Month: September 2025

I revisited the Audacity training.

The training already covers the essentials—navigating the toolbar, recording audio, selecting and trimming tracks, adjusting volume, copyright, etc.

The training itself is pretty solid. It has a clear, logical progression from installation to export, good visual aids, and a practical focus on tasks Fellows will actually need. I especially appreciate that it includes an accessibility section since that’s often overlooked. That said, I think it could use a more robust troubleshooting section specifically for recording issues – microphone not detected, audio sounding muffled, that kind of thing. These are super common first-time frustrations. Adding a quick reference guide of keyboard shortcuts would also be helpful since they save so much time once you learn them (e.g, Ctrl+Z for undo). Maybe you could also include a brief section on file formats too, explaining when to use .mp3 versus .wav and what bitrate settings mean for quality and file size?

For leveling up, I’d recommend future fellows focus on multi-track editing (good for podcast production), noise reduction (this can really improve audio quality!). Also, equalization (EQ) helps make voices sound clearer and more professional. Beyond that, learning to use labels to mark sections of long recordings would be incredibly helpful for oral history projects, and getting used to the Envelope Tool for precise volume adjustments would be good too.

Audio editing is one of those skills where you learn best by doing and by making mistakes, so I’m glad that the Vivero training involves messing around with it! I think overall, the training provides a strong foundation, and with a few additions focused on troubleshooting and intermediate techniques, it would give Fellows everything they need to produce professional-quality audio projects!

I’ve always considered myself as more of a “software girly” — I was used to solving problems through code on my computer. But Vivero has pushed me into unfamiliar territory which I think has been my biggest area of growth so far!

Learning how to use most of the hands-on tools found in the Burling basement (3D printers, Cricut machines, etc.) has been a complete shift from my comfort zone, but it’s been such a refreshing change of pace. There’s something deeply satisfying about creating something physical after years of working purely in digital environments.

For areas of weakness, I find myself being overly cautious with expensive or unknown hands-on equipment (due to my lack of experience with hardware). My hesitation sometimes holds me back from fully exploring what these tools can do.

Without a doubt, learning how to use the 3D printers has been my favorite discovery as a Vivero fellow. There’s something magical about watching a picture from a digital file transform into a physical object, layer by layer. The process appeals to both my technical side (optimizing print settings, troubleshooting issues) and creative side (endless possibilities).

Considering what I’ve gotten good at, what I’d like to improve, and what I’ve enjoyed learning, I want to focus my professional development on becoming truly comfortable with our new H2D printer. This machine represents the perfect intersection of my interests – it’s technically challenging while offering incredible creative possibilities beyond just printing. Specifically, I want to

• Make reliable, clean prints
• Learn proper maintenance: replacing left-hand filament and swapping nozzles
• Learn how to remove the nozzle attachments to replace with a pen for pen plotting
• Experiment!

My first priority is getting comfortable with standard 3D printing on the H2D. I want to build a solid foundation before exploring advanced features. The first step is simple — just have more practice!

While it might seem like a basic choice compared to the other technologies we covered, I selected Excel because I know I’ll use repeatedly throughout my career. I realized that while I can navigate Excel’s basic functions, I haven’t fully explored its more powerful features that could make me significantly more efficient. The original training did a solid job covering fundamental formulas and basic data manipulation. However, I think it could be improved by proving more real-world datasets. The examples were clean and simple, but messy, realistic data would better prepare us for the “real world”. Showing how Excel works alongside other tools (importing from databases, exporting to other applications) would be valuable. I also wish the training mentioned more keyboard shortcuts.

This refresher reinforced that sometimes the most “boring” skills are actually the most practical ones. This semester, I want to focus on building a toolkit of versatile skills that complement my technical programming abilities.

With a semester of Vivero experience under your belt, what advice do you have for new Fellows about the idea that this job involves learning how to do your job on the fly?

Just go for it! Honestly, it seems intimidating at first but once you get the hang of it, it’s not that bad—and the tutorial is literally designed to walk you through everything. I actually think learning on the fly is the most fun part of the job anyway. Plus it’s great practice since many jobs in the real world will have you figuring things out as you go. If you have any questions, just ask the other Vivellos around you! Everyone’s super helpful and we’ve all been there.