Windowsill

Looking back, it feels like I learned a lot. I knew it would be hard to record it all, so I will skim through my notes and posts looking for clues. Maybe this will unearth the evidence of a change in my writing and my understanding of digital media.

Writing Well

I was surprised to find that I had lost sight of many of the principles and basics of writing. The text began with history for context and then moved to principles. Although I had learned principles many years earlier, I hadn’t seen it much since, and that’s the problem. Years of working on deadline in “good enough for government work” settings had diminished my writing skills, so I have re-oriented myself to these concepts. How do I know? Since taking this course my writing process has slowed to a crawl, as I question the brevity, clarity and accuracy of my writing. This has been uncomfortable, but it’s making a difference, even if it has yet to materialize in the final product. It would be useful to read this chapter at the beginning of each week to avoid potholes.

“I can’t overemphasize the need to be specific, concrete and clear. This is the most commonly fallen into pothole in writing,” from the textbook.

The Workshop and the Nuts and Bolts

My ego took some heavy blows during the early part of the course. My writing was full of grammatical errors, and there was nowhere to hide. One thing I noticed was that I learned more from being an editor for my workshop partner than I did from re-writing my own work. This seems strange to me, but maybe my defensiveness clouded my vision as I tried to assess my mess. I was more able to be dispassionate as I checked with Mr. Strunk and Mr. White and tried to help my partner. I still don’t fully understand the proper use of the colon and the semi colon, but I feel a new found desire to master it.

New Media vs. Old Media

Hallelujah! After the painful rite of passage that was “the workshop,” I could sink my teeth into some new media study. The chapter transitioned well by emphasizing the timeless nature of writing principles, regardless of media. I am not a journalist, but the topics of credibility and focusing on audience needs applied to my work just the same. I learned a lot about the differences between the print and digital audience. I had always heard that the web audience is impatient, but never really took it to heart. Now when I write and design I’ll consider Jakob Neilsen and the Eyetrack studies that validate assertions about the digital audience.

Screen Writing

Some of the material on screen writing and design was familiar, but it was also clear how much I had forgotten. The chief value to me was how integrated the material was. Writing, visual style, usability and information architecture were all touched on and formed a coherent perspective. I hope to refer back to this section every time a new project begins.

Wearing Many Hats: Journalism, Public Relations, Advertising

These modules seemed tangential to what I do, and I thought they might be less important. However, after working through all of the modules, I became more aware of the trend toward convergence in digital media. It became clear that as new media participants we often wear the hats of the journalist, the designer, the technologist and the marketer.

Questions

The “many hats” issue brings up a big question for me. What am I going to be when I grow up?
It seems silly, but in a way this is still the question. In an age of specialization, what does it mean that a digital media career incorporates so many skills and roles? What does it mean that everyone is a content creator now? How does this affect me as a professional content creator? This course provided a lot of answers, but some questions remain unanswered.

Conclusions

Before this class I was a bit overwhelmed by all the divergent paths in digital media. I feel like the biggest thing I have now is a big picture view of what it means to work in digital media. I feel like I have taken a high speed train trip across the country and now I have to collect and apply the information I saw along the way. I keep saying how I hope to refer back to the class material. I think this is where the practical value of the course will become clear. Have I become a better writer, designer and communicator? Maybe a little, but the real effect may come as I apply the ideas of this class to my daily work.