Classes like this one have taught me a handful of useful tidbits for the future. I feel like this blog has also helped me express my feelings, opinions and what not to the best of my ability. All while getting to drop facts in between.
I’ve got a glorified diary. I plan on using it as much as I can.
It’s insane how all of the topics discussed over the term are things I’ve already recognized in real life but never knew the proper terminology for. I’m so excited to continue learning.
As someone who suffers from massive anxiety to the point where I can’t check my email or grades, being able to free-flow while weaving in my understanding of class topics helps me truly get the stuff that I’m reading and watching.
I guess this is essentially the tip of the iceberg with the beginning of my graduate school career. I’m over here, hand writing my last blogs for this class while thinking about my finals. Stressing. Multimedia for one and a case study for another.
The thing that I’ve truly enjoyed about this course though is the way I can now analyze and tie in the importance of digital/media convergence. I can especially see it because I recently got a new job-which at the time of typing this bit I am probably going to never go back-and I happened to be in an office setting instead of being at home.
Totally new to me. Even this program is. But I do enjoy being able to still feel like I’m in a classroom learning, instead of trying to teach something myself with very little to no direction.
So last week, all of a sudden I was staring at three computer screens. Holy second screen experience! And a keyboard and a mouse that work! I’ve been working from a broken laptop for almost a year! This is nuts!
I was able to take what I’ve learned in journalism from my undergrad and what I’ve learned about journalism innovation at my short time at Syracuse and really do a lot of work in a short amount of time. It took me 57 hours, but I got them set up with social media posts across six platforms until the end of March.
It was easily enough work to earn a grand. Turns out they thought it was worth half of that. All of this work I put into this company to make them look good and it kind of wasn’t worth the effort.
Honestly though the fact that this client thought that it was okay to pay me California minimum wage is really the result of the lack of media literacy in the country. It’s super simple to look up the average wage of a social media manager in the United States.
Add in a copy editor and marketing/personal assistant to the mix and the costs add up. I digress, though.
I’m over here incredibly upset that I’m late on my work at a super crucial time but at the same time I’m grateful that the little bit I’ve taken from this program I’ve already learned how to use to further my career path.
And I got to really experience a true multi-screen experience for a little bit that I wouldn’t have before. Even if the client was lackluster, Syracuse got me there and helped me see my worth.
There’s always people that need someone to write and edit for them. Until then I’m going to write my little heart out on this blog and hope that it provides context into myself as a person.
I’ve seen what places like Vox and the Washington Post have done for journalism. I’m writing about the Washington Post for my case study. Those are things that can be applied to basically every aspect of communications. I’m constantly intrigued with the versatile manner that journalism fits within this broad industry.
However with the way things keep changing, it’s crucial to continue to revamp and rebrand the communications industry as a whole. Especially the media, both new and old.
I can’t express enough how amazing it is to take these skills that I’ve honed over the years and use them to better something else.
Considering how my alma matter is potentially shutting down the newspaper that I gained all of these skills from as a writer, I feel like the best way I can combat the reality of a dying newspaper by furthering my knowledge in multimedia. Period.
News needs to be told. We just have to understand the obstacles that we are dealt with.
Being able to connect to consumers is the best way to continue to close the digital divide. Now we just need WiFi accessible to everyone. I hope to see that in the near future. Everyone should have the opportunity to have access to a virtual library.
Without access to simple things like blogging, student journalism and student-ran communications groups across the nation, we will never be able to dominate in the media literacy field.
I want to see a day where being a digital era journalist is considered just as important as any STEM major. I don’t think people understand how much goes into becoming an expert on a topic, hunting down verifiable sources and putting together a package that works across a multitude of platforms.
Being a watchdog is hard right now. It’s like trying to get an alcoholic to quit drinking when they just aren’t ready. But if we, as journalists, are able to gain trust and understanding, then the public might be ready to trust us later.
With the next round of presidential elections looming in the corner, I feel like finding new ways to innovate news and find news is more important than ever.
All's Well That Ends Well 