Exploring Digital Media

This blog will be all about what I have learned in my Exploring Digital Media class! It's going to be a fun journey! Enjoy! My LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/pub/vanessa-bristlin/b8/373/351

[vanessabris]

Thoughts on the Class

This has been an interesting journey through IM 260.  I’ve learned how to make a website, a twitter, a blog, and a LinkedIn and learned how they can be used in a professional way. I learned how useful these kinds of technology can be for my students and for me in the future when I am teaching.  I will be able to create a possible website with all the resources my students may need for my class or I will be able to find a job through LinkedIn and be able to show how professional I am.  Being able to create so many projects with the idea of Special Education as my subject has shown that it truly is the area I want to major in and that I hope I can be inspiring to these students.

I think people should take this course because it comes in handy when you want to do simple things like twitter, Tumblr, or web design.  It will also come in handy with any kind of job because of the technological aspect of the class.  Being able to show kids that you can use twitter or Tumblr without being personal on the internet is big deal and that people see everything you post or retweet or reblog etc. It was an interesting course to take and it helped me to become better a technologies I didn’t know I could be good at.  

[vanessabris]

LinkedIn Reflection

LinkedIn was very interesting to do, and definitely handy to use in the future! I liked that I was able to join groups that held interest in my major, and that they were all out to help connect and network everyone.  

I enjoyed being able to create a profile and have something professional to use for when I am looking for jobs.  I also enjoyed finding people who held the same job I hope to hold in the future, and try and connect with them to find out information to help me for the future.  

LinkedIn has taught me a lot about professionalism, and how useful technology can be for finding jobs or connecting with people in your field.  Next time I would maybe try and add more connections than I did for the first time, but there’s only so much time in a day, and only so much I can do at a time.

[vanessabris]

Twitter Reflection

Twitter was an interesting project overall.  I understand how using in professionally can definitely be a benefit but I don’t believe I will be using it too much in the future.  Having to make sure my posts weren’t silly and didn’t contain anything that would be deemed unprofessional kind of made the project rather boring.  

I did enjoy some of the articles and quotes I found while posting on twitter.  But I found it difficult to read find articles short but in depth and still held my attention.  But it was nice to see the videos that the people I followed posted.  I was able to a lot of interesting facts.  I would definitely put a little more effort into this project if I were to do it again.  I would also try to make a little more fun while maintaining the teaching aspect of professionalism.

[vanessabris]

Technology Disconnect Reflection

For this project I made sure that I had things planned out and that everyone who needed to know that I wasn’t available knew.  I managed to rope one of my friends into also participating with me and she only broke the rules twice.  We started out at Como Zoo.  It was a lot of fun going through the Zoo even if it was busy.  After that my other friend called and we ended up walking through Northtown Mall in Blaine.  It was a lot of fun since I don’t normally shop so it was a fun opportunity.

I really enjoyed being disconnected because I didn’t have to worry about work calling me, or about doing homework, plus it was good to be free from technology.  I did find it difficult not having my phone because my main use for it is as clock, even though I was wearing a watch.  I did only reach for my phone twice throughout that day because I was super distracted with my friends, which totally worked for me! I would totally do this project again, maybe get more friends to join in.  My mom’s coworker mentioned it would be an interesting idea as a fundraiser, maybe that something for the future.

[vanessabris]

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is something brand new to me.  I’ve heard of it but I’ve never actually used it too much.  I think it will be a great investment for a few years down the road when I am looking for a job in my field, so I will put as much effort as I can into making sure my profile is done well and right. 

I plan to use LinkedIn etiquette when it comes to my profile.  I also plan to talk to a couple of my friends I know who have used LinkedIn before and get their insight on how I should so my profile and definitely look at examples.  I think I will do well in building this profile because of the fact I’ve had a resume since high school put together and that will be a big part of the profile. 

[vanessabris]

Website Reflections

For this project I created a website about my research topic, Special Education and Technology. It was a fun and new experience.  I enjoyed being able to bring some of my creativeness into the project while also making a website professional. 

I found it difficult to sometimes navigate the actual building part of the website. I also wasn’t completely able to create what I had in mind.  I had a hard time deciding where everything went, and contrasting colors, but I managed to pull it off in the end.

The part that worked super well for me was bringing the video, “7 reasons why becoming a teacher is awesome,” because I think it bring into light how important teachers are and how awesome it is to become one.  Next time I might add in more videos like this one, and possibly add in more pages, but otherwise I was pleased with how the website turned out.

[vanessabris]

Digital Media and Society Topic of the Week

How has digital media changed the way business and individuals market themselves?

Digital media has helped I think in making it easier for businesses and individuals to market themselves.  The television, social media, advertisements on websites, etc., have shown that they can promote themselves without my effort.  The only problem that they may have is the money, because advertising has always been a lot of money. 

http://rleonardi.com/interactive-resume/

If you have not looked at this resume, please do!  Its super interesting how he did it, and how fun it is.  It’s almost like playing a game even though you are just running through what this man has done, his skills, accomplishments, etc.  It all resumes were like this or we could create resumes like this it would a lot of fun! The only is that it is pretty distracting and can cause companies to not want to be interested.

[vanessabris]

Website Project

This week we are working on creating a website about our research topic.  I’m a little worried because of my topic, but I’m also excited about learning how to create a website that everyone will like and find good information through.  I hope to be able to look at a couple of websites from past classes and see if I can figure out a general layout, but I also plan to browse my favorite websites and see how everything is place to complete this project.

My initial idea is to use similar colors to my Twitter and Info-graphic projects, and use the idea of natural color palettes.  I also hope to infuse other articles and websites into mine so that if people would like to learn more they will be able too.  I hope with these ideas I can create a good website.

[vanessabris]

Intellectual Thinking

We should definitely promote people thinking logically, and deeply. Being able to think deeply about a subject can be hard, and sometimes causes people stress. If we were to find a way for us to think deeply about subjects, things like racism, sexism, etc., we would be able to bring logic into these as well.  Logical thinking is just as hard as thinking deeply, but they tend to run hand in hand.

Many tools can be used to accomplish being able to think deeply and logically. We can start by providing more details in articles with informational details to back it up.  We can also find a way to decipher a way between what is truth and what is false information more.  If we were to find ways to show anyone that using things such as Wikipedia, although is helpful, isn’t always necessary logical or truth will help lead everyone to think deeply and logically.

[vanessabris]

Twitter

This project might be easy and might be difficult for me at the same time.  It’s easy to access Twitter, but I’m a forgetful person sometimes.  Since I’ve used Twitter before on a personal level I do have a understanding on how to use it and how to hashtag and everything.  I’m hoping I will be able to tweet professionally since I tend to use a lot of slang in my posts everywhere else.

I’m hopefully prepared enough to tweet, reply, favorite, and mention the right organizations.  I will make sure to use proper grammar, which I can always ask my friend to look it over if I am really worried about it.  Let’s get this project on the road1

[vanessabris]

I Survived!

So I survived my 24 hours without technology. It was an interesting day truthfully. I handed my phone off to my friend about 12:30 and I didn’t get it back until about 10 pm and I had her turn it off so I would not mess with it at all on the way home.  It surprisingly didn’t affect my communication with people at all since we had planned that we would meet up at certain times and such.  My friend did break the rules twice, but other than that she survived as well.  My other friend we were going to meet up with had to call us because she got out of work early which caused my friend to break the rules for that one call.  

It was surprisingly easy to go without the technology. I didn’t like the silence of the car but once all three of us were together that wasn’t a problem. I did reach for my phone once to check the time than I remembered I was wearing a watch specifically for that because I use my phone for a clock a lot of the time.  I understand the need to sometimes just unplug and disconnect and spend time with friends and family, but technology does make it easy to communicate. The only communication I was worried about was with my mother but she was okay with not contacting me for a day as long as I told her before I disconnected. I really liked this project, and would love to do it again. One of my mom’s co-workers said we should turn it into a fundraiser. I may have to keep that in mind.

[vanessabris]

Technology Disconnect

My initial thoughts on this project is that I’m nervous and excited because I do realize I am attached to my phone too much, but I get to do things I wouldn’t normally do. Especially when I drag my friends into the project as well.

We plan to work on costume stuff for our convention, go shopping, go to the zoo, and play board games. It will be an interesting project and everyone I’ve told has wished me luck. It will be nice not to have to answer my phone all day, but it will be weird not calling my mom like I normally do.

The friend I’ve dragged into is going to be known as Rae, and she’s mainly doing this to help me, and she really doesn’t have much to say on it, except that she is very excited for the zoo! She’s an animal lover so it will be fun.

[vanessabris]

What is Google?

Google is one of the biggest search engines on the internet. Many people use it on a daily basis. I even know a song called “Go Google It.”  I think it comes in handy but it’s also the easy way out when it comes to finding information.  

It can help you gain wisdom because of all the information that is gathered on that one site.  Many kids nowadays would not be able to do many things if they didn’t have google.

[vanessabris]

Survey/Infographic

I'm hoping with help from my old speech therapist I will be able to get all 25 of my surveys out! I plan to send them to her and see if I can get her to do some of her co-workers, as well as some of the special education teachers on campus about completing one.

I'm a little worried that I won't be able to finish getting all the survey's together in time to put the infographic together.  I do think this is an interesting project because you learn a lot about what you are researching especially if it's dealing with a school!

[vanessabris]

Research Paper/Topic

I’m a little worried about the research paper because I’ve never been good at writing really long papers. I’m also worried about the citations portion. I’m excited to learn more about my topic, Special Education and Technology, and hopefully be able to use this information in the future. I'm excited about learning more for my future students.

I’m going to be asking for help from my peers, teacher, and my mom when it comes to fixing mistakes in the actual paper, and how I need to organize it. I’m also going to be making an outline to help me write it, which I know will come in handy. I’m hoping this project goes well!

[vanessabris]

Technology Disconnect

This project is going to be difficult I think for me. I have managed to convince one of my friends to join me so you will have her thoughts for the before and after. I’ve excited yet nervous at the same time. The only thing I think will be difficult will be having no music because it’s one of the things I use every day.

Ways I’m going to get through the 24 hours is to work on cosplays with my friends. I’m also going to be reading a lot. We also plan to play lots of board games. I'm hoping all these ideas will keep me from completely relying on technology.

[vanessabris]

Blog Project Reaction and Goals

This project may either come easy or difficult to me. I have very little experience in actually making blog posts, but I am hoping I can succeed.  I’m going to be checking my blog every day to make sure I am caught up on everything, or answer any questions that are asked. I’m going to using what I have learned, being aware of people with color deficient, what’s a good font, good templates, etc., to make my blog into a visually appealing blog as well as hopefully a learning blog.

My thoughts about this project are truthfully scattered.  I’m feeling exited, but nervous, scared but confident, because I may have a little knowledge of Tumblr itself, but I’m clueless when it comes to actually making a post.  I’m hoping as this project goes on I become more confident about actually posting.