S5: Digital Speech

S5: Digital Speech

screenshot of lonelygirl15 video blog -- a young woman in medium close-up addressing the camera
lonelygirl15, an early YouTube channel
that turned out to be a hoax

Combining public speaking + digital technologies

YouTube launched in 2005, and changed public speaking forever. Suddenly, anyone with an internet connection could speak to a million people.

Online speeches or presentations are now a huge (and entertaining) part of the public speaking landscape. To understand how to succeed in this context, we’ll study a variety of online videos and YouTube channels. For this “speech” assignment, you’ll produce your own video on a topic of your choosing.

This assignment is very open: you can choose any bicycle-related topic and you can try to reach any audience. (If you are unsure about the appropriateness of your idea, or whether it’s bicycle-related enough, just ask me.)

Here are a few options (based on common genres of online videos and podcasts):

  • investigate something and tell us about it, the way a journalist or researcher would
  • teach or instruct us how to do something (examples)
  • share something—like a place or an experience—you think is interesting or awesome
  • show creative work (for example, art or performance)

Important ingredients:

1. Making multiple versions. I’ll ask you to record a couple different versions of your S5—call them “drafts.”

2. Reading. To prepare for this assignment, please read A Pocket Guide, pages 232-238 and 146-150. You should also review past readings for the class.

3. Writing. Along the way, I’ll ask you to write a few things so that I can better understand your goals of your S5 (these will be turned in via your course blog):

  • an outline and storyboard of your idea
  • a “script” or written text of what you plan to say
  • a description of the audience you would like to reach (with reference to A Pocket Guide, 36-46)
  • a discussion of how you will establish and maintain credibility with this audience (with reference to Tseng and Fogg, J. Treasure, W. Horner, A Pocket Guide, or other relevant sources on credibility).
  • a self-assessment/reflection
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