Introduction
It is super bittersweet that I am here today talking about my time in English 480. As a first-year coming to UNC, I have to be honest, I was very nervous about taking this class. I have fairly low self-esteem when it comes to writing as it had never been my strong point. I was also pretty young compared to others in the course. However, I’m glad I took this course as it helped me strengthen my writing and presentation abilities while delving into a topic I was very interested in.
As a Computer Science and Communications major, presentation and technology are very important to me and what I want to do with my career. I needed to improve on discussing technological problems in a creative outlet which is exactly what I accomplished in English 480. After spending my high school experience in classes like AP Literature and Language, I never thought I would be able to take an English course in digital humanities or take one where I would have the opportunity to learn about JSON data with Pinterest. I found myself not only learning tons about writing and the humanities, subjects I usually tried to stay away from, but also having fun making the projects as well.
Most importantly, in my opinion, I learned more about why one should not stay away from topics or subjects just because they are intimidating. It is important to find common ground between interests and your comfort zone, which is exactly what I learned. I discovered the link between technology and humanities in a way that makes sense and even in a way helped improve my writing in other classes. I was able to use skills and the connections and readings we went over in class into some of my other classes which strengthen my abilities as a student.
In fact, the skills and knowledge and projects we completed in the course reaffirmed me of my decision to not only be a computer science student but communications studies as well in order to see to it that I have the common ground between technology and humanities and see for myself the importance of digital humanities in my studies at UNC. Because of this class, I also declared myself also as a communications studies major with a focus on new media, which combines computer science with humanities courses.
Portfolio Video
Okay okay, you get it… so what did we exactly do?
Here is a video that I made to quickly summarize my findings in the class
In this project, we had to summarize what we learned from each project and discussed how we created them. I gathered footage from Snagit and Quicktime in order to get the data from each of the projects. I also used the website Powtoons in order to edit, add music, and add animations and transitions in order to make the video more lively and exciting.
This really helped me see how I improved in creating content over the semester and showed me the different skills that I have learned while also using said skills in order to summarize the projects where I learned said skills. That was a mouth full…
Typewriters to Typewriters: Written Addition
Here we are… all the way back to the beginning… So I remember actually having a lot of trouble coming up with an idea for this project. I knew we had to write about something related to digital humanities and at that point, I was still trying to find my voice in a subject I was not familiar with. While I feel like I could have picked a project more personal which I did, later on, I did enjoy doing this paper and learning more about typewriters and the development of word processing software.
Basically what I did was I used books, websites, as well as other resources in order to discuss the development of word processors. Not only did I go over how typewriters were made, but I also wrote about how different models were developed in order to make them lighter and more convenient and wrote about each word processor and how they lead to the collaborative online writing spaces that we are familiar with today.
After finishing the paper, I did return back to it in order to correct some issues. Like I mentioned, writing is not my strongest subject and I did need a little help with language usage, focus, and organization. I went through the paper and made corrections based on peer editing suggestions from my group as well as from Dan. I feel like I definitely improved the grammar and the flow of the paper from the edits.
Typewriters to Typewriters: Video Addition
As I want to go into animation and digital media as a career, I was super excited that I had the chance to make a video for the class. For this project, which was based on the paper discussed above, I made a summary of the paper with a video. I used iMovie in order to record my thoughts and to gather visuals. I also wrote a script so my thoughts were more organized and to give me an outline of how I wanted the story to be told.
My first draft of the project definitely needed a lot of work. My transitions were a bit too fast, I was talking a little rushed, and the background music was way too loud. There were also issues as some of the pictures I used came out blurry went the video was exported. I did go back in order to correct these problems and the final cut can be seen below.
I did learn a lot from this project. I learned what makes videos exciting and how some aspects can turn viewers off. I learned about editing videos and how important keeping a steady pace is for not only videos but for presentations as well. I also learned about visuals and how they can make or break a project. I feel like I took away a lot from this experience that can be applied to my majors as a whole.
Accessibility Podcast
As I have a sister with a disability, this was probably the most personal project for me. As I went through the course, I learned more about how technology can not only be connected to humanities subjects like writing, but also to personal issues close to the heart. While I will not go into big details, my sister had an issue at her school which really showed how the world needs to improve on being accessible for everyone. I am also on the board for a computer science education organization that was made to promote accessible technology education. Therefore, you can see that this Podcast was a project that I was very enthusiastic to work on.
Together with peers in the class, we came together and researched and worked on a podcast related to how technology should be accessible for everyone. Using a series of TED talks we found as well as research studies conducted, we were able to sit down and present a discussion on the importance of this topic. It felt like a really interactive discussion which was a great experience.
We used the service, Audacity in order to record the conversation and also used evidence from the TED talks in order to begin the conversation. We each used that project in order to create a smaller, more personal podcast and edited it ourselves. I used Garage Band on the Mac in order to add audio transitions to make the conversation pop out. I also edited out some pauses and other portions in order to shorten it.
I did go back and edit it afterward and made the transitions a little softer and changed the music in order to fit better with the podcast. I also shortened some of the ice breaker portions in order to even out the conversation.
Pinterest Project
The final project of the class is probably the one that connects most to me in regards to my interests. I am an avid Pinterest user and absolutely love the application. It is just so wholesome in the way that you are just simply sharing ideas and common interests online through URLs. Therefore, I was super excited to work on this project.
We first used a special website that helps gather data from Pinterest accounts. We went on a search for five different keywords in order to see what came up. Because my Pinterest account is mostly fashion-related, everything seemed to relate to clothes. It shows the importance of previous data in order for Pinterest to search for the best ideas catered towards one’s interests. We then downloaded the data through word clouds.
We then were instructed to create fake Pinterest accounts with a particular interest to see how that would impact the searches. I had mine super interested in Disney with boards related to the Disney food, merchandise, theme parks, and movies. Since we only had a little while to gather the data, I did not see a huge impact that my boards had on the data selected. When I put in vacations as a keyword I did see several more Disney world suggestions than when I searched on my personal account.
I summarized my findings in the video below which I made with Powtoons in order to add exciting transitions and music:
I learned important skills that are very relatable to my work as a computer science major. I learned about the importance of data and how the use of said data can be used in a positive way. I learned more about how social media websites know how to cater to one’s interests and how Pinterest promotes digital literacy.
Participation
In the class, we had several readings where we discussed our thoughts on the topics. It felt very personal and interactive and allowed us to express our opinion while showing our understanding of the material. We also had to peer edit papers and my comments can be found at the links below.
http://altscholarship.com/dighum/node/150
http://altscholarship.com/dighum/node/167
http://altscholarship.com/dighum/node/94
http://altscholarship.com/dighum/node/88
http://altscholarship.com/dighum/node/58
http://altscholarship.com/dighum/node/45
http://altscholarship.com/dighum/node/60
http://altscholarship.com/dighum/node/27
http://altscholarship.com/dighum/node/20
http://altscholarship.com/dighum/node/3
Summary
This was by one of the most interactive, technological, and personal English classes I have taken so far. Each project felt very personal and real and truly related to the technological changes that are occurring in the world. While I was deeply saddened that I was not able to finish the course personally with you guys (thank you COVID), I feel like I was able to remain connected at the conclusion. English 480 showed me aside to the humanities that I have never thought about before and I am so excited to continue taking similar classes that will strengthen my skills in both writings as well as using my technology skills outside of my element. Thank you so much for welcoming this tiny freshman into this course!