All of the verification processes that I learned were super helpful, but I think my favorite was the lateral reading. Pretty much everything on the internet is connected, especially with the little google trick to see the source of a website or page. Being able to “read” laterally is a good trick to have because it can translate into so many other aspects of my life. Lately, I’ve been using some of the tricks from Verified to de-influence myself when it comes to health products that people review online. A video raving about a certain supplement or electrolyte powder seems so convincing, especially when a bunch of different people all say the same things about it. I always make myself leave whatever platform I’m on to do actual research on the product before I impulse buy it. Too many times I’ve bought something and been super excited about it, then when it arrives it’s nowhere near as good as the people who were sponsored by the company said it was.

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I really love the grammar/formatting part of writing. I like paragraph breaks and indentions, and I like seeing in markdown how all of those things work! Writing in markdown format also provides me with a little bit more of a challenge. Changing the typical format of writing to make it more visible in the long run seems really smart.

It’s really cool to think of the same formatting that we write on pen and paper being used the same way on a text editing site. It’s super interesting to think about writing markdown on a computer is the same as writing it on your phone, and both of those being virtually the same as writing headings and such on paper!

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I remember really enjoying the concept of composing for recomposition when I first read about it. I think the thing that caught my eye the most was that there are people who know when they “compose” or write something, others will take it and make it their own. From a student who only ever really writes anything for her professors, it’s a cool concept! I also really enjoy rhetorical velocity. Rhetoric having the capability for velocity doesn’t seem right at first, but taking into account the way that the viewers or audience will recieve or understand the piece is a really cool way to emphasize velocity. I like the concept that a positive reception could be taken as a “faster” velocity, and a negative reception like a slower or stickier velocity. Delivery having a different velocity than it once did is also an interesting concept. Deicity really connects to rhet velocity, because a text could gain or lose more velocity depending on the rate that it’s being received at! Deicity can also apply to current news which is really cool. I like that the clarification between a search with and without quotation marks adds or takes away to the velocity of the piece.

The concept of AI-generated papers that literally have no paper trail being used in academia is so surreal. The ethics behind using AI generated “sources” is one thing, but the fact that some people/students don’t even check to see if their sources are real is crazy. Even if you’re sure of a source you’re using, it’s just common sense to make sure everything you’re using is valid. Especially in today’s world, double checking what’s going on seems like common sense. It’s also terrifying that AI has the capability to create things that pass as real academia.

The post Week 2 – maggie d appeared first on Digital Writing.

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

The post Week 13 – Class Reflection appeared first on Digital Writing.

I attempted to physically format my piece onto a trifold with mostly success, after about four hours of messing around with glue and many attempts at puzzle piecing everything together. I began to reevaluate the ways I present things. Even having grown up in an age of tech, I feel bound by a physical representation of the work I create. I want to see it and hold it myself; I want others to do the same, and I want to be able to talk about it with them.

Digital media is by no means a limiting thing, in fact there is freedom in creating something that exists online, even if that is the only format it exists in. As much fun as having a physical copy of my work can be, it is by no means the only thing that defines what my work actually is. We live in an increasingly digital world, and with the rise of AI, it is up to us to meet the new standards being set.

I really loved my Verification Quest project, and I enjoyed digging into a topic I am really interested in. This topic in particular was interesting to bring to a digital media, because it is inherently real, at least in the sense that agriculture is the physical basis for the world and society we live in now and have lived in for centuries. There is so much benefit from making a topic like that accessible in a space online. Yes, obviously, discussions about that topic are happening online, but it is happening a lot in the ‘untrustworthy claim’ way and less in the ‘real actual facts are accessible to the public’ kind of way.

I think the end of this project made me appreciate a few things: 1) that my work can remain digital and that is okay and 2) sometimes PowerPoint is a better option than a trifold.

The post Week 12 appeared first on Digital Writing.

As AI is becoming increasingly ubiquitous, we are continuing to develop new ways to deal with its existence. Some people (me) are choosing to completely disavow AI and some (me) are even implementing older tech, in a physical media renaissance, as a replacement to that of the modern world. Other people are AI diehards, using it for any aspect of their life that they can. Then there is a weird middle ground. People who are somewhat observing and somewhat using. I would say this is likely a large group of people, just based off of what I have seen in the real world.

I think a good example of this middle ground is in the article “I Infiltrated Moltbook, the AI-Only Social Network Where Humans Aren’t Allowed” written by Reece Rogers for Wired magazine. Moltbook is meant for the curious. An AI only site, where humans can observe but not speak. At least, they’re not supposed to. In the article, Rogers is able to pretend to be an AI agent and infiltrate the site. Moltbook mirrors the layout of Reddit with “submolts” instead of subreddits.

I think this kind of journalism is important. We have a responsibility to understand what the world of AI looks like, even if you do not participate. Though the agents on the site require human design, it is still a site for AI. It sits a bit weird with me that someone even felt the need to create a site like Moltbook. Humanizing AI only creates more problems. We are already facing the problem of people overly relying on AI “companions” and so called “AI psychosis” (it’s a bit more complicated than what has been presented on social media, but still important to talk about) so why add fuel to the fire?

There is a lot of energy and money behind AI right now, so it seems impossible to really know what the consequence are going to be. Heck, it’s been 6 years since Covid and still feels like we are feeling and finding the consequences of that. Maybe I watched iRobot too many times as a child, but I think being aware of what we are looking at and using, as well as being wary of it, is the best way to move forward. Sure, Moltbook it interesting, but what and who does it benefit to have around?

The post Week 11 appeared first on Digital Writing.

A positive and negative aspect of this project was my interest in the subject. I constantly wanted to look into other pieces of info about the company I was researching, but that would only deviate from my intended goal. I had to ensure that I was focused on the one claim I was looking to verify. Having the claim as one of the first things visible in my project document was helpful to stay on goal. When I was tempted to keep my search going on only tangentially related topics, I would reorient my searches so that I wouldn’t get stuck down a rabbit hole.

As we move into the newest project, there are definitely some things that I will keep in mind from the Verification Quest. Emotions can run high with certain subjects, and since my group is discussing a topic related to eating disorders, we have definitely interacted with content like that. My group is focusing on “girl” trends and the way that they can begin as a seemingly harmless idea that connects people who have experienced girlhood but later develops into something reflective of misogynist ideals that the original was supposed to stand up against. This creates a lot of room for high tension conversations online, and we will definitely have to make sure to differentiate between falling for claims because of the emotional pull and analyzing those claims.

This subject is, as many online topics are, ever evolving. It can be hard to go back and check videos or posts because a lot have been deleted or we have to face the absolutely diabolical undated algorithm of Instagram. This has been a bit of a barrier, as we have to dig extra-long to find things from the beginning of the trend, with no way to sort searches by date or in any other super specific manner. We have plenty of posts that will hopefully all work, but going back to find more would definitely be a bit of a process.

I am excited to work more on this project and really flesh out the idea. There is a lot to work with and, even though there is some “interesting” content to look through, it will be a great chance to look at something online that has very real consequences in the real world as well as online.

The post Week 10 appeared first on Digital Writing.

Wikipedia is the holy grail of rabbit holes. With endless hyperlinks from page to page, holding a plethora of information allowing you to spend hours learning new things on any topic you can think of. And yes, it can be edited by the public. This does influence the credibility of the site, but there are safeguards to ensure that the information is correct or at least has a valid source to back it up.

Wikipedia’s Trustworthiness and Where to Begin

Wikipedia does its best to guarantee accurate information is available. With high controversy or highly edited pages, there is typically a lock, meaning only certain editors can access it to make changes. This verifies that someone won’t just go in and change information on the page of someone or something that is a hot button topic.

Another safeguard is admin and bots. Both work in tandem to verify edits and keep everything accurate. People can make mistakes but with other people on the lookout, mistakes can be minimized.

And one of the most important things about Wiki is it has a bibliography. Every claim made on the site should have a source attached. This allows you to navigate to the sources and double check who made the claim and where it came from. Next to a claim, there is typically a clickable number that will jump you down to the bibliography where you can see the original source of a claim. Another feature of this is a tag “better source needed” that can be seen next to claims that, as the title implies, need a better source. This can happen next to claims made when there is a conflict of interest or something else that would indicate a source may not be the most trustworthy. This, at minimum, allows you as a reader to understand when a claim might be questionable or worth verifying beyond Wiki.

Wikipedia is a great way to start research. It is not the end all be all by any means, but it is truly great place to begin. The biggest thing about using Wiki is to be responsible. There are ways to double check information and verify what you are seeing, especially before repeating it to other people. Wikipedia’s tertiary status means it is definitely not something you should cite in an official essay, but it can give you a place with condensed information and accessible primary and secondary sources that you can include in formal manners.

Conclusion

Yes, Wikipedia has its faults and is by no means the only way to do research, but that does not mean it can’t be a useful tool in your research process. It is best to keep in mind the ways that Wikipedia can have issues, so you can avoid them to the best of your ability. Remember folks, use Wikipedia responsibly!

The post Week 8 – Wikipedia appeared first on Digital Writing.

After 13ish posts, and a good amount of reading, we have made it to the end of the 2026 spring semester Digital Writing blog. While I am still working on the final assignment and quickly trying to master html, I wanted to take some time to reflect on my experience in the class. I want to start by saying I thoroughly appreciate the content of this class and know I will carry both the information and skills with me; all semester I caught myself telling people, “In my digital writing class…” sharing various readings and skills that stuck with me. 

The earlier readings on AI, Empire of AI and Atlas of AI, have stayed in my mind consistently; especially with how fast it is evolving and how many people are calling for regulations on it. In fact, I even mentioned it in conversation with my sisters today. Those two books offered a lot of important information, detailing topics like data farming and the training bases that have been created for and used by AI. Since these readings AI has continued to evolve rapidly, with data centers seemingly popping up everywhere. Hand in hand with each other, surveillance and data collection continue to rise as well. 

Since reading the assigned excerpts from these books I have kept my Google home device unplugged. These devices use Google’s AI to gather and repeat information. After having them in the home so long, I can only wonder how the data of my literal voice has been used. Spooky stuff in my opinion!

Beyond the readings, I have really enjoyed the blog and html aspect of the class. I have always wanted to create a blog for myself, and have only learned about more uses for a blog or personal website since I have been in Digital Writing. Both WordPress and HTML are great skills to have and I appreciate being able to work with them, and in the case of WordPress, work with them often enough to retain the skills beyond the classroom.

I have had so much fun working with HTML even though I am not anywhere close to great at it. Something about working in HTML is so satisfying, I guessed that I would like it better than Markup, and I was very correct. 

I am grateful that I was able to take this class right before graduation. The critical thinking (or searching) skills from Verified as well as the opportunity to work with Markup languages will be fresh in my mind when beginning my writing career. I plan to experiment with HTML more and eventually have my own website created by me in the future.

And, of course, thank you to all my classmates for the help and participation!

Also… this is eli I am ipadbaby22.

The post Semester Reflection appeared first on Digital Writing.

I remember being with my two classmates, Jordan and Diego, when we first thought about the idea. “We wanna do something with the Golden Record.”

It seemed interesting, but there needed to be a twist to the idea. It was not just sending an object out to space to contact extraterrestrial life; it had to be more. The sounds contained on Carl Sagan’s Golden Record show so much of Earth’s culture, but we had to do our own take on it.

We decided instead of sounds on a record, that we would show objects. Since we are of different ages and come from different backgrounds, it seemed like a good idea to gather random items to show the hypothetical aliens what they would think of human culture through visual appeal. We brainstormed the idea a bit more and finally brought them to the next class.

There were books, knick-knacks, video games, flags, stickers, photos, a painting, and more. Once we put all the items in the suitcase, we realized that we had provided so much art, nostalgia, and landmarks in time. It was interesting to see that even though these objects were all different, they still had a few things in common.

Realizing this, I pitched the idea to the first person who stopped by. More ideas kept flowing through the more I talked about it. It was easier after the first person, because even discussing it with my classmates and hearing what they had to say about the project, it was also about perspective.

“What would you put into the suitcase?” I asked those who stopped by.

It got them thinking, and it made me realize that is what part of what this project was about. Although ours emphasized art, nostalgia, and the human experience, other people had different ideas of what they would send. There is not one way to do this project, but we ended up finding something that we can all relate to.

Listening to all the other students’ projects and presentations gave me different ideas on how to do presentations and research. It is always nice to see how people care about their ideas, just as we care about ours.

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