Introduction
This semester in digital writing I learned a lot of terms and jargon which I found helpful. I never knew the term digital writing applied to what I do. I just wrote SEO and assumed that was just how things worked. I did not know there was a whole market out there for different kinds of digital writing. Digital writing is simply writing for a digital medium usually for the internet. Taking this class led me to do more searching to see what other types of writing jobs are there for digital writers. Digital writing is a great place to start looking for a job if you are a professional writer the only problem is most writing companies only hire college graduates for full time positions.
Eleven Characteristics
Play — the capacity to experiment with one’s surroundings as a form of problem-solving
http://fhrus001.students.digitalodu.com/?p=138 was a read and respond we were assigned. We had to contact our peers and provide them with feedback. From our feedback the person could improve their own work. This is an interesting concept in which the ability for someone to affect your surrounding also triggers problem solving. Play is experienced anytime there is a peer review. The group is experimenting with their ability to collectively pull information from their surroundings to come to a decision to solve a problem. For an incredibly simplistic overview you and two friends are arguing over what toppings to get. Regardless of what you inevitably choose someone experimented with their surroundings to present an argument that was superior to the others hence solving a problem.
Performance — the ability to adopt alternative identities for the purpose of improvisation and discovery
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=219065570&locale=en_US&trk=prof-0-ovw-view-secondary is my LinkedIn account. LinkedIn is a professional business based social network. It differs from my Facebook which I can post about what I am doing. I also have a WordPress for the sake of this class which provides little to no information about myself.
Simulation — the ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real-world processes
http://fhrus001.students.digitalodu.com/?p=94 is the rhetoric on the town I did for balance. I used a wet floor sign and how so many design elements are applied to it. Real-world processes is a term applying to design that affects how someone will react when they see it. Dynamic is a little stretching as nothing we did took a physical form. Digital writing is about making these real-world processes applicable online. SEO is a great example of simulation. I am constructing a model that will alter the real searches on Google by real people.
Appropriation — the ability to meaningfully sample and remix media content
http://fhrus001.students.digitalodu.com/?p=159 was project 2 its requirements were the exact definition of appropriation as we were told to select and edit an image then add audio to said image. This was a good starting place to practice appropriation.
Multitasking — the ability to scan one’s environment and shift focus as needed to salient details.
http://fhrus001.students.digitalodu.com/?p=172 was the rhetoric on the town to analyze a website. This is multitasking on the web designer’s end. They need everything to be perfect as people do not return to web sites that look unprofessional or don’t work. They are constantly multitasking to make sure their websites stay up.
Distributed Cognition — the ability to interact meaningfully with tools that expand mental capacities
http://fhrus001.students.digitalodu.com/?p=73 was the response to C.R.A.P design in which we learned how to use design elements to improve our digital writing. Some tools are as basic as knowing what you are doing in word or open office. Sometimes learning to edit images and audio are new software tools not a lot of people are familiar with. I had heard of audacity before and used it but could never get the static out of my voice. I later found out while making a video resume for this class the default windows movie maker audio recording software works great at eliminating background noise.
Collective Intelligence — the ability to pool knowledge and compare notes with others toward a common goal
https://sites.google.com/site/odu307fall2012/home This is the link to our class wiki project. It could have gone better but in theory collective intelligence is how sites like Wikipedia exist.
Judgment — the ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of different information sources
http://instructions.wikihow.com/Find-if-a-Website-Is-Legitimate Is the Wikihow link from Diggo which discusses the steps to evaluating if a website can be trusted.
Transmedia Navigation — the ability to follow the flow of stories and information across multiple modalities
http://engl307f12.courses.digitalodu.com/ If you go to our class portal and scroll down to contributors you could go through everyone’s blog for the same class but none of them would be the same. Being able to tell what ones were good and what ones were bad would probably be quite easy. Hence the flow of information would be set at an average that the person would absorb from these different models built off of the same information.
Networking — the ability to search for, synthesize, and disseminate information
Diggo would be a great example of networking. When we hear networking we immediately think social networking. Truth is networking started the second the internet was developed. The idea of computers being able to share information over each other was the first instance of networking. Diggo is a creative way for a website to act as a networking tool through shared searches for relatable information.
Negotiation — the ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning and respecting multiple perspectives, and grasping and following alternative norms.
I will once again reference the wiki project in which negotiation was key to success. Our lack of time caused our negotiation process to fall through leaving many unsatisfied which led to our project lacking in quality.
Section Review
I engaged entirely with simulation. As simulation is a term of jargon I use regularly now. I feel a class is worth it if I leave with some jargon and I definitely picked upped my fair share in digital writing. I like the idea of being able to manipulate an idea so that it works a different way. SEO is unique in the sense of it is the first time a rumor can be made true. By this I mean I can make something that one person said look like a hundred or thousand people said it. This is an interesting concept the internet is dealing with as everyone knows you can’t believe everything you read online. A site like The Onion a parody news source with enough altered feedback online could potentially be altered to be considered a reliable news source.
Collective intelligence is something I wish we spent more time on. I like the idea of people working together to complete a common goal by contributing their skills to a bigger project. Collective intelligence allows for us to use our strengths to help the group while others hopefully excel where you are weak. The ability for collective intelligence to balance out its strengths and weaknesses allows for an incredible finished project as anyone can see from visiting www.wikipedia.com. If we spent more time on collective intelligence I would like to have seen that expand over to negotiation. The thing that makes collective intelligence work is for the group to be able to negotiate how the finished project should look. Negotiation is not necessarily a huge part of digital writing but it is a real world skill needed for anyone looking to be successful at writing.
The main thing I learned in this class was what digital writing was and the areas it stretched out to. I am happy to know I can say I am a digital writer rather than I write online. Digital writer just sounds much more professional. The thing I learned most from digital writing was when we did the resume project and found out how many jobs there are for digital writers with college degrees. I was unaware of how many opportunities there were for digital writing. I was aware of SEO and article writing but I did not know how many English majors are hired to be marketing people. I am definitely more educated about the field and what I need to succeed in this field. Being able to put on a resume I have taken a digital writing class will look great to a potential employer.