only part of the story. Like any specialist, experience is a key precursor to success and good teaching can only come through the steady accumulation of  class experiences and the confidence that you gain from that. I still surprise myself with nerves occasionally but this can only be natural at this stage and each successful class helps build up a core confidence.

In some ways the teacher is a never ending student – not only of the class subject but of the experience of teaching and the interaction with students. Its been a good choice for me as my work has been engaging and allowed me to develop work significantly.

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Mac users who  want to podcast but don’t know where to start could to a lot worse that have a look at the podcasting templates in GarageBand. GarageBand is part of the iLife suite of applications and ships free with any new mac computer for the last few years. There is a Getting Started pdf for using GarageBand as a podcasting tool in the help menu and this is a clear and easy document to read. The whole process has the dual hallmarks of iLife – Its very easy to use and gives professional results with little effort. Key features are the ability to use still images or video along with spoken word, music, hyperlinks and chapters. If this sounds complex, it is not, and if you have the software and want/need to podcast you should try it out.

There will be a course in Trinity utilizing GarageBand for podcasting from OUCS so check the courses website for times and dates:

https://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/itlp

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