Closer Than We Think (1958-1963), by Brandon Smith

4 Responses to "Closer Than We Think (1958-1963), by Brandon Smith"

Megan Reiling says:

April 28, 2014 at 12:43 am

Overall, this was a great presentation. It was very thorough and detailed in all aspects. In the beginning, it was good to say a little bit about the author of the comic strip, and I think it actually helped your presentation, especially when you quoted Radebaugh. Your analysis of each picture was well-connected to the class and you brought up a lot of good points beyond the basic contents of the pictures. You connected them well to the ideas we’ve discussed in class, especially the ideas of progress and values, and you attempted to answer the ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions. The one thing I would suggest is that there were a few points in between slides where you paused and I wasn’t sure whether or not the presentation was over. A smoother transition from one slide to another would have been an improvement, but the ideas still transitioned well from one slide to another.

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Kristen Propst says:

April 28, 2014 at 1:24 pm

Overall I enjoyed this presentation. The discussion of the Arthur Radebaugh and his comic strip was very interesting and I found that it was something I would actually be interested to learn more about since I had never known anything about it previously. I also liked that you highlighted the gender roles of the time, such as when the women would be driving the car to the grocery store, and how the roles did not change in the future. I also thought it was interesting to draw the connection between the cars of the 1950’s and the proposed cars of the future. Bringing up other comic strip authors was also something that I enjoyed to hear too. One of the critiques I would suggest is to work on the volume level of the overall presentation because it varied sometimes making a few slides much quieter than other. But other than that, it was one of the best slidecasts!

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Owen McCann says:

April 28, 2014 at 3:45 pm

I really like how you approached this slidecast. Your consistent use of images from Arthur Radebaugh’s comic helped to encompass not only ideas of one man, but also the ideas of his time. Obviously his ideas and beliefs were popular enough that he was able to sell his comics. I also found it really interesting how you pointed out that not only did when you grew up affect your image of the future but where you grew up does as well. Noticing all the similarities to Cadillac and the cars in Radebaugh’s futuristic ideas was amazing. I don’t believe I would have made those observations without them being pointed out to me. Another aspect of your slidecast I enjoyed was how you broke down some of your photos beyond just the picture as a whole. How you zoomed in and analyzed individual aspects of photos such as “Corner Grocermat” and “Walking Machine” was incredible. The only negative I can say about your slidecast is the audio was a little difficult to hear, I think you may need to speak up a little more for the next slidecast. All in all, this was excellent. Very well done.

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1. Owen McCann says:
  
  April 28, 2014 at 3:49 pm
  
  I’d like to clarify my use of the word “negative”, the audio did not have any diminishing effect on your presentation. Nothing about your slidecast was negative, the audio was simply the only aspect of the project that constructive criticism was even possible. Again very well done.
  
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