Course Overview
Course Outcomes
In this two-day certificate earning workshop, you will learn the basics of smart speaker functionality, how to structure an interactive story, and how to record, edit, and publish your own smart speaker interactive story.
You will learn:
- Smart speaker core technology and applications
- How to develop story ideas and write for specific types of interactivity
- The range of stories currently playing on these devices, from hard news to interactive fiction
- Story architecture in video games and film platforms like Netflix, and how to apply this to interactive smart speaker stories
- Planning and work flow techniques
- To design, script write and record an an interactive audio story for smart speakers
- You will leave with a completed interactive story for an Alexa-enabled device ready for submission to the Alexa store
This workshop is an entry level workshop and requires no previous audio experience. If your interest is to learn to podcast or develop advanced audio skills please refer to the Podcasting: Telling Stories In Sound Workshop or the Podcast Bootcamp.
Work Sample
Who Should Attend?
Podcasters, audio editors, multimedia producers, media professionals, content marketers, communications and PR, journalists, educators, and web producers.
Tuition
$[ts_format_number][/ts_format_number] USD
We encourage team work! Bring a colleague or friend and receive additional tuition discounts. Contact us at advancedmedia@journalism.berkeley.edu for more information.
Prerequisites
Requirements
- This is an introductory course; no previous podcasting experience is required.
- Ability and willingness to learn new equipment and software.
- Basic computer literacy and skills.
- All participants must bring their own laptop for use during this workshop. It must be WiFi ready. Note that a Chromebook WILL NOT work and Lenovo laptops are known to be incompatible with some software used in this course.
- Two- weeks prior to the course, you will receive a preparation email with a list of software to install. It is reported that work laptops often do not allow new installation without admin permission. Some software even require up-to-date operating system to run. Thus, it is important to have everything installed in advance. Note that this email might be in the spam folder.
- If your laptop is not in working order during the workshop, you may rent one from us. The fee for rental is $45 per day (from 9 am-4pm).
- Before the course begins, you will be invited to a collaborative Box folder where the assets for the course will be stored. Please download the assets before the course begins, as these are large files that may take time.
- Please bring a pair of personal headphones to work with.
- Proficiency in English (instruction is delivered in English).