Synopsis

This semester, I learned about various forms of digital journalism, like podcasts, email newsletters, and blogs. Our discussions of ethics were interesting, and I liked looking into case studies like the one about altering quotes because they helped me discern the most important parts of a story and how to stay ethical while writing. Our talks about AI revealed ways journalists can combat industrial automation with more opinionated, creative writing. This class exposed us to new technologies that affect the journalism industry, so we understand how to set ourselves apart as writers. I liked learning about the basics of creating a website, and I will be able to apply this post-graduation. 

Developing the Story Project

Working on this project was challenging because I didn’t want to do any of the ideas I submitted earlier in the semester. I tried to approach people walking around campus to interview instead of using my friends. I ran into an issue when one of my sources returned after telling their parents they were interviewed for an article. The parents were uncomfortable with having their financial information revealed in any way, so I had to make one of my sources anonymous. While I know having anonymous sources is unideal, I didn’t think this impacted the story's credibility and the validity of the anonymous source’s experience. 

During the project, I got the opportunity to use AI technology to help with the creation of my story.  I recorded my interviews and used the program Otter.ai to transcribe and summarize the interview’s main points. I also learned how to make an infographic that effectively communicates a message and relates to my story’s content. I think this story also gave me the opportunity to make a boring, complex subject into something interesting and relevant. 

 

Digital Media Experience

When I was in high school, I had used Wix previously to set up a blog to house my acting and writing portfolio. This semester's experience using Wix was relatively the same, but I learned how to write blog posts in Wix. I also used Medium for the first time in this class, which is a platform I will use in the future. I wish it had the feature to embed more media elements, but it is still good for blogging. 

To create my infographic, I relied mainly on Canva and Google Sheets. I found the data that I was looking for in a PDF online provided by the university system and entered it into Google Sheets, then linked that database to a bar chart in Canva. I added a brief description of each infographic and its connection to the story, but I learned that it is better to choose a lighter background. I ran into issues with the resolution because the infographic was blurry in Wix and Medium. 

The project's most enjoyable moment was seeing everything done and published on the website. It feels gratifying to look back on everything I have created and have a tangible collection to show others. I learned a lot this semester and feel satisfied with how the course operated and the assignments.