Fall 2022 Final Portfolio
Introduction
Overall I’ve really enjoyed CODES and the challenges it has brought. I feel like it has tested what I can do over and over again and it has constantly shown me that I’m capable of more than i thought. Every single Digital Project in the class has thrown me out of my comfort zone and challenged me to create something from nothing and every single time I feel confident in my final project. In the beginning, it was something I dreaded, every time a project would be presented I would feel anxious and doubt myself, however as the semester continued I started feeling more and more confident in my work and my abilities. As I got more confident I started to take risks, to think more critically about how I could shape the project to be what I wanted it to be. My proudest project so far would probably be Digital Project #2, I feel like I took a risk to do something that wasn’t quite what was expected but it was the most fun I think I’ve ever had for a class assignment.
I feel like I’ve especially excelled in goal #1 “I will use appropriate relevant and compelling language to clearly communicate with my readers and to convey my own understanding of the work.” I feel like I’ve continued the year with exceptional written communication, which can really be seen in artifacts like Digital Project #3 and my work for the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center. I also feel like my written communication is the skill I have seen the most improvement in this semester even in classes outside CODES.
I also feel like I’ve seen a lot of improvement in goal #2 “I will use compelling and appropriate language choices to deliver presentations effectively and cohesively.” Public speaking and presenting has always been something that has brought me a lot of anxiety but this semester I’ve
Goal 1 (30%)
I will use appropriate relevant and compelling language to clearly communicate with my readers and to convey my own understanding of the work.
Digital Project #3
For digital project #3, we were challenged with the task of communicating how the real events of Hurricane Katrina relate to the events seen in the Book Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward. This project was a struggle from the beginning, it was my first time writing such a long paper with a group and it was really hard to decide what exactly to write the paper about.
What Was Learned?
- How to collaborate with a group for a piece of writing
- How to efficiently use Text analysis tools like Voyant
- How to connect a text and real-life events
Goal 2 (30%)
I will use compelling and appropriate language choices to deliver presentations effectively and cohesively.
NGRREC Final Internship Presentation
One of my biggest moments this year was the end of my first semester as an intern at the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center. It was my first ever internship, and honestly one of my first serious jobs. When it came to my presentation I had never given one in a professional/non school setting before and I was really anxious about what was to come.
What Was Learned?
- How to efficiently give a professional presentation
- How to format slides in a way where it’s easy for your audience to read and understand the content
- How to calm yourself down while speaking
- How to pace your speaking
NGRREC Final Internship Poster
Before my final NGRREC presentation I had very limited experience with designing a poster and actually presenting off of one. I had helped with posters my Junior and Senior year for my Student Inquiry Research projects, however, I had never presented or fully designed one on my own. Before this I didn’t really expect a poster presentation to differ much from a slideshow, however, I quickly realized that a poster presentation requires a different flow and swing of things. During poster presentations, most people want a quick summary before they continue to the next poster so you have to know how to efficiently get your point across quickly.
What Was Learned?
- How to decide the most important parts of your research
- How to format a professional research poster
- How to speak with donors
- How to give an effective but quick run down on your work
Goal 3 (10%)
I will take the assumptions of myself and others and knowledge I gain through separate sources to create logical solutions to the problems I am faced with.
Digital Project #3
After seeing the struggle that Esch and her family face you want to immediately dive in and tear the government apart for how they prepared for and reacted to Hurricane Katrina, however, instead you have to take a step back and look at the whole problem, the whole issue and break it apart piece by piece with as much as an unbiased approach as possible. For this project we had to look at each report and each piece individually and see what claims they made about the hurricane. From there we had to piece together each claim and see if it could not only fail to disprove our hypothesis but support our thesis.
What Was Learned?
- How to separate pieces of information
- How to take an unbiased look at each separate piece
- How to use information to support a thesis
Goal 4 (20%)
I will properly recognize the ethical issues that we are faced with and how they interact. I will then take this understanding and apply it to the solutions I come up with.
Digital Project #3
Digital Project 3 dealt with a lot of questions of ethics. After being presented with the Book Salvage the Bones readers were left wondering if the government handled Hurricane Katrina in an ethical way, having practically abandoned whole communities that were dependent on the government. After continuing our research we found evidence of negligence on the governments part when it came to preparing for the hurricane, like how not all levees were inspected, and not all government employees were aware of the National Response plan. This caused our group to realize the immense inequalities and lack of care the government enforced after the hurricane
What Was Learned?
- How to look at individual ethical issues
- How to separate information into multiple pieces
- How to look at ethical issues from a sociological perspective
Goal 5 (10%)
I will look both inside and outside the classroom to deepen my knowledge of the things that interest me.
CODES 120 Research
For my CODES 120 research project I decide to continue exploring what I was looking into at NGRREC. I decided I wanted to investigate how news travels and if there are any correlation between Twitter, Google, and Internet News sites. To do this I looked at the frequency of the term “Mississippi River” in all 3 situations and compared how much it showed up.
What Was Learned?
- How to take content from Work/school and dissect it
- How to form a question from an answer
- How to use data analysis sites for twitter, internet news, and google