Self Evaluation

Coming into J198, I was scared. I was horrible with technology and social media and avoided both like the plague. When I saw the work my friend Jackie was doing for the class last semester. I realized she was learning valuable skills that I needed to know. If I didn’t take the class, I would avoid them forever.

So I started the class. In the beginning I despised making videos. It took me forever to get myself to start filming, and then forever and a day to begin the editing process. I am not sure when the transition started, but as the semester went on I began to enjoy editing videos. I not only enjoyed filming, but also planning what to film at different locations. I found satisfaction in completing a video.

I feel that my work this semester was pretty well done. I think this was mostly due to the fact that I liked doing the work and therefore put a lot of time into the assignments. I put everything I had into the assignments and made sure they were the best I could make them. The one project I felt I could have done better on was the documentary. I found it an extreme challenge to make it long enough while making sure the quality was good enough. I am not as proud of it as I could be, although Allie and I spent a very long time working on it and tweaking it.

I found extreme satisfaction in completing the website. I absolutely loved making it, and found that I enjoy making sites. As soon as Allie and I completed Affordablebethlehemdining.net, I went to work making my own digital resume. I worked on it for hours and found it fun. I loved knowing how to do it, and began to experiment beyond weebly, using wordpress.

I know for a fact that I will be able to use the skills I learned in J198 in the future. When I went for an interview for a communications job at Prudential financial, they asked me questions like, “Where do you see social media going in the future?” “Where should social media go in our company?” “How do you use twitter?” If I was not enrolled in J198, I would have had absolutely no idea how to go about answering those questions. I definitely would have left the interview embarrassed and with the knowledge that I would not get the job. However, because I knew the answers I felt confident with my interview and with the skills I have attained.

Self Evaluation-Allie

Coming into J198 this semester I wasn't really sure what to expect.  I knew I'd be tweeting and blogging and making some videos, but I definitely think I underestimated how time consuming it would be.  A pleasant surprise though was the basically zero amount of reading we ended up having to do.

As far as blogging goes I have to admit that I do not think I'm made for blogging.  I love to write, especially about things that I'm passionate about and enjoy, and yes, I do enjoy working out and feeling good but I do not think I knew enough about fitness to write a blog article on it three times a week.  That was of course my own bad judgement and luckily I found enough healthy recipes, workout plans, and healthy living tips that stayed consistent with my blog.

Twitter wise, I definitely feel I improved since the beginning of the semester.  I did not understand what a hashtag was or how to find people or reach my "tribe" until a few weeks into the semester.  I also had problems remembering to tweet about my blog in the beginning but I got the hang of it eventually.  Before Multimedia and Reporting, I saw twitter as just another silly tool of social media where people could "follow" celebrities.  This class definitely opened my eyes up to a whole different side of twitter though--a more serious side that allowed anyone and everyone to act as reporters.

My favorite part of J198, and what I think I improved in the most considering I had no experience at the beginning of the semester, was definitely making video news stories.  From the filming itself, to interviewing people, to editing and eventually "publishing" on youtube and our blogs, I really surprised myself with how much I enjoyed this aspect of the class.  It was definitely frustrating at times if people were not very cooperative or if just the slightest thing went wrong, but for some reason I always felt very proud after finishing a video.

All in all, I think this class was a great opportunity to really learn about and take advantage of every platform of social media.  My one regret would be my lack of enthusiasm in my blog but besides that I really impressed myself with my ability to produce news stories, make google maps, tweet meaningful (and not-so-meaningful) tweets, use storify, flickr… you get the point!  I feel like this class has given me the tools I need to tackle any field of journalism or media for that matter and I look forward to seeing how I apply my newfound knowledge.

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