Shanice Grocia W:14

Overall, I am actually quite pleased with how my podcast has turned out. I took a lot of time developing the transcript and implementing clips and sound recordings to produce a podcast that was not only informing, but I think quite compelling as well.

If I had more time, I would probably go back and fix any audio where my voice sounded a bit 'far away' (maybe I wasn't speaking into the microphone properly) and perhaps include an intro and outro where I introduce the podcast as the show I am emulating (Freakonomics) before going into my chosen topic.

The one piece of advice i'd like to offer future students in this course is would be to NOT leave researching to the last minute. Research is a process that is time consuming; and if done well, will give an in-depth perspective that is well rounded as well as useful. If done last minute, there may be holes or neglected issues that will be ignored in the podcast, and therefore, offer a narrowed topic.

So to do well, research well!

Shanice Grocia W14: Whats in a Name?

Does a name define your destiny? Does it have the power to unknowingly shape your life?
By asking the question: “Does a name indicate future criminal behavior?” It can stem outward and connect to a broader issue within a community that is similar to racial profiling....but instead can more or less be ‘name profiling’.

Within my podcast, I explore this concept and uncover the truth behind names otherwise known as 'distintively black' names and if a name can truly indicate criminality. 
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W14 Shanice Grocia Software

I have decided that I am going to be using the Zoom H1 Voice Recorder along with the Audacity software to edit. As I have used both these tools before during my time with CHRY 105.5, I am already have a bit of experience using both of these tools. From my previous experience as well as advice found on the website, it is important to keep the microphone in a steady place to avoid shuffling as well as keeping it in a position where your voice can be clearly heard without it breaking or coming off as too loud (which disrupts the sound).

 As for Audacity, I found out that it is best used through trial and error. As it is an editing software, it becomes less intimidating once you get the hang of trying out all of its functions and features. 

During a test trial, I recorded the very beginning of my transcript. I realized that my voice seemed as though I was reading off of a script and not very engaging. I did it again, with more focus on emphasizing certain words, and liked my outcome much better.  I will have to focus on using an 'active voice' for the final podcast.

W:14 Shanice Grocia Structure

My drawing for my podcast’s structure has a sharp incline, a downward curve, and then a second smaller “hill” type structure to a steady decline. In the section with the steady incline, this represents the buildup in where I explain my own personal experience with my name and the meaning behind “distinctively black names” as well as the history of people’s economic and social standing in the 1900’s ‘Black Power’.

The first distinctive curve in the diagram is the area in which the argument in my podcast takes a noticable shift, with Marianne Bertrand’s and Sendhill Mullainathan’s field study in employment having a name that suggests minority. As it differs from my primary study, The Causes and Consequences of Distinctively Black Names, by Steven Levitt and Ronald Fryer, it almost disproves their theory, but, as my diagram suggests, the two theories merge together to form a united understanding of the economic.

However, there is a second ‘hill’ in my diagram in which my podcast tackels another issue discusses boys with feminine names. This is where there is a slight incline and decline in the shape of a smaller hill where the theory builds up once more and combines with David Kalist’s and Daniel Lee’s study, First Names and Crime: Does Unpopularity spell Trouble? After this, there is a  final decline where I combine the studies to a final conclusion and include my own personal experience with my name.

Lastly, I counted 20 citations in 'Icon for Access'

W:14 Shanice Grocia Digging Deeper

The scholarly sources I am looking for have to do with criminal and or juvenile behavior in individuals with uncommon names. So far, the sources I already have are primary sources that I have already utilized in my pitch:  First Names and Crime: Does Unpopularity Spell Trouble? by David Kalist and Daniel Lee; as well as, The Causes and Consequences of Distinctively Black Names by Ronald Fryer and Steven Levitt. These are staple sources that offer the needed foundation information to introduce and begin my topic. They answers the questions; "What is an unpopular name?" and "What are some consequences to ethnic-sounding names?"

Some popular sources I have found in the researching process would be the study, Are Greg and Emily more employable than Lakisha and Jamal?  By Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan; and, Boys named Sue: Disruptive Children and their Peers by David Figlio. These sources are imperative to my podcast, as they discuss the economic standing as well as masculinity issues in a social context.  In continuing this process, I would like to find more sources in the field of social dynamics in order to better compare ‘popular’ and ‘unpopular’ names. In doing this, I can obtain a better understanding of the social implications outside of the workforce.

So far, all of my sources are scholarly studies and journals done by professionals. As I continue to research, I would like to explore magazine articles and news reports that discuss first names. An article in The Star, titled, My name is iPod, but call me Felon gives an interesting account of different people directly affected by their ‘odd names’. A bit more research in this area could make my overall exploration a bit more compelling.

Sources:Kalist, David E., and Daniel Y. Lee. "First Names and Crime: Does Unpopularity Spell Trouble?" (2008): 1-2. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.
 <http://noah.ship.edu/lee5/Daniel_Lee.pdf>.

Fryer, Ronald G., and Steven D. Levitt. "The Causes and Consequences of Distinctively Black Names." The Quaterly Journal of Economics 119.3 (2004): 770. The Becker Friedman Institute. Web. 15 Feb. 2014. <http://pricetheory.uchicago.edu/levitt/Papers/FryerLevitt2004.pdf>.
Menon, Venay. "My Name Is IPod, but Call Me Felon." Thestar.com. Toronto Star, 10 June 2008. Web. 15 Feb. 2014. <http://www.thestar.com/opinion/columnists/2008/06/10/my_name_is_ipod_but_call_me_felon.html>.
Bertrand, Marianne, and Sendhil Mullainathan. "Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination."The American Economic Review 94.4 (2004). Web. 15 Feb. 2014.
<http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ321/orazem/bertrand_emily.pdf>.

W14: Shanice Grocia Topic Refinement

In developing a pitch, I think it definitely helped in refining and deciding a topic to do. Before my pitch, my topic was; “What are reasons producers and authors of books use Ebonics within their works when such a heavy controversial background surrounds the language?” Ebonics is a term that was coined by a 1970’s psychologist, and attempted to define African American English. However, in researching, I discovered that my question was way too broad and needed to be narrowed down and improved.

I think doing a ‘practice pitch’ is a great way to know if a topic is too broad or possible not something that quite interests you. The ‘pitch’ could be an extremely useful pre-writing exercise for other assignments.

That is how I came up with my new show idea, “Does a name indicate future criminal behavior?” A better targeted question to analyze and explore.


A snippet of my podcast transcript:

As a follow-up to the Freakonomics podcast, “How Much Does Your Name Matter?” I decided to focus on another issue, “Does a name indicate future criminal behaviour?”  

The work of Levitt and Fryers’ discovered that the name a person holds does not directly correlate with their economic standing. However, the research I found suggests that a name does in fact relate to how people are perceived in society by:

1. Whether or not they will be offered certain jobs 
2. The initial start and chances of juvenile behaviour. 

In the study, “First Names and Crime” The authors, David Kalist and Daniel Lee stated that young citizens with less popular names could be more inclined towards crime because are treated differently by their peers, making it more difficult for them to form relationships (Kalist, Lee 2). Meaning it is not the name itself that is a problem, but rather the reaction and social environment that surrounds that name. 

But bringing it back to my question, “Does a name indicate future criminal behavior?” can stem outward and connect to  an issue within a community that is similar to racial profiling but instead can more or less be ‘name profiling’. 

W14: Pitching Shanice Grocia

When researching ideas for radio and podcast shows, I came across a posting for CBC Radio’s guide for pitching story ideas. The website lists 6 major elements for submitting a pitch. The one I found most essential was the tip: “Who You Are” This particular tip asked questions such as, “Have you hosted, produced or written for radio before?” “What led to your idea?” “What are is your background/passion?” I thought this was a concrete way to create a rapport with your audience by letting them know who you are, and what brought you to this idea and company.


Another source I discovered with relevant information regarding pitches was PhilMickinney.com. In his podcast, Making the Innovative Pitch he introduces the concept of , “Working from their Perspective”. This basically meant knowing the audience you are pitching to and looking outside of your pitch with a subjective mind. Within the podcast, he states, “Put yourself in the shoes of the person or persons who will hear your pitch. What is their perspective? What in their history defines how they will look at your idea?” I thought this was a very good idea, especially if students within this course pitch their podcast ideas in the future. By working from their perspective, a pitch can be better edited and suited for those that will hear it. Researching your audience is a major key.

The last and final source I found that related to pitches was an article by Lisa B. Marshall titled, How to Make a Good Pitch. Although this referred to pitches in general and not specifically podcast/radio broadcasting, I found the 5 step tip to be transferable. She states, by using a condensed version of the elevator pitch, a solid foundation to your overall pitch is created. By answering the questions, How you help, What you do, Why you're the best/different and a call to action sets up a 5 sentence foundation a pitch for any discipline can grow from. 

With the research I found, I knew that prior to my presentation, I need to have researched the show I am emulating a bit deeper to find out more about other podcasts they produce while also researching my own topic more as well. I need to be ready to answer any questions and build a rapport with my audience while also keeping it to the point and relatively short.





"CBC Radio Pitch - Index." CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, Aug. 2013. Web. 25 Jan. 2014.


McKinney, Paul. "Podcast: Making The Innovation Pitch." Phil McKinney. 15 Jan. 2007. Web. 25 Jan. 2014.
Marshall, Lisa B. "How to Make a Good Pitch." Quick and Dirty Tips. Mignon Forgarty Inc, 17 Nov. 2011. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.

W14 Shanice Grocia Topic Selection

I have chosen the podcast show Lexicon Valley, and decided to focus on, “Jumping Salty in the O” a podcast by Bob Garfield and Mike Vulou that discussed the topic of Ebonics.  The actual phrase “Ebonics” is one that is highly confusing and controversial because of the issue - what does it really refer to? The term was first coined in 1970 by a psychologist and attempted to define African American English. The question still remains however; what exactly is African American English? Is it broken English? A dialect? Vernacular speech? Or is it a separate language on its own?

I found it quite interesting how African Americans not only have a sub-culture, but also a debateable language under the bigger umbrella of English. An interesting factor that the podcast brought into play was the Kathryn Stockett debate. The popular book and Grammy nominee film, The Help, was written by the Caucasian author, Kathryn Stockett. She uses the sub-language, Ebonics within her writing to portray the lives and stories of the African American characters within her work. The debate, however, was if she even had the authority or should have even used this dialect in the first place.

Through listening to this podcast and using Spark (Student Papers and Academic Research Kit) to narrow and define my topic, I found the “Describe” “Analyze” “Connect” options to be the most helpful tools in better understanding and critiquing what the assignment is asking for. These options explain the term for better comprehension and can even be contrasted with the next page that offers “Disciplinary Approaches” for different faculties.

In conclusion, I’d like to narrow this topic to focus on Ebonics in relation to the production of film and literature. What are reasons producers and authors of books use Ebonics within their works when such a heavy controversial background surrounds the language? Through using SPARK, It has allowed me to recognize the audience as active thinkers in my podcast. Hence the reason why I decided to ask a question that opens up to many possibilities and critiques. Students in my position should always keep in mind that the audience is not always passive, and may not agree with the stance the podcast-broadcaster may take.

W14: Introductions Shanice Grocia

Hello there!

My name is Shanice Grocia, and I am a Professional Writing and Communications double major. I joined both majors after the end of my first year – guess you can say I found my ‘true calling’! I have a great interest in studying journalism and editorial. Through volunteering at CHRY 105.5 FM and the York University campus paper, I have experienced a bit of both of these fields; but would love to take a course focused on both of them. I’m actually pretty excited for the short podcast episode being featured in this term! I don’t actually make or listen to podcasts at all, but “On the Media” would be a great topic to explore. 

I've done research for other courses, but it was mainly searching for quotations for use in essay writing. This research was usually done through the York Library website and other online databases. This being said, I have not used information management softwares such as RefWorks or Zotero. By the end of this course, I hope to have gained a better handle of researching and a strategy to make it as efficient as possible.