Jenna Spevack | COMD3504_OL08 | FALL 2021

Discussion: Week 13

Add a comment to this Discussion Post with questions and/or link(s) to your Research Project & Presentation in progress. Give and get feedback from your classmates and professor. Add comments on or before December 12th in order to receive feedback before the final due date.


Review the project guidelines to make sure you are clear about what the expectations are for the Research Project & Presentation. Specifically, take note of the requirements for Your Annotated Bibliography and Your Presentation Format.

Below find some helpful links for tips and tools you can use to assemble and record your Research Presentation.

If you have questions about putting together your presentation, don’t wait until the last minute. Post your questions here and/or contact: jspevack@citytech.cuny.edu

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29 Comments

  1. rahel lehar

    I will use powerpoint to make my slides on some history of 3D animation and how it affects human perception of reality. My slides will have a few bullets each and sentences that arent too long because my narration will have most of the research content

    • Eric Sukhdeo

      That’s cool that you are using bullet points, they should just be little blurbs that are meant to remind the presenter what information needs to be said instead of just reading off the slides as people do in my previous class presentations.

  2. Jenna Spevack

    Sounds good, Rahel. This is a fascinating topic. Excited to learn more about it in your presentation. Assuming you will also include visual examples in your presentation? Including examples of historical 3D animations will help the audience connect to your research, especially if you are talking about our altered perception of audio-visual reality. Clips from Terminator 2 compared with present day 3D animated immersive games for example? 🙂

  3. Zi Hang Lian

    Here’s my first take on my Powerpoint Presentation. Sorry if I ended butchering some author’s name (They were complicated to say and looking forward to fix that in my final speech). All author’s name will be referenced at the end of the presentation.

    In this video, I’ll go over the game itself, Genshin Impact, Game Communication Model, Controversy in this Game, and briefly talk about their social media. This speech is not perfect so I’m looking forward to feedbacks and improving it for next time. Let me know if the link works. I’ll look forward to improve for my final revision piece.

    • Jenna Spevack

      Thank you for sharing, Zi Hang! This is a very detailed presentation and you have done some excellent research.
      Here are a bunch of observations/suggestions that may be helpful to you and others:
      1. Define your main research question at the start of the presentation both verbally and in the slide text. And then make sure you refer back to the main research question to remind your viewer as you move through the slides. There are places where you go very deep into the details of the game and I lose the thread of the original question/topic. For example, if the specifics of the game don’t directly relate to the game’s communication model, leave them out (Less is More). That would allow time to present actual examples of the user feedback, such as screenshots of Tweets, a small bit of a YouTube player reaction video, and images (not links) of the fan art.

      2. More visuals, please. At several points in your presentation, the narration does not align with the slide titles and text. You could add additional slides with visual examples throughout your presentation to support and clarify what you are saying in your narration. It would be especially helpful to provide visual examples and definitions anywhere you use terms that viewers may be unfamiliar with, such as RPG = Role-playing Game, etc. Use presenter notes to help sync your narration with your slides.

      3. Provide definitions for any acronyms such as RPG or other terms that are relevant to your research topic. If they are not relevant to your research topic, then leave them out.

      4. I get completely lost when you talk about Game Player Controversy. 🙂 Are the details of the gameplay important here? I can’t tell. Are the controversies important to the communication model? Remind us how the controversies relate to your research question by showing us a diagram of the Genshin Impact communication model. How are they part of the model and what effect do they have in the message cycle?

      5. Please do not include URLs (links) in the slides – they don’t add value because we can’t click on them and they take us out of the flow. Instead, for example: embed a Player Reaction Video in your slide and play a short bit of the video as you are recording your presentation. You can mute or lower the audio as you explain your point. Then let viewers know they can find the list of links in the OpenLab Post if they want to see more. Include a heading/description for each list of links that you include in the post – with the timecode, if possible.

      Let me know if you have questions!

    • Nicholas Albanese

      This was a very interesting presentation. While I don’t play Genshin Impact myself, I’m familiar with fandom controversies and the several controversies of miHoYo’s treatment of the game. While I thought it was an interesting topic to tackle, I wasn’t clear about the research question you were trying to answer within it. I believe clarifying that during the beginning of the presentation is important and helps us understand what you are trying to answer with this presentation.

      I also believe that you can show more than just visuals of the in-game events. When it comes to discussing the topic of game service communication and how a live service game like Genshin Impact functions and thrives off of the feedback of its fans, I believe it’s important to show fan feedback on controversies such as the 1st Year anniversary event or the pay-to-win aspects of the game.

      • Zi Hang Lian

        Yeah, that’s true. I forgot about that until I listened to my speech again. I’ll try including fan feedback (I was trying to include them but I felt like it wasn’t direct enough).

    • SimonWill21

      Very Interesting topic, I personally have never played Genshin Impact but I definitely know about its popularity. I feel you don’t need to add links within the video and also that you could have short videos or even gifs showing the gameplay of the game. Also in some slides, when you are describing something the words on the slides won’t match so it sounds like you are talking about something else.

      • Zi Hang Lian

        Yeah, I know. When I re-watched it, I was confused on what my research questions were. Thanks for pointing that out.

      • Eric Sukhdeo

        Gifs are a good idea I didn’t think of that. You could include those you better showcase the audience on what Genshin is kind of like.

        • Zi Hang Lian

          I ended up not putting gifs but did include videos. You can check that out at my post.

    • Eric Sukhdeo

      Overall I think it’s a good format, I tried to play Genshin Impact but I just never really got into it. Some things you can do to spice up your presentation are using the fonts from the game for some titles of your slides and if you going to add youtube videos you make it so that the link shows the thumbnail of the video instead of just the blue link. So that would clean it up a bit. Looking forward to the finished product.

      • Zi Hang Lian

        I finished my finished product and ended didn’t do most of this except for YouTube videos.

      • Zi Hang Lian

        It’s fine, I do get bored at times too. The reason I continued playing Genshin Impact is because of Noelle. She’s my favorite character since day 1 and I used her for everything. Got lucky today with the weapon banner and got her Redhorn Stonethresher for Noelle although lost my pity to Skyward Harp beforehand.

  4. Shauntaya


    I Know the video is 12 minutes I just talk slow

    • Zi Hang Lian

      Oh, don’t worry about it. I’m not concerned about that. Nice speech, great presentation about what we learn in class. I really like the visuals near the end. Just my own opinion, I think you can add some pictures at the beginning too.

      Like F.T. Marinetti and the other movements afterwards. I think you can put a visual with explanation about those movements. I couldn’t understand those part because got too focused on reading them.

      I think it would be nice if you went easy on the text. I ended up getting distracted and not listened to much of your speech. I think if you try not to put too much information and cramming information, your timing might be lower by 2 or 3 minutes.

      Otherwise, the time I was listening to the speech was interesting.

    • Jenna Spevack

      Great work, Shauntaya! Zi Hang makes some excellent points. I’ll add a few as well. I wasn’t sure how the Futurist Manifesto fit until 9 minutes in when you presented your question. I’d suggest verbally and visually stating your research question on the first slide since that seems like it’s actually the primary topic. Design + Activism is the umbrella topic so to speak. Adding section slides that clarify the main subpoint of each section could help carry your research question throughout your presentation. It helps to keep reminding viewers of the main topic throughout.

      I agree with Zi Hang, the slides are a little text-heavy. Since you do a good job of presenting the concepts verbally, having images instead of blocks of text will do more to inspire and reinforce your ideas. I love Faith Ringold’s work, but it feels a bit disconnected from the main topic because it’s tucked in at the very end. There are many incredible African American artists who have made and continue to make work that addresses institutionalized racism. Perhaps you could add a slide called “Influence” or “Lineage” before Faith’s slide. And then add a slide or two with a selection of artists/designers who share the lineage of Emery Douglas and the Black Panther Party. This would also help to show that the movement continues today in different creative/political forms.

  5. Nicholas Albanese

    Here is a rough cut of my presentation.

    In this presentation, I examine ukiyo-e and art nouveau art, its similarities and some contemporary examples we can see today. I go into a brief history of both movements and explain the phenomena of Japonisme and how it influenced art nouveau. I then showcase some more contemporary examples to show how ukiyo-e art continues to influence western artists and how art nouveau influences Japanese artists. Finally, I cap the presentation off with the positives of cultural exchanges such as this one.

    • Zi Hang Lian

      This is an interesting speech. I really like this presentation. Especially how you included some anime for this topic which I’m a big fan of and watch often. I learned a lot about Japanese art mentioned and I do recognize some of them in your presentation.

      Let me say your presentation was too long. From the other I have watched, yours was 17 minutes. It’s fine as for now but I got bored mid-way and ended up skimming through the rest. Also, you got too much information on your presentation which may distract others and myself.

      You should condense some of the information you have in your presentation. I would say more visuals and you explaining them. You may add information but just don’t add too much. Other than that, It’s a good presentation

      • Eric Sukhdeo

        I also think that it needs to be under the 10-minute mark because as Zi already said I also got bored of it. Try to see what you can take out, even though some things may seem like you need them in there, you probably don’t. So just try to cut down on it.

        • Zi Hang Lian

          Right? I do felt like the topic’s pretty interesting though. The presentation I have seen so far has way too many text which is why I just skim through them.

    • Jenna Spevack

      Wonderful presentation, Nicholas! The structure and use of sub-section slides and your delivery were excellent. This order and clarity help to keep the viewer focused throughout. Two small things that jumped out at me 1) The template worked well to unify the presentation but was distracting (and made the citation text hard to read) when images of the work were presented. I’d suggest using a blank slide (white or black background) when presenting visuals. And wherever possible use larger examples – full slide, if possible. Much of the visual work you present is so detailed. Seeing it on a larger scale would help reinforce your observations. 2) You use the term “realistic” to describe some of Miyagawa Chōshun’s work. I generally think of this work – his and others who inspired him, like Hishikawa Moronobu, as “stylized” vs “realistic.” I will watch again but wasn’t sure what you meant by “realistic” – perhaps I misunderstood. Overall, excellent work!

  6. SimonWill21

    IN my video I talk about the history behind comic sans, its’s creator, and the reason why it garnishes so much hate from many.

    • Zi Hang Lian

      Nice history of Comics Sans. I never knew about this before. I think this is a pretty nice presentation. You showed us examples, explained concepts, etc. I don’t know if it just me but I often get distracted with too many words I ended up not paying attention to the speech.

      I was listening but I felt I haven’t absorbed much information in. I think long paragraphs works with presentation like this but I felt like I couldn’t get much out of it. Your presentation is pretty good for the most part.

      Don’t worry about me, I’m just rambling about stuff that kinds of bothers me. I just don’t like looking at long paragraphs. I’m more of a listener than a reader. Otherwise, nice speech, looking forward to seeing a even better version.

    • Jenna Spevack

      Intriguing topic, Simon! Like Zi Hang, I enjoyed learning about the history of this font. And I loved the analysis of the font. A few suggestions: 1) Spell and grammar check your slides. I noticed quite a few typos. As a general rule, language errors generally don’t instill confidence in the accuracy of the facts delivered. 2) On the slide “When Comic Sans Can Be Used,” I wasn’t sure if this was your suggestion or a recommendation from someone in particular. You might clarify the voice. 3) I agree with Zi Hang about the blocks of text. I appreciate the work that went into this research and like how you are sharing with the audience, but when you present a quote, you might put it on its own slide to make it a little easier to digest.
      Overall, great work!

    • Eric Sukhdeo

      I’m glad that you used the comic san font for the title parts of your slides and not the whole thing, it adds some variety. the colors and format all seem well to me nothing is overused. I can tell you did your research with the points and it’s good that you include the sentence that uses all the letters, I feel that’s need to be there. The only thing that bothers me is some of the background noise, I think it’s just me but there are some noises in your area that are taking away from your voice. If you can fix that, it would be good but if it is not then it’s fine.

  7. Eric Sukhdeo

    I’m a little late to the party here but here’s how I did mine. I made my presentation in google slides then I had a jpeg of each slide in a folder. Then I used audacity to record my voice and talk about each slide and save the files in one folder. Last I used adobe premiere pro to add all the clips together and watch my run time so that I do not go over the 10 min mark. I made my presentation about minimalism in advertising so my slide can be seen as minimalistic as well with little words but many photos.

  8. Jennifer Salazar

    I was able to make a google slide presentation where I added visuals and some text with details about what I was talking about. I tried explaining what my slides pertained to as I presented and tried to make it visually pleasing and entertaining. I tried to rush it a bit at the end since I was not sure how long I have been talking for and to not drag it too much. I had to record it through the screen recorder on my phone so I’m not sure if the quality is up to par.