Featured image via Macmillan Publishers.
As stated in my About Me page (bonus points if you actually checked that page out before coming on over to this first blog post) this entire platform was created for my digital media storytelling course at Howard University. Thus, in honor of this site’s origins, I’d like to dedicate my first post to briefly discussing my experience in this course thus far.
So far, I am seriously loving this course. I really enjoy learning real-life skills that I can add to my proverbial backpack as a journalist. From day one, we have been able to get acclimated with different tools that make great online content stand out. One of my biggest take-aways from the beginning lectures is the importance of good audio. When you are putting together an online video package, you want audio that is as equally compelling as the visuals. Film experts like the Los Angeles Film School even suggest that audio is more important than its visual counterpart. No audience member wants to strain at their screen in confusion as they try to figure out what you are trying to say.
I also enjoy how easy-to-follow the course is, up to this point at least. The lectures are both informative and highly understandable. The same goes for the tutorials, whose ease has allowed me to create this very platform that you are reading this blog post on right now. Although skills like website-building can be quite troublesome to acquire, the tutorial provided in class did such a comprehensive job of covering every basic detail needed to know when it comes to web design. Dr. P, the instructor of this course, did a great job of making sure her students were sticking with us and that no one was left behind. The use of sharing the screen of another student so that we could see in real-time what needed to be done to complete each step really helped in my understanding, especially since I am a visual learner.
Just as the lectures are highly helpful, the assigned readings for this course are also great for learning the ins and outs of being a well-informed journalist. The first reading was a study entitled What is Happening to Television News by Rasmus Kleis Nielson and Richard Sambrook. The study was very insightful in informing me about the current trends in media consumption as newer generations switch from loyal and avid TV-watchers to consumers of various forms of online media. This change has forced TV news sources to adapt to this growing technological world and mold their content into other platforms outside of the television, like social media and digital streaming sites.
This insight was surprising on some levels. Although I was aware that more and more media consumers are relying on their cell phones and portable tablets, and thus are using social media platforms like Facebook and streaming sites like Amazon Prime more and more for their news needs, I did not know this transformation was impacting the television news field as much as it actually is.
As you can likely tell, I have already been impressed by this course and am looking forward to future class sessions. My expectations for this course are high, or shall we say great, as I am anticipating more information-packed lessons and useful tips that are incredibly important for any rising journalist to know. Especially for someone like me, who loves learning something new every day, I am grateful for the opportunity to increase my knowledge.
nyah terrilyn 