Initially, when I started this project, I wasn't sure what story to tell. There seemed to be common theme with music in my previous projects, and I felt almost disconnected from my initial proposed project. Similar to the sentiment expressed in the seven steps of digital storytelling "finding and clarifying your story's insight is not easy. There may not be a lightbulb flashing above your head at the start of the process." this sentiment is extremely relatable. I found myself caught into a trap described in the same reading "if you burden the beginning of your process with external expectations , you can easily interrupt your edit that little voice inside your head...". The expectations of academia, and my own nervousness made me hesitant to pursue a project that felt not academic enough. It's funny I think this considering how much I enjoyed the Alex Gil interview, where he expressed that it wasn't the obligation of digital humanities to validate themselves within academia. It's almost as if I enjoyed these messages, but when it came to the final project, I retreated back to the impersonal style . I've held in regards to academic work.

After finally overcoming this feeling, I decided to look inwards for a topic that fed my passions, and had a personal connection . I decided to tell "My Story" as described in the world of digital storytelling. My story, reflects on a personal relationship I have with my mother, who was influenced by my grandfather and inevitably fostered this deep appreciation I have for music. I wish I could've talked more about my grandfather, but he passed away when I was a teenager and had a stroke in my adolescence making it hard to get information from him when I was conscious enough to look for it. I felt like making this project about sharing different African guitar music reflected the relationship we had. If my grandfather wasn't such a musical person, my mother probably wouldn't have had a great appreciation for music that she shared with me.

when I reflect on the process of creating my story, there are some parts I feel I did well and other areas I didn't fully take advantage of. In the seven steps of digital storytelling, the author highlights that informal language and pauses in speech can be really helpful in communicating more emotion. I feel that during my process I was more focused on presenting information rather than letting it digest. I wonder if the density of the information I presented took away from the experience I intended to present. when it came to assembling my story, I took inspiration from the same reading "seven steps of digital storytelling". I thought about videos, I'd watched in the past about sharing music, and I appreciate stories that end on a more personal note. This is why I decided to end my story with a personal explanation on my reasoning. This felt right and mirrored my journey in this class. I've been sharing music this entire class and at the very end I was finally able express why.

I think I did well when it came to utilising photos, which is highlighted as a component of digital storytelling according to the world of digital storytelling. I feel that my use of images and some moving videos was done well enough that the five minute video doesn't feel so long. The soundtrack of this digital story is absent because I would like the music to take focus. I specifically shared each song for at least 14 seconds to give the listener a chance to get a taste of what the music sounded like without it being overwhelming. if the project was longer than five minutes, I would've definitely made the inserts longer, but for the sake of the assignment, I think I did a good job.

As I reflect on the process of how I found information to start my digital story, I feel okay, saying that I used to SciHub. I ended up reading the entire paper by Cynthia Schmidt. it was extremely interesting, and I'm grateful that this assignment pushed me to learn about something I'd never truly dived into. In other classes, I wouldn't be so forthcoming, I loved the Alex Gil interview and he said "we didn't ask to live in a world in which caring is a crime," while talking about sites like SciHub. I used what was available to me and gained meaningful information I will genuinely carry with me. I care about music and it was wonderful researching this process. I almost wish it was a written paper so I could have presented more information.

Overall I found this experience to be positive once I let myself talk about something I loved. I wish I had the same awareness when the class began, however I think part of my process of digital storytelling is unlearning and unravelling as I get closer to your story. I started the class with apprehension and I close off I feel happy. I think this last assignment made me more cognisant of my love of music and brought up a lot of fun memories.