Week 13 – Class Reflection

As we head towards the end of the semester, I have taken some time to reflect on what I have learned in this class. Alongside some of the paranoia I face around AI after our readings at the beginning of the semester, I feel I have learned a lot that will be a really great addition as I move onto the next part of my life. I still do not feel like a tech wiz but I do feel like a more cognizant user of technology. The other day I even clicked “inspect” on a page to look at the HTML, which would not have happened five months ago.

My perception of digital writing has also changed a lot. I have a much better understanding of the work that can go into even the most basic elements of digital writing and have grown to appreciate the tone and style that is unique to it. There is so much out there are there is no one way to approach it all, but I feel more confident about doing so.

This class aligned with the senior capstone course where we had a guest speaker discuss how important understanding basic HTML and WordPress are as a content writer, which made a lot of what we did in this class feel very real. I was able to see how this all applies outside of the class setting, which made it more interesting. Being able to see this class and the capstone intersect like that was a really great addition to my learning.

The Verification Quest was also a really great opportunity, as it aligned with an interview I had with an agricultural advocacy group. Having the opportunity to look into an online claim about something I am passionate about was great, and I was able to also apply that in real life. I appreciate the freedom that can come with digital writing. It is less about understanding a specific set of rules about what readers expect and more about being able to navigate the internet to better approach writing for our audiences. Verified was great for this concept in particular. Being a better citizen of the internet, willing to understand and verify claims, will make you a better writer. I generally really liked the readings and looking at unique pieces like 17776 and the Lo-Fi Manifesto to see how people apply a variety of skill sets to the digital world. I think the biggest lessons that I have taken away, though, are that companies are evil and are purposely making things harder to use and that AI is also evil and stealing all of your data (and also your parents and grandparents data apparently???).

Anyways, to follow in Eli’s footsteps, unless it was not overwhelmingly clear, this is Savannah 🙂