I came into this class, I must admit, knowing little about the developments in the digital media (well for one, I do not own a Digital camera or a cell phone with a camera!), or anything about the presidential campaign for that matter. So the learnings from this class for me have been two-fold. It taught me the basics of applications like Soundslides, Audacity, IMovie, etc, and also got me involved in the Presidential campaign (although I learnt last week that as a foreigner it is illegal for me to contribute to anybody’s campaign!) I have actually already applied my Soundslides capabilities in another class for a team project and it was pleasing to hear the professor say “wow, you guys are way ahead, very professional!” when I told her that “to play the Soundlides clip, just drag and drop the Index file onto an IE browser” (Thanks Hank!) I think I can really use the knowledge I have gained in this class in my career or atleast use it to distinguish my resume!

The readings, in-class discussions, wiki postings, all were really insightful and made me sit up and take note of the developments taking place in the digital world. I enjoyed learning the new lingo through word of the day, learning about candidates through slide shows, reading about the basics of web design, learning about tag clouds, mashups, and all other developments that Debra and Betsy introduced us to. Although we have probably just scratched the surface, my knowledge and curiosity about digital media has increased manifold and this I believe will help me make valuable contributions to my workplace, especially considering I want to work in the nonprofit sector which is still catching up to Web 2.0. I remember we started off class with each one of us citing our “Aha!” moments, I think everyday of this class turned out to be an “Aha!” moment for me as I was learning or becoming aware of something new each class. Earlier, I did not really pay attention or actively seek information about the developments in the digital world, but now that I have a sense of what is really out there I think I will be more alert to the changes taking place. It’s funny how now that I am aware of RSS feeds and the like, I see them all over the place.

Also I really enjoyed being part of this diverse class and getting to hear so many different viewpoints. I especially enjoyed hearing from the journalists as I have never been in the company of so many journalists before! Prior to this class I was not aware of the falling numbers of the print newspaper and the changing trends to online and citizen journalism, as back home in India we (my dad and I) still like to fight over the newspaper early in the morning and discuss the day’s news over a cup of tea or coffeeJ

Hope to stay in touch. I can be reached at darsh.r@gmail.com, or why don’t we just add each other onto our Facebook accounts!!

Darshana 3/7/08