All Good Things Must Come to an End

Reflecting back on this course, I can honestly say it’s been one of my favorite classes I’ve taken at UCSB thus far.  I feel like I learned so many interesting and better yet, useful new skills that will help me to achieve success even after I graduate.  I also feel that overall, I’ve really grown as a multimedia writer.  I’ve never thought about multimedia writing as a skill that needed to be developed, like academic writing, but considering how social media driven our society is today—multimedia writing skills are an absolute must. 

I think that out of all the projects, the Photoshop one was my favorite.  Not only did I get the opportunity to get better acquainted with the software itself, but I also created a project that I’m not only proud of, but that holds a lot of personal meaning for me.  Another aspect of the course I really enjoyed was how much freedom we were given in terms of choosing topics for our projects.  Although having so much freedom can sometimes be frustrating, I think it allowed for us all to create more expressive and overall meaningful projects. 

I’m also really happy that I got the opportunity to fulfill my honors contract by researching and creating a presentation on crowdsourcing.  After hearing about it being used in terms of raising money for non-profit organizations (and after seeing that Doritos Locos Tacos commercial…), the whole concept of crowdsourcing in advertising really fascinated me.  After reading some of the feedback I got on my presentation, I’m also really happy I got the opportunity to share this topic with everyone in class because from what I can tell—I definitely wasn’t the only person in the room who’s interested in the awesomeness of crowdsourcing.   

I’m not going to lie, I’m a little sad this course is already over because I feel like it literally flew by in the blink of an eye.  *sigh* Regardless, I plan to take all the new skills and concepts I learned in Writing 105M and apply them not just for the duration of my time here in UCSB, but into whatever career path I end up on a couple of years down the road!

a litttle love for Prezi

http://prezi.com/1g7gegac8aqx/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Get Picky with Intern Sushi

Last October, a friend of mine introduced me to a site called Intern Sushi, and I’ve become an avid user ever since.  Intern Sushi is a FREE online platform that allows users to create multimedia profiles.  Users include both interns, who use their profiles to create multimedia resumes, and companies, who use their multimedia platforms to advertise their business and any open internship opportunities they may have.  The Intern Sushi philosophy revolves around their belief that interns and companies alike deserve an opportunity to “be picky,” and that opportunity starts with showcasing talent, passion and drive through an outlet that transcends the paper resume.  By allowing users to utilize visual imagery, add samples of their work, and customize their profile settings, Intern Sushi profiles transform the bland paper resume into a tool that provides an entirely new and innovative way for individuals to find, apply for, and manage internship opportunities.

Another major perk in regards to using Intern Sushi is that it gives you access to major “influencers” in the “hardest-to-break-into” industries such as  film, television, sports, music, fashion, advertising, public relations, web, tech, publishing, theatre and art.  The site also hosts 30-day competitions during which users can enter their profiles for a chance to win a one-on-one meeting with one of Intern Sushi’s many prestigious Industry Influencers. 

In terms of the site’s interface, after youve signed up and created an account youll be able to access your internsushi dashboard.  The dashboard allows you to easily edit your profile, search companies, track your application, explore sample profiles, and browse influencers.  there are also sections where you can give additional information about yourself (here you might consider writing some of the info you’d include in a cover letter) your educational history, your past experiences-- displayed in chronological order, any special or even advanced skills you may have, any honors you’ve received in the past, distinguishing quotes from references you've received from previous employers,

and your interests.  Also, another really cool feature here is that you can make your profile more unique and personalized by adding pictures to illustrate your hobbies.  After you've applied to various positions, the dashboard allows you to easily keep track of and organize your submitted applications using filters in your application bin!

According to Internsushi founder Sara Senderoff,  "Personality is a large part of what makes someone successful…  You have to be able to move somebody, to instantly say, “Here’s why I’m different. You should stop what you’re doing and pay attention to me.”  In my opinion, one of the most valuable features of Intern Sushi is that it enables you to be seen as an individual. J

My thoughts, out loud

Photoshop Screencast Reflection :)

Maryland media study... more like Maryland (NO)media CHALLENGE

The other day I took on the Maryland Media Study challenge, and I am happy to report that I succeeded—though it was much more difficult than I had thought it would be.  At first, I didn’t believe that “unplugging” myself from media for 24 hours would be all that difficult.  Realistically, I really only have to go media-free for about 2/3 of the day (16 hours) because I usually spend the other 1/3 sleeping!  The beginning of my day started out well.  I woke up, turned off my iPhone alarm, read the sticky note on my phone that said ‘NO MEDIA,’ put my phone in my drawer, and subsequently began the countdown for my 24-hour media-less day.  I didn’t really have any trouble throughout the first part of my day because when I’m in class I usually don’t look at my phone much because I am a terrible multi-tasker.  One challenge I did encounter was knowing the time.  I have a watch that I usually wear (but to be honest, I usually wear it for more “fashion” purposes than for “function”), but of course of all days that I forget to put it on—I actually need to use it for the purpose it was actually made to be used for… sigh…. So besides being late/a little time-disoriented, I found that I didn’t have much trouble disconnecting myself from media while I was busy, attending classes, and going about my normal Wednesday routine. 

As soon as I got home, I came about --this-- close to “breaking the barrier” because my roommate, who had misplaced her phone, asked me to call her so that she could see if it was in her backpack somewhere.  Thankfully, my phone wasn’t on my person because if I had found it, my immediate reaction would have been to just call my roommates phone—all thoughts of the Maryland media challenge overpowered by the way I’ve been conditioned since adolescence to be dependent on media and technology.  When evening came around, my day became less busy, and I didn’t have as many things to do to distract myself from using media, this “experiment” started to turn into a real challenge.  On the positive side, I cleaned my whole room, reorganized my drawers, AND did all my laundry!  On the negative side, when I woke up and checked my phone the next day, I realized I had missed my 2nd pass time (I had set a reminder for it on my phone), forgotten to call my landlord back, and missed one of my TA’s office hours… but besides those minor mishaps and the boredom—nothing that negative really came out of the experience.  All in all, I completely agree with the study in that, in this day and age, using media is more about getting information than staying constantly connected.  In my experience, the things I missed most while not using media were time, schedule, and keeping-up-to date issues, rather than issues associated with feeling isolated or disengaged socially… Then again, I rarely feel isolated due to the fact that I have 10 housemates J

photoSHOP til I DROP

I really enjoyed composing the images for the Photoshop project because I got to know the software better.  I’d always hear about people using layers in editing, but until I actually sat down, went through the tutorial, and learned how to use them myself—the concept never really resonated with me.  I liked how I could experiment with crazy effects and filters without having to worry about completely botching my image and having to start all over.  At first, I had a hard time deciding which image to use. I started out originally wanting to use this image

But after messing around with it for a bit in Photoshop, I decided I wanted to use a more interesting letter than "o".. so I switched to this image because really liked the vibrancy of the colors and I thought it would be cool to mess around with the saturation and what not…

After experimenting around for a little bit and altering the color scheme of my image more times than I can count, I decided to focus on morphing part of the image using the liquify tool instead—and I’m sooo glad I did!  I’d have to say that the liquify effect/filter was definitely my favorite out of all the editing tools I used in Photoshop for this project because it literally allowed me to change the “reality” of my image… Here’s what I mean…

It was like one minute.. I had an average everyday "L" shape... and the next-- BAM-- a "J," my favorite letter in the alphabet if I do say so myself... but me, being the indecisive and procrastinating person that I am (I had a midterm the next day that I desperately didn't want to go back to studying for), changed my my mind once again.  I couldnt help it, using the liquify tool on this image gave me a really good idea that I just had to try out on this one-->  

and heres what I got [drumrolllll pleaseeee]

 

No, I didn't post the same image twice on accident-- they're actually slightly different if you take a closer look (the one on the right is slightly more distorted).  I wasn't sure if the first one was better because you could still kind of tell what the original image is, or if I like the second image more because it's so distorted and kind of strange looking... What do you guys think?

All in all, this project was awesome and I have come to two conclusions... 

a.) I am an extremely indecisive person (no new news there.. ) & 

b.) In terms of this project-- being indecisive actually wasn't all that much of a bad thing... honestly, I think it actually benefitted me because by changing my mind so many times and experimenting with Photoshop I discovered the wonderful and amazing liquify tool AND I got to create an image I really like :)