The End Is Just The Beginning

When I first began the class, I was versed in writing for the digital audience in terms of blogging and media reviews, as well as presenting continuing education courses through the web. What I was seeking to get a greater understanding of was where the digital market was in terms of mainstream journalism, as well as hoping to gain a greater understanding of how I could enrich my own online presentations to garner a larger and more interactive audience. I think this class has done that and much more.

The first assignment, after setting up our own blog, made me think about how I could take a personally relevant topic and make it accessible to a larger audience. Often, in my media reviews, I come at it from the viewpoint of the audience is already “in the know.” They are fans themselves, they've consumed the media and want to reflect upon it. By having to think about not only how to present a topic such as where I'm from, but also how to present it in a way that it's understandable to someone who has never been there, I was challenged to look at my writing in a whole new way. That skill has aided my ability to present information in my daily work environment, to be able to adapt the coursework from a physician's level to a medical student's level, so that learners who may not be “in the know” already can still understand and learn from the information presented.

For some aspects of the expansion of that assignment, I was already well-versed in the skills that were being taught. I could work towards making it accessible to an online audience because that was my background. In most of my writing, I've written for an online audience rather than an offline market, so the addition of relevant links and images was second nature to me. Additionally, our pairing up to give constructive feedback on our first blog posts was something that I had done many times before. However, the framing of our feedback within the suggested areas of identification made me focus and expand on those aspects of writing so that I could be more beneficial to my partner. It was interesting to see not only the feedback my partner gave me on my assignment, but also the discussion among my classmates on their background in giving and receiving constructive feedback. I find this is one skill that is essential in all aspects of writing, so to be able to get comfortable with it and be beneficial to those we are reviewing is something that will always serve us well in our careers.

The Week 5 assignment was interesting to me because, not only have I been challenged prior to write catchy titles for my media reviews, but also for the online continuing medical education coursework that I've presented. A catchy title, or hook, is what draws the reader in and it's also something that sticks in their mind so that they can remember and return later. I'm also in the midst of writing hooks at different word-counts for my first novel, so it was nice to see the challenge extended into a journalism arena as well. Since the assignment, I've begun thinking more about the length of my blog titles, as well as how to make sure they're fast, easy to remember, and engaging to a reader.

I enjoyed creating the Fandomania article for our Week 6-7 assignment, exploring the heavy topic of the Leviathans that is currently being explored on Supernatural through both historical representation and popular culture representation. This was a bit challenging for me because, keeping in mind the audience that I was writing for, I didn't want to get too bogged down in the historical texts of the topic, but I also wanted to explore and expand on how media was currently representing the topic. Additionally, I wanted to compare how the show was utilizing historical aspects of the myth, as well as adapting the elements to create their own story. Because of how much research went into it, and where the current storyline of the show is during the mid-season hiatus, I'm planning on using the article for Fandomania sometime this month. It will serve as a nice mid-season hiatus topic, as well as informing the fans of how layered the current storyline is.

Continuing on my Supernatural theme, I was glad that I got to live-blog the current episode for our Week 8 assignment. I had been doing so prior, since I have to review the episodes for Fandomania, so I tend to live blog my thoughts as I take notes during the airing. I assumed this would be a continuance of that, but it wasn't quite as easy as I thought. True live-blogging, without the ability to pause the event, is challenging because you tend to miss what's going on while you're blogging about the prior events. It certainly stretched my ability to multi-task! But though the assignment I learned how to make quicker notes, a point of remembrance almost, so that I could go back and expand upon it later. I didn't need to get a whole paragraph down while I was live-blogging, I simply needed to get a note down of “this is what's happening” since those watching along with me would be able to fill in the blanks. Those who came back after the event would be able to see my expanded posts, so they would have the gaps filled in without having to be present as the episode was happening live.

In close competition with the Leviathan article, our Week 10-11 assignment ranked up there as most fun and most challenging for me. I already had a passion for the topic of Jason Todd / Red Hood and had witnessed the controversy that erupted over the release of his new series, so I knew I had a willing audience to give feedback on what they thought. This was quite different than my usual articles, as I write opinion pieces and reviews, so I had to keep reminding myself that this had to be unbiased and equal to both sides. Whichever way my opinion swayed was not relevant to the presentation of the quotes, so I had to make sure that I got quotes that presented both sides. And I did, to abundance. In many ways, rather than having too few sources, I think I was overwhelmed by having too many. I set up a survey to gather my information, since I would be asking the same questions to everyone to get their differing opinions, but perhaps if I do this again I should limit the time period to only a few days rather than a week. But, sorting through the responses and having so many to choose from allowed me to have a more cohesive and balanced presentation of quotes. I was better able to not let my own opinion influence the way the article slanted and instead showed both sides equally.

I feel like I've learned so much from not only my own assignments, but through my interaction with my classmates in discussions. We have been able to learn and grow together, bringing our own viewpoints to the forums and gaining more knowledge through each others' experiences. Whereas I could contribute more towards the use of current digital tools, my classmates could contribute towards the transformation of journalism from a paper market to a digital one. I think I know much more about the traditional journalism field now and I think my classmates may know more about the blogging field that I'm involved in. We've learned together and we've all benefited.