Project Update for October 2023

Two longer YouTube posts this month – the first was another chapter reading, the other was a video discussing train sizes in a creative way. Dreaming of No Laundry I wrote this chapter ages ago and thought it would be a good sample chapter. I practiced reading the chapter aloud, making more edits in the process. When I recorded, I was more or less able to get a reading in one session where I didn’t feel I needed many edits. I received feedback from other videos that I should talk slower so I left a lot of the pauses in this one. For the visual, I used a recording of a white duvet in a washing machine. This seemed to have a soporific effect and was apropos the topic of laundry. However, the video quality didn’t seem to hold up after uploading to YouTube. However, overall, I was pleased with the result. For the thumbnail, I took a still of the laundry which happens to look a big like clouds – so the image works both for laundry as a topic and dreaming. I then added a few spinning phi logos. Trains and Barbie’s Arm I’ve wanted to present the concept of different sizes of objected managed by the next internet for a while. I remember the confusion of some people thinking I wanted to route a full-sized train in their homes. To explore these concepts, I filmed toy trains. I knew I wanted to discuss trains on a human […]

Project Update for September 2023

This month’s achievement was posting the first episode of my first podcast: The Podcast Process The jump from 5 minute videos to a 30 minute podcast felt big. YouTube requires creators to post video with podcasts. But I considered a YouTube podcast to be a mostly audio experience. So I hoped I could get away with basic graphics. This kept production more manageable. However, creating this podcast still took a lot of work. I’ve been wanting to do something with Bill Gates’ climate book for a while. I first read it back in 2021. The project sat at the back of my mind for a while. Then a few months ago, I started putting together notes. Later I created slides. Eventually, I recorded a draft audio, wrote and edited a transcript of that audio, followed by editing and more editing. Each step took a while. I would move on to other things but kept coming back. Finally I completed a draft I thought was good enough to share. I sent a draft to kind friends. They said it was good to publish so I did after making even more edits. New York Times Climate Forward Event This episode was already in the works when I learned the New York Times was hosting an event with Bill Gates. In addition to interviews about climate change, the New York Times hosted a slack channel for participants. I rushed production of this episode to have something to share on the slack channel. I […]