Posted In: Reflective posts
You might be wondering, “Selin, did you forget to do your semester recap??” and the answer is, “of course notttt!”
As you know, after 11 weeks (we are entering week 15 as I write this post), the class will have completed all the reading, writing, and reflecting on the materials taught by Dr. Pisch. Now we began the final project of producing an artifact utilizing the skills we have developed this semester.
Some examples include:
Regarding my group with two excellent partners Kailey and Sarah, we are focus on creating a platform dedicated to voting registration. Our website will cover topics about Voting in COVID, Important dates to remember, The importance of voting, Where do you start, What are your voting rights, Texas Voter ID laws, Absentee voting, and more.
I observed classmate Murphy Scott’s website and read her most recent post, which described how she wants to create a website that will incorporate the following:
After further reading, it turns out she has decided to create a website about election aid, which I would say is similar/underneath the same category as my groups. Her focus is more directed to the overall election topic, where she will cover the correct information about the election, the historical context, policies, candidates, etc. At the same time, my group focuses on stressing why it is important to vote, how your vote matters, how to vote, etc. All in all, we could combine our sites where it would be very informative and easy to use for students/anyone undereducated to use, love, and share.
Next up is Camryn Lang, whose project will create a COVID-19 page specifically for Texas A&M students. She emphasized how she has added a disclaimer to the welcome page (so she does not need to worry about legalities) to clarify how her site is for A&M students, not by A&M. This is smart to acknowledge because COVID-19 is a serious & hot topic that requires reliable sources to back up the information. The university does not want to be responsible for anything to happen (not saying Camryn would do anything) potentially. Always be safe than sorry!!
What I like about my group’s, Murphy’s, and Camryn’s, is we all know that there are tons of websites out there once you search it up on Google, with the information we want to present, but that’s the problem- TONS. We (all of us) want to create a platform where our audience only needs to go to one website, aka OURS, and it has everything they need and more. Plus, some websites can be hard to navigate too.
“I want to create a hub for students to find reliable information, without having to sift through six months’ worth of links and articles.” - Camryn
Camryn’s website covers all that a Texas A&M student would need. She has categories like Changes in Aggie Traditions, Sports Changes, Schedule and Course Changes, Local Resources, Health Resources, Guidelines & Restrictions, COVID-19 Cases, and Where to get tested. Definitely check out her site and share it with your peers!
Kam was going back and forth between creating a hypertext fiction or a blog. After deciding on a blog, she debated between doing a lifestyle or book and ultimately picking books. She plans to develop a book blog on Tumblr called Keeping it Bookish, which will consist of reviews, recommendations, thoughts, rambles, pictures, and more.
As she creates her blog, she focuses on accessibility so her audience can comfortably access/use her site. She stated:
“Another aspect of sites that is crucial but can be neglected is accessibility. Making sure that a site is usable for everyone, regardless of ability status, is extremely important. Some key steps to take to making a site accessible are the site should be keyboard friendly, the colors for the site should be carefully chosen, text should be resizable, and automatic media, audio, and navigation should not be used. This is not an exhaustive list, but these are great things to think about when thinking about web accessibility.”
I appreciate her mentioning accessibility because something important I have come across with my group is that even though we are creating our platform on a computer, we can’t forget about phone users. The size of a phone screen versus a computer screen is drastically different; therefore, we have to make sure the website appears the same and works the same. Because a vast majority are always on their phone, accessibility is key.
Another final project blog creator is Brooke Johnson, whose blog will be designed around lifestyle & personal finance. She decided on this because she likes to read about personal finance and unfortunately cannot find any blogs that cater to her age range. Her blog will have a minimalist design that incorporates maroon, white, and black colors to give it a professional look.
A section on her reflection that I read that my group also discussed was if we want to use GitHub or WordPress. Her reasoning for picking GitHub is exactly the same as my groups.
“I am choosing to create my blog using GitHub rather than WordPress because I think it gives me more opportunities to learn, which is the purpose of this class. I can also directly apply what I learned each week to my blog. I have tried learning WordPress, and I like it, but I feel like GitHub is more of a hands-on experience and I will enjoy that. Plus, GitHub is free!”
Last but not least is classmate Taylor Pike who is switching it up and creating a Twine game Depression Quest(a protagonist struggling with depression). She said:
“I knew I wanted to create an interactive story that would keep the reader interested at a greater level than a normal short story because of the user’s ability to alter the life and events of the protagonist.”
Taylor emphasizes the word suspenseful to have her readers always on their toes. One way that I read she mentioned that I believe will do a great job is the element of no longer an option. She describes it by giving an example that provides a clear description of what she is trying to say:
“For example, if the protagonist is walking through a dark hallway and drops her phone, calling for help can be one of the options on the bottom of the screen, but it will be crossed out since she no longer has her cellphone, adding to the suspense and reminder of paths to survival running out.”
Overall, I am excited to see her and everyone else’s completed projects. Lastly, I hope my semesterly recap gave you a better insight into our classmate’s final projects!