Photo by: Marc-Olivier Jodoin
I was really excited about taking this class. I had never learned about media through journalistic eyes before, and I wanted to know more about it. When I first started, I knew about media in the context of social media, however, I never thought that it was a viable source of information. I always assumed that people would post whatever they wanted regardless of whether or not it was true. I was partially correct.
The most helpful information I gained during this course was how to identify false information on the internet. I spend, probably too much, time on the internet and it is helpful to know whether or not what I am reading is true. The same is true for photos. I believe photography is a big part of telling a story and knowing if a picture is telling the truth can really change your perspective.
"Reflection is one of the most underused yet powerful tools for success" - Richard Carlson
The workload was more than I expected it to be, but I was glad of the multitude of opportunities to learn more. My grasp of the information is reasonable. There are some topics that I would like to go back and explore some more in my own time. Time management has been a useful skill during this course. I used other skills I had learned previously, such as active listening, the ability to ask questions, and self discipline.
I have learned so much valuable information, not only about journalism and multimedia but about myself. I had some prior knowledge about writing and photography coming into this class but I had never made an audio file or shot a video the way we did in this class. Unfortunately, Labs 3 and 4 fell at very busy times in my semester so I was unable to turn them in. However I will definitely use the resources given to me during this course to continue exploring the practices on my own.
The biggest thing I learned about myself during this course was that I do not want to be a journalist. Coming into this class, that was a path I was considering. However, after learning how to tell a journalistic story, citing resources, and shooting the perfect picture I realized that it is not my kind of storytelling. I am more attuned to creative storytelling than factual. This class had given great respect for journalism and the people who practice it. I have come to appreciate how difficult it is and look forward to seeing what my journalistic peers do in the future.