Class Reflection

Writing 105M was quite the experience for me.

I thought this class was going to be a breeze- a blog post here and there and a few edits on some simple images. Definitely not the case! I quickly realized that multimedia design takes a lot more effort and thought than I had originally assumed.

I also realized I'm not as computer savvy as I would have liked to think. The webbing programs were a lot harder to use than I thought they were going to be.

When we started out the class and started to use Gliffy, I thought it was such a cool new program and was excited that I knew how to use it. I was so proud of my end product and thought I was going to do so great in this class. However, my progress in this course became apparent when I looked back at the basic flow chart that I made and was initially so proud of.  I really like the fact that we started this project at the beginning of the course and finished the course with our final draft because I was able to compare my work and see how far I have come in Writing 105M.

The hardest project for me was the Photoshop project. I could definitely use some more practice with the program. I wasn't extremely happy with my final images. I need some more practice and hours watching YouTube tutorials in order to improve my skills. Photoshop is an amazing program and there are endless possibilities when someone knows how to use it.

My favorite project was the Prezi project! I loved the freedom we got when picking topics. Puppy mills are something that don't get much attention and I love to spread the word and hopefully stop people from shopping at pet stores. I got some really positive comments on my Prezi blog- so I feel really happy and flattered that people liked my project. I'm glad that my passion for the topic and Prezi skills were shown.

Overall, I loved the course. I learned web programming skills that I would have never learned elsewhere. I also learned great tips on how to put together interesting presentations, how to cater to your audience, and how to properly put together multimedia pieces. The readings taught me about how visual images and writing compliment each other in ways I had never thought about. I will always remember the importance of font and images.

Prezi Screencast

Relevant Article

https://gauchospace.ucsb.edu/courses/pluginfile.php?forcedownload=1&file=//141358/block_peachmail/attachment/1392239976/Jenkins-spreadable-vs-viral.pdf

The article I read for this blog assignment was one that Professor Dean suggested for my honors assignment. I thought this article would be cool to share because it has a lot of interesting points. The article is called "Why spreadable doesn't equal viral: A conversation with Henry Jenkins" and is written by Nikki Usher.

Henry Jenkins shares his catchphrase in this article: "If it doesn't spread, it's dead. For things to live online, people have to share it socially. They also have to make it their own- which can be as participatory as just passing a YouTube clip on as a link or making copycat videos themselves."

Spreadable media is described as "media which travels across media platforms at least in part because the people take it in their own hands and share it with their social networks."

I thought this was an interesting statement because it points how everything we do today is spreadable. We all share our pictures, stories and information through social media sites. We made quick decisions to share things on the internet that could potentially be there forever--even when we delete them. We share them through every available media platform.

We share all of these things without thinking how incriminating they could potentially be. You can post things of a crazy night out, alcohol or maybe even drugs, or other things. These things could be found by employers and can cost you your job. At the moment it seems like there can be no harm done, but they could be found later.

However, when used properly, this spreadable media can be good for news. There's constant access to news content which we are able to share through Twitter or blogs. Many people count on peoples participation is the distribution process. Readers are now encouraged to circulate the content.

It's interesting to read about this concept. Social media doesn't seem like such a big deal because we have access to it at all times. I never really stop to think about how amazing it really is (spoiled-I know). It's amazing to see the information spreads and all the different ways social media can actually be used.