Third Reflection
1. I have changed how I feel about interacting with digital platforms that require I higher level of digital literacy.
During the digital humanities week and after interacting with Scalar and Hypothesis, I have decided to work harder on my digital literacy. Before this class I did not think as a Global Studies major that I did not have a high level of digital literacy. After digital humanities week and other discussions I have realized that digital literacy is beneficial for everyone and I have found figuring out Scalar to be very rewarding.
2. Engagement
Even before I took this class meaningful activism has always been an interest of mine. After class class discussions I have realized that small grassroots movements are not only very effective before the internet but are also effective online. Like the Parqueologia blog, small audiences lead to better engagement because the demographic is very specific.
3. Digital Storytelling as a Genre
Before I took the class I was not familiar Digital Storytelling as a genre as academic medium. Usually, my other classes do not seem involve the same amount of digital engagement despite the level in which we use online resources. This class was a refreshing change in the way that it actually taught how to engage with many online sources in a meaningful way. Also, the genre of Digital Storytelling was refreshing to me because of the multi media and approachable nature of the genre.
4. Effective Activism
Similar to my notes on engagement effective activism also relies upon on a high level of engagement and grassroots level of specification. In addition, effective activism also relies upon a medium and message that is accessible and understood by everyone. My favorite thing about Digital stories is that they are meant to be more democratic in nature. Also Digital Storytelling is a way to use social media effectively, I find it is rare that classes will teach methods in meaningful social engagement.
5. Different Types of Digital Stories
Digital stories are multi media projects and they can be created on different platforms. I did not know that things like story maps and timelines can also be different storytelling mediums. I like that different projects can use different mediums as they are telling different stories. There is a high level of flexibility on what a digital story can be and how it can be expressed.
6. Learning Process
While working on my assignments for this class and reflecting on class discussions, I realized that my past academic experiences had a very different attitude with learning and grading. In my past I had always felt that many assignments did reward or even prioritized the learning process instead it emphasized the grade. In this class I tried to remove myself from that process and focus on the learning aspect.
7. Humanizing Deportation
After reviewing the Humanizing Deportation projects I learned a lot about the realities of deportation and was able to reflect critically on what I had learned in the past. On both sides of the political spectrum the experiences of immigrants are usually generalized and underrepresented. The Humanizing Deportation project made me realize the vast amount of experiences and the number of people who are traumatized and left behind by U.S. legislation.
8. Participation
I had fun with all the different asynchronous participation platforms. I am a very timid person, so sometimes during class I give a sub par answer because I am nervous. Even though I did enjoy participating in class, I liked the opportunity for a non-nervous version of myself that is not interacting with anyone f2f at the current moment, can answer in a way that is not as intimidating. I learned that there are different ways to participate meaningfully without doing it in the traditional sense.
9. Social Media
During our discussion on self-representation I changed the way I thought about social media. Despite expectations I feel like young people feel sort of violated by social media, the readings of self-representation, helped me realize that the reason social media can be so scary is not the fact that your privacy is being violated, rather it is the fact that someone who does not know you or understand you can judge you based on your social media alone.
10. Art and Activism
After reading Alán Peláez López's poetry book "Intergalactic Travels: poems from a fugitive alien, I learned a different perspective on art and activism. In their book López notes that poetry was a way of survival and conveying the deep emotions that they have felt as a Black, queer, and indigenous person. Poetry was the way in which they were able to convey the depth of their experiences and emotions and in a way that could be shared. Digital storytelling shares the same importance it is a way to convey depth that is accessible for everyone and a way to form networks and connections that were not established before.
In conclusion this class has changed the way I think about a lot of things. The largest being success. Previously, I defined success by the grandness, ignoring the fact that success as I defined it was not possible. After this class I have reflected on that thought process and am changing how I feel about success. The first being that no one thing is fully successful or a failure, the second being that "success" can come in a lot of small ways and the third being that success has to be a lot smaller than what I wanted it to be. This translates to my classes and life in a lot of different ways. It has changed the ways I think about prompts to research for other classes. Where I used to form a lofty plan to come up with the most complex result I know hope to find a specific smaller topic that interests me instead of what I think would be impressive. This class has greatly shifted my idea of what i considered to be academic when I do research or create new project I hope to include more aspects of digital storytelling.