Process - Digital Media Mission 2 (1)

The topic my team and I chose for this mission was "Blogging". This was a fun one to do as we (Chris, Wiktoria, and I) had the chance to be as creative and fluid as much as we wanted to be. 

Our goals for the mission:  

• To create a blog with content that will attract the right audience.  

• Take notes and come up with several topics to write about on our blog 
• Structure the blog in such a way that it can help first year college students make some progress and help with any stress they may have. 
• Input photos of our progress and how we found and gathered our research

We found it quite easy to interact with one another through messenger and through meeting up in a local café to exchange ideas, gather photos and start writing an actual blog. In some ways, it was like blogging Inception (having a blogging website created for a topic of blogging).

The first thing we attempted in the first lab was write a list of different topics to talk about in the blog. We eventually narrowed it down to student life in college. All the ideas we had with the blog about mental health and other issues we that can arise, we decided to put that in as one of the weekly topics that could help many first-year students.  

So now we had our plan in place and the end goal in focus. The next big step was taking the plunge and building the blog from scratch.  We began by looking at different blogging sites. Blogger being the main choice at first. After a few group discussions we decided that Wix was the best option to go for. We had many options and layout designs that we could work with. The first thing we typed to get the ball rolling was the title of the blog; "</Life As A Student>". Straight from the beginning I knew I was in the right group. My team were insightful, determined and also had fun while doing it. 

We spent most time in a cafe taking photos and writing in notebooks all about our experiences in college and what other first years in the future should expect and why they shouldn't worry as much as they most likely will. We also managed to draw up a few mind maps of ways to go about doing this with pictures and whether to use film footage or not.

I love that we get to write this from our point of view as students. we may be different people from different backgrounds, but we do share one thing in common; Life as a student! 

I myself had many ideas on what to create, Wiki had such talent when it came to the drawing and illustration of the blogs and Chris had all the PowerPoint skills in place to help make it all come together. It was a very creative and well-made team in my opinion. 

 

Reflection - Digital Media Mission 1 (3)

I have learned a lot of information and lessons during this mission, most of which were when the mission had concluded and I received my mark. I was quite disappointed with the end result of my presentation due to my lack of understanding the set goals, even through reading these goals. I was happy that Gavin, My second team member, got an excellent mark. He put in so much effort and saved my mark as well. He understood what was needed, where'as I did not.

I learned all about how and why GIF's were created and that the correct pronunciation, which is wrong, wrong I tell you!

I must say that I was somewhat displeased with how I went about doing this mission. I thought it was just about GIFs but I was wrong. I was supposed to research the topic and more-or-less document my team and I during the process but instead I just researched facts and didn't input the needed information or pictures.

If I were to do things differently I would have the group meet up more frequently and toss some ideas around. I would have also taken many photos and input my findings and how I began my research. I would have put up a picture of the creator of the GIF and gave some feedback about him and why he created such an iconic artifact.

If I were to go back and change my topic to something else I would gladly do so, as I thought the GIF would be easy but it turns out, it was the most complicated.I have, however, learned from this and had a much better understanding and attempt in my second group mission.

I have been marked as satisfactory but I disagree with this result as I didn't think I should have any mark whatsoever. I clearly misunderstood the topic at hand. I feel I could have done a much better job so I do not deserve anything above unsatisfactory. I am glad I got it finished but I feel I just wasted my groups time and my class time.

I was just proud of Gavin for pulling through and taking all the weight and workload. He did all the work. The only thing I was somewhat happy with is the animated slides.

Product - Digital Media Mission 1 (2)

For the product section of the mission, we, as a group, were meant to meet up and work together bringing our ideas into the foreground. I stared blankly into the dark abyss of space looking for a way to approach such a daunting task without ever knowing how to research while working in a group project. 

The first thing we started off with was the set up of a What'sApp group. Here we would discuss ideas and plan out what to do, how we did it, and any meet up times we could allocate. 

I started my research with the history and background on GIFs while my team mates research where they are used and what itools are best for making them. I found a lot about the topic but still was uncertain how to approach this. So I start to write up all I could about the creator, the year invented, where they are used, and how they have changed - among a handful of other information. 

to create the presentation, I opened up PowerPoint and created slides with effects on them. My issue with this process was the typing. I should have added pictures and photos of the process in our research but instead I wrote down just an essay style format about GIFs that deviated from the group presentation. I was so nervous about this and felt really awful and out of place because it was my first time doing a power point and group work. 

I made a GIF which wasn't added into the final product due to difficulties I was having with software. It depicted a friend of mine falling over while skiing. I made this on an app called GIFY, where you create and view many GIFs. It was easy, all you I had to do was open up the app, choose photos I wanted and wording I wanted to use and the app automatically made a moving GIF. 

It was too late by the time I get everything sorted. My other group member, Gavin, Created a wonderful presentation which, when i witnessed, I finally understood what was asked of us. This would later help me prepare for Mission 2