3 Replies to “Fracking (Olivia Wootton)”

  1. At times, you talk a little bit fast, so it’s hard to understand and process what you’re saying. I also think you should connect coal and fracking more in the beginning of the slidecast. A description of what exactly fracking is would have been helpful as well. That being said, I enjoyed your slidecast. I thought you did a good job of explaining both the positive and negative values of fracking. You didn’t just show one side or the other. I also like how you describe the interaction between different energy sources. You did a good job placing the technology in a historical context and showing how various events influenced the technology. I especially enjoyed the part about how nylon stockings affected the fracking business. I also like how you talked about the future of fracking and how it is necessary to improve the system. Good job with this project. I learned a lot!

  2. Olivia,

    I liked the fact that you gave a lot of attention to detail in your history of fracking. You gave a lot of good explanations about the social contexts of different forms of energy, such as how coal was seen as a part of manifest destiny. I also liked the addition of the discussion about nylon stockings being sold on the black market, because it is something that I had never heard of before. The idea that domestic sources of oil and gas are imported to the US because of events like the oil embargo were well explained, although I thought that you could have maybe discussed the negative environmental effects a little bit more. My biggest criticism is on the recording quality, and the fact that many of your explanations were either artificially sped up (making them high pitched and difficult to understand), or cut off. I think overall you had good quality explanations that could have been improved by the removal of some detail so that they were easier to listen to.

  3. You got a hard topic to tackle, the technology of hydraulic fracturing itself is very complex; you could do a handful of slidecasts just explaining how the process works. You did a good job building up from the conversion from water to coal power in the Industrial Revolution, the utilization and history of coal uses, and then finally the conversion from coal to natural gas. Throughout the slidecast you were sure to mention the patrons of the current technology and who was progressing the technology– that’s important context that I think a lot of people skimp on, so good job with that. Increasing the speed of the audio was creative, but it was hard to keep up with, I ended up listening to it twice because I suspected (and confirmed) that I might have missed information. I think you would have benefitted from cutting back your script, or just have it be a little longer than 6:40, rules are guidelines not God’s Law. I couldn’t help but sense a determinist view throughout the slidecast, one example was when gas for lighting began to dwindle, we just decided to put it in cars and make plastics with it, a little more context in that sense would have improved the narrative. Oh, and you forgot to include your references. Overall, I think you had a tough topic, but made out fine, it was an interesting subject that kept me engaged and captivated for the duration.

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