Final Project Essay

Synopsis:

Over this semester, I have learned much about digital journalism and website development. I have created infographics, practiced website design and aesthetics, learned about Google analytics and had the chance to research and write an article on the topic of my choosing: climate change. I was nervous at the beginning of the semester but quickly learned that I had no reason to be; I picked up new skills and discovered I already possessed knowledge on topics such as social storytelling. I am so grateful to have gotten a chance to work on this project and will take the practical tools with me throughout my career in journalism.

Developing the story project:

In developing my story project for the semester, I not only wrote an article but created digital media components. I practiced ethical guidelines such as transparency when interviewing my sources and impartiality when considering the hard facts of this story. I faced different challenges working with Google Sites to format my website properly and gathering reliable sources from who I could quote. However, I also gained many opportunities to learn new kinds of media development such as infographics and to start to build my network of connections and references.

Digital Media Experience:

Overall, I had a positive experience creating my website and writing my story project this semester. It was filled with both obstacles and possibilities, and I learned more about myself as a writer than I have in any other class to date. I am grateful for the experience this semester and am excited to put my new skills to practice in my career.

This journey helped me have a better understanding of what digital journalism entails. I had heard of digital journalism, especially with its growing popularity in our age of social media and technology, but I had never studied it before. It was fascinating to learn about newsletters, spatial journalism and data visualization. I did encounter frustrating moments with technology, but it taught me about all the possibilities that new journalists can have in the field.

We used data, databases and Microsoft Excel for this class, most of which was new to me. I’ve had some encounters with Microsoft Excel and data, but for the most part, I am an amateur in these aspects of digital journalism. I did enjoy using these tools when we created data visualization maps and infographics on school district dropout rates. Reading and interpreting the data, entering it into Microsoft Excel and transferring it into digestible material felt like a fascinating puzzle, and I enjoyed this side of journalism.

I also really liked learning about mobile media tools such as Piktochart, which I used to create the infographics for my story project. I am very creative and it was interesting to explore the more creative side of digital journalism; I had trouble narrowing down my selections and finalizing my graphics because it was so captivating.

When it comes to the social storytelling aspect of digital journalism, I liked learning about it but found difficulty using the tools in practice. I specifically had trouble with Twitter and trying to find and insert tweets into my story on Medium. Instagram, on the other hand, was easy to embed into my story. This was one of the most frustrating labs we did in class and so I felt a big sense of accomplishment when I pressed submit.

Finally, some of the most enjoyable moments in working on my story project and website were talking to my sources, designing the look of my website and finally publishing my work. I enjoyed connecting with each one of my sources and learning why the environment is important to them. I learned so much more about climate change in San Diego and it made me even more passionate about the topic. I loved designing and arranging my website because it was a creative aspect I did not expect in this project and I got to play around with what I wanted it to look like. Lastly, I savored publishing my article and seeing the culmination of four months of work come together. I am so proud of my story and am so happy that I can share it publicly on a website that I designed myself.