juliagarwoodportfolio

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Tips to a healthy immune system!

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Reflection

Julia Garwood

Wednesday 11:00-12:15

Professor Pessin

9 December 2020

Reflection

Reflecting back on my work from this semester, I have significantly improved my writing technique and skills. Some ways in which I have improved my writing skills consisted of me learning and picking up new techniques, revising work, applying readings, working in groups, and developing critical thinking skills along the way. All of these factors played a huge and equal part in my writing skills improvement. In my Portfolio I chose to use sample work that differed from one another to showcase the diversity of skills we learned and applied. The projects I chose to reflect on consist of the following; Collaborative Wikipedia Article, Audio Movie Review, Blog Post #3, and my own new video project. This new project is a 60 second video I made discussing the importance of keeping up with a healthy immune system, and ways to boost your immunity. I chose this topic in hopes to bring some light and positivity to the world. It seemed to be a broad and known topic, but still impactful and useful to an audience broader than this class.  I chose these 4 different projects because they were all significant in helping to advance and develop my writing skills. Starting off with the Collaborative Wikipedia Article, this project enlightened me on the importance of working in a group. Working with a group requires prime communication, time management, and trust. I learned to stay on top of my writing and develop it in a purposeful and meaningful manner not only for myself, but to not let my group down. Working with a group can oftentimes end up being harder than working alone. This is because you have to all be happy with one another’s writing and work together to complete your project. You have to ultimately think about your group member’s work just as much as your own. I also learned helpful writing tips and tricks from my fellow classmates that have helped improve my own writing. These skills are critical in learning to successfully write, and the wikipedia article definitely helped improve my group writing skills. Secondly, I chose to include my Audio Movie Review because it was something I had never done before. Learning and adapting to new software was hard in the moment, but I came out of it with much more knowledge, understanding, and patience. I watched multiple instructional tutorials that helped me build my Audio Review to be the best it could possibly be. By educating myself on how to efficiently navigate new software and apps, I can confidently do another project like the audio review in the future. Before being assigned this project, I knew little to nothing about creating audio reviews. Being able to adapt to new skills and understand how to digitally accomplish this project will be very beneficial in the long run. As for the blog post, I can say that my writing skills improved the most from these. Accomplishing up to 5 Blog Posts and Responses over the course of the semester has taught me so much. I learned how to dissect and understand readings so that I could successfully write about them. Doing five of these posts also instilled in me time management, using correct citations, and staying on topic. Along with these readings I also learned how to apply key messages from videos and articles to my writing as well. This is very important because to have successful writing skills, one needs to apply outside sources to their work. For my last project, I composed a 60 second video about a topic to my liking (healthy immune systems). Being able to write scripts broadened my writing skills and taught me how to write in different formats. Also, recording myself took me out of my comfort zone and taught me there are different ways to express yourself besides just writing. Overall, these projects taught me lifelong skills that have positively impacted my writing, and will continue to help me be a successful writer for the future.

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Collaborative Wikipedia Article

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(Julia Garwood)

Audio Review

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Blog Post #3

The TED Talk by Kirby Ferguson talks about how originality is seen in different ways and forms as we go through different time periods. The intention is to create new from the old, while still being inspired to create your own original ideas. Creativity includes all and is interpreted by each individually differently.

Looking at the documentary “Everything is a Remix Remastered” that aligns with the TED talk, The band Led Zeppelin got backlash from critics for being “ripoffs”. Led Zeppelin’s “Bring it on home” single is brought from a tune by American blues musician Willie Dixon’s original  “Bring it on Home”. This wasn’t the only song that Led Zeppelin happened to have a similarity to. For instance, “Black Mountain Side” by Led Zeppelin originates from “Blackwaterside” by Bert Jansch. There were two lawsuits filed against Led Zeppelin for popular songs such as “Stairway to Heaven” and “Dazed and Confused”. These examples demonstrate how a lot of the entertainment industry that vary from art, film, and music is inherently a remix of the past. These songs can have similarities, but be made different with modifications and changes in sounds, melodies, and lyrics can make a difference. Legal remixes accounts for other people’s materials and knockoffs, copies that stay within legal boundaries. Led Zeppelin on the other hand copied without making any fundamental changes. Along with music using themes from past songs, film does the same thing, “From the last 10 years 74 out of 100 films are either sequels or remakes of earlier films or adaptations of comic books, video games, books and so on transforming the old into the new is Hollywood’s greatest talent” (Everything is a Remix). After hearing this I realized how true this actually is. Most movies we watch today are based off of books, retold, or are sequels. This could range from the Twilight Saga, Star Wars, The Fault in Our Stars. These are just three out of the many films that are not original. This topic can be a controversial one to talk about because really, as a society we build off of the past and essentially mold it into the new. Art comes in all shapes and forms. Whether that be building from the past and forming it into new, I think as creators one has to be aware that their own “ideas” will be used in new ways in the future. I also don’t think there is any harm in paying homage to where it is due.

The film Digital Nation goes into depth about how as a society we are cumulatively becoming consumed with the Web and the digital media. Technology has heavily influenced modern culture so much that it has influenced our everyday lives. The way in which we communicate, work, and depend on the media is now a huge part of how people live their everyday lives. We have become so attached to our phones and technology, it is almost impossible to get away from it. As a society individuals are so glued to their phones that without them it feels like something is wrong and the focus shifts to the question “where is my phone? I need it”. This is where it becomes addictive. Technology has become a distraction and creates a life of multitasking. For example, your phone goes off and you email or text someone while sitting in class or talking to a friend.