Jessica’s New Media Writing
I am Jessica Wang, a student at Emory University. Welcome to my new media writing site where I explore different mediums for my creative writing in ENGRD 221 New Media Writing in Fall 2021
Hello! While reading through my WordPress site, you probably will be puzzled about why there are drawings, a Spotify playlist, podcasts, and even games in this English writing class portfolio. This WordPress site is a platform where I presented all my individual writings and group projects from Professor David Morgen’s New Media Writing in Fall 2021 at Emory University. More than just an English class portfolio, this site communicates my feelings and thoughts through various mediums and records my progress as a writer and learner. Since I am a sophomore majoring in Business and Quantitative Science, people may think that I am a logical learner more than a creative learner, so this website is an excellent opportunity for you to learn my creative side.
Words are always viewed as a powerful tool of communication and self-expression. Besides using words, there are many other powerful vehicles for self-expression. This class enables me to express my ideas and feelings through different modes creatively: I write through voices, visualizations, and other digital manners. In this class, we are assigned various sketch assignments, which ask us to think critically and share our inventive ideas through visual, digital, spatial, and aural measures. These are my favorite parts of this course because they offer me a brief break from my monotonous quantitative science courses and energize me mentally with creative ideas sparkling in my brain. Also, it is always fun to read my classmates’ posts and listen to their brilliant ideas, which give me inspiration for my own writing.
Being able to use multiple modes for writing, I feel that my thoughts and ideas are no more constricted by formal academic writing. Unlike my previous traditional English writing classes, new media writing enables me to write on an online platform that is public to everyone. This means that there is more space for creativity and allowance for informal. Aesthetic appearance, humorous language, and intriguing content are vital components for an attractive website, delivering my ideas to broader audiences. Therefore, while creating sketch assignments and projects, I always tried to use creativity to add some spice to my rhetorical writing. As a person who is passionate about art, I always enjoy the process of creating art and using my drawings as a form of expression. Browsing through my colorful WordPress site, you can find drawings and pictures along with my texts. This New Media Writing class allows me to incorporate my doodles and words, making my thoughts easier to be interpreted by audiences. For instance, the technology narrative assignment asked us to consider the significance of technology in our life. Considering where technology is implemented more frequently in my life, I wrote about the benefits of technology in my education. While I was revising and finalizing my draft, I decided to add hand-drawing images to depict the four stages of my education journey with the involvement of technology. This decision is made by the consideration that this personal narrative is not merely going to be graded by my professor but also viewed by other audiences on the Internet. My drawings make the narrative more visually appealing and articulate my argument more straightforwardly. I hope my audiences can capture my feelings while finding this narrative fun to read.
However, a good piece of writing is more than self-expression and communication of ideas. Composing a more compelling argument and delivering a thoughtful message should be considered as the essential ingredient of new media writing. Thanks to Randy Olson and his powerful ABT format, I am now able to present my readers with a stronger thesis statement. The ABT format was first applied in my Technology Literacy’s final draft: “Technology: The Vehicle or Obstacle of My Education Journey?” When I was constructing my first draft, I encountered the issue of ending my essay with a weak conclusion, and I couldn’t figure out a solution for it. After I posted my first draft and discussed it with Professor Morgen, I received the comment that my narrative is a little bit bland. He also suggested that I reconfigure my essay into the ABT format, which structures the essay into And, But, and Therefore. Moreover, reading through my classmates’ narratives inspired me to evaluate the advantages of technology usage as well as its downsides. In this way, synthesizing others’ ideas and reconstructing my narrative into the ABT format, I arrive at a conclusion that I should make a balance between my daily life and the use of technology due to its pros and cons. Together with my drawings, my technology narrative does not simply tell a story of a college student and her technology usage but also conveys a more meaningful message.
The final and vital process for my new media writing is reflecting on what I did, what I learned, and what needs improvement. Throughout this semester, we are asked to write reflection posts. These reflection posts are archives of my progress and insufficiency as a writer. When I take a step back and revisit my work, viewing my improvement and learning outcomes gives me confidence and motivation for the following writing. On the other hand, I also see my shortcomings as a writer and room for future improvement from self-reflection and reading my peers’ work. In this way, reflection allows me to know things to maintain and avoid in my future writing. Specifically, from writing reflection on technology narrative, I learned that I should continue to use the ABT format to build up a convincing argument. Later, the ABT structure formatted my episode of the “Voices through the Mask” podcast. Before shaping the thesis into the ABT format, my episode is simply telling stories of international students’ study abroad life under the pandemic. By filling the ABT format, I developed a specific message for my American audiences: listening to international students’ worries and opinions, Americans should be responsible for their own health and others’ health by getting vaccinated and wearing a mask.
Therefore, reflecting on what I accomplished, the insights taken from this course helps to pave the road for my future writing and academic journey at Emory. My journey of new media writing helped me to discover a personalized writing process. As demonstrated in my last sketch assignment, I broke down my writing into several smaller components: developing an argument, drafting and expression of ideas, collaboration and integration of others’ ideas, revision, and reflection. Previously, I never took a deep examination of my writing process and broke them into smaller pieces. A clearer picture of writing as a process is uncovered to guide my future writing. In particular, I believe that it will be beneficial and convenient to use the ABT format in my future academic writing and presentations since it facilitates me to configure and deliver a concise but effective argument in my new media writing assignments.
Beyond individual work, this New Media Writing course teaches me the spirit of teamwork. Collaborating as a group of three, Samantha, Icy, and I produced three episodes of “Voices through the Mask” and twined the “Trust is the Key to Vaccine Hesitancy” episode into a game. I want to thank them for providing me with valuable suggestions on my podcast episode: Samantha, my assistant producer, gave me technical instructions for audio editing and script editing. Consulting Icy, I was able to form an informational but creative title for my podcast. For our twine game, we design a game which enable our players to appreciate the efforts of doctors during the Covid pandemic. Dividing up our work, I wrote the dialogue; Icy drafted the general structure and transition of script; Samantha, with a rich computer science knowledge, twined our writing into a finalized game. Extending from working in a small group, fourteen of us worked collectively with Professor Morgen to produce a podcast series that discussed how the Covid-19 pandemic reshaped our method of communication. This podcast is a combination of various perspectives ranging from personal romantic stories to professional insights of a public health expert. Listening to others’ ideas is always an effective way to extend my understanding of knowledge and make self improvement both as a writer and a person. In this way, collaboration is an indispensable part of my writing process and shapes me into a learner capable of critical thinking. Applying to the future and beyond academics, the collaborative work experience in this class will be significant for my future business career.
Finalizing my reflection on this course, I would like to say that this New Media Writing journey has not simply helped me to grow as a writer but also shaped me as a learner. Through exploring different modes for writing and voicing my argument, I continuously take the risk of trying out new things that may cause an unideal outcome. I am proud to say that I have progressively become a person eager to explore new things without fear of failure. Therefore, I want to recommend other students to take this class and begin their New Media Writing journey with Professor Morgen. This is a choice that you will not regret!
Hope you enjoy reading my work!
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Jessica's Website 