Jason Woo

Exchange student - BA Sound Arts 23/24
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Journal

Thoughts on Strikes in the UK

It has been nearly two months in the UK and it seems that strikes are getting less recently or maybe there is still a lot but I just don’t really know. I just had a quick check on this and I found out there is a website that lists all the strikes happening. This is the link towards the website.

UK Strike Action Calendar (strikecalendar.co.uk)

Honestly, as an exchange student, clearly strikes are unbeneficial to me. I cannot do anything but wait for the class to start. However, I understand and I respect those who strike. Unfortunately, this is probably the only way to fight for a better situation. People could have just stopped striking if they can get what they want simply by writing a petition letter to the government or the CEOs. I mean who would prefer the hard way and disrupt people’s life in order to raise awareness (Except for those extreme climate activists)? But in reality, this will never happen and people keep suffering.

Regarding this, my homeland, Hong Kong had learnt a hard lesson. When the Hong Kong government planned to establish the extradition law back in February 2019, many people raised their concerns and made petitions against the establishment of the law. The government neglected the voices of the people, and so nearly 2 million people came out and protested on 9 June. Just imagine how stunning was that. Unfortunately, the government was not happy with it so they just started to arrest a lot of people. This brought a lot of tension between the people and the government. People started to damage the buildings and shops of the government and those who support them. I am not going to explain more here because this is not something I want to talk about here. What I would like to say is that, in reality, there is no way but to start disrupting the social structure when those with power refuse the will of people. They are afraid because they are scared of losing their power so they will be more harsh as the tension goes up.

As a foreigner, I am concerned about the future of the UK. I see more and more chaos happening around us. This is a sign of the dawn of civilization and once again, we are repeating the history. I also see people are getting more and more selfish, on both sides. They lack empathy and are emotionally driven, where they only see the speck of sawdust on the opponent side and pay no attention to the plank in their own eye. My thoughts on strikes would be, the citizens of the UK should be the only people to be responsible for their country. No matter good or bad, they will need to face the consequences. During these times, is there a way towards peace? I would doubt that for now, but what I could do for myself is stay alert, be rational and think critically.

Categories
Sound for Screen Specialising and Exhibiting

Week 2 in Sound for Screen

Strikes over, and finally, I am starting my semester (oh wait, it’s called “block” here)!

Today we had a brief introduction about the course, and it was the first time I met all my classmates in person. During the second half of the lesson, we did some recordings at the Sy Mary’s Churchyard Playground near the LCC campus. Each of us had a Zoom H5 recorder and recorded the sounds around us.

Research revealed that a person hears 20,000 to 30,000 words every day. With other sounds included, we are surrounded by millions of noises, music and sounds within 24 hours. Although we hear a lot from time to time, we usually neglect them as we are used to seeing more than hearing. Whenever we describe a place, we would mention how the scenery is instead of how it sounds. Isn’t it?

So, my focus in this lesson would be: What sounds make this place a park? How can I prove I am at a park by the sounds around me?

And so I started to record the sounds around and sort them into different sounds that built this place. I mainly sorted them into 3 kinds of sounds:

Organic Sounds

Organic Sounds are the sounds that are caused or made by nature. To me, these are the main sounds that shape the environment of a park, as a park contains more objects from nature, like trees and leaves. In another way, places

Leaves and grasses blown by the wind

Leaves and grasses are on the grass area of the park.

Bird flapping their wings

There were a group of birds behind me, and I recorded the sounds of them flapping their wings. It was quite difficult as they would easily fly away if I approached them aggressively.

Mixed Sounds

Mixed Sounds are objects from nature that generate sounds from artificial objects. I think these are the sounds that combines the nature and the city.

Footsteps on the leaves and grasses

Unless you are really drunk, you probably would not walk on grass except when you are in the countryside or in parks. Here’s a recording of me walking in the park. You can also hear that there are some rock pebbles that suggest this is not a rock-solid brick road:

Non-organic Sounds

Non-organic sounds are the sounds that are generated by artificial objects

Construction sites’ noise

There are several construction sites around the LCC campus (I heard that one of them will be the new campus of LCC) so I heard some noiese

Vehicles’ engine and horn noises

Elephant and Castle is a pretty busy place at all times as it is close to Central London and there are many vehicles travelling around.

There are some audio features that tell and prove that I am located in a park. Jessica, our tutor, mentioned that when recording sounds, try to think about the distance, frequency and angle of the source of the sound. Based on this, I have 2 reasons to prove that I am in a park:

1. The sounds of construction and vehicles are quite far away from where I am located. In terms of the distance, I am not in a busy place. Here is another recording of me staying in the park. Although the noises might be loud, the noises from the vehicle are audible and it sounds far.

2. I found that people in the park generally speak softer and more relaxed (except for the kids enjoying the facilities in the park). This results in them talking in a lower tone of voice. I assume this is because the park is a place to chill and I felt the same the longer I stayed there.

Found a squirrel from the park. Cute!
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About me

Hello world!

Hi everyone! My name is Jason, and I am an exchange student from the University of Technology of Sydney. I am studying BA Sound Arts in Year 2 for one semester. Nice to meet you all!

Here’s a picture of me.