Final Post

The thing that most surprised me when I invested digital literacy was how woven into the world it was. For example, in previous posts we have all mentioned movies, clips, news, pop culture, ancient cultures, poetry, literature, and even more. The pervasiveness of the things that we have studied absolutely astounded me. Everything in one way or another can be linked into our discussions. Also, the vocabulary we learned (remediation, anyone?) while difficult to understand at first turned out to be very useful when it came to discussing our various projects and topics of discussion. While I may not be able to define "the internet" I am so much more capable of discussing various kinds of media and connect them to their previous forms.

The most thought provoking ideas that I discovered during this course was how related to theory something as definite as media can be. For example, our ideas of white space, the meaning of reality, and transformation all tie so well into theories such as postmodernism and evolution. While I used to take everything at face value regarding media, I now look at everything in terms of how we think about it theoretically. It has truly opened my eyes to how interwoven some current ideas are within our society. So interwoven that they are often hard to identify and pinpoint. Reanalyzing the things that I took for granted as well as connecting them with ideas has definitely been the most rewarding and challenging part of this class.

My proudest accomplishment is definitely the projects I was able to accomplish on my own and with a group. I know how to use new techniques and programs such as YouTube Grabber, MovieMaker, and special effects throughout my presentations. I didn't know that I could actually make a movie, but knowing now that I can convert audio and film footage to a program and make it flow is a great skill to have. I am so greatful to have picked up these new techniques and it was great to have the blog there if I had any questions along the way. All my classmates were so helpful and willing to go out of their way to explain a process to you. I was just impressed overall by everyone's performance within the class.

Not only have I picked up essential skills that can be applied widely within a business, but I have also learned the theory behind it. I am confident now that I can interact with technology and use my new skills to keep up when asked to do presentations in the future. One of my dream jobs would be to work in something closely related to art, and after our "what is art" discussion, I know that the things I have created within the class will provide a base foundation for some of the projects I will use in the future. Another thing that I am obviously fond of, is the element of theory that this class has provided me with. I really enjoyed learning all of the ideas that go behind the complexity of media today. Overall, I feel like this was one of the few classes that I have had in college that give me knowledge that I will be able to learn in the "real" world, whatever that is.