blog reflections
Blog Post 4 - November 24, 2025
So far my Digital Story Assignment has been graded and I am ready to publish to my site! I have put in so much work the past few months with thorough research, multiple rounds of revisions and I’m extremely glad that I am ready to go. I think I was able to implement a lot of tools I learned from our lectures. I do wish with the amount of time we focused on AI that somehow I could have implemented its usage in my story in an appropriate way. Maybe there was a way with the social media component to have done that, that might be useful in a future job.
On the topic of AI, as discussed frequently in class, it is in our future and understanding how to use it appropriately is incredibly important especially when being prepared for the workforce after graduation. I utilize AI in Photoshop with generative fill, and in my day job transcribe podcast episodes for me to write a Spotify podcast description, but I’m sure there are other ethical ways that I need to practice trying, so I can add that skill to my toolbox. I wrote a story for another class on SDSU’s new AI and Humanities Degree available next fall, and I hope that this prioritizes the ethical and environmental standpoints in addition to practical ways to utilize AI. I wonder if SDSU will soon create a GE required course on AI usage, how to use it properly, rules and regulations and the environmental impacts.
Blog Post 3 - November 12, 2025
From watching the video interviews and diving into the website for further research, an ideal that really stood out to me was the concept of dating with intention. I have family members that have utilized dating apps for romantic relationships, my father is actually marrying his fiance that he met on Tinder, and the idea of making it clear up front what your intentions and expectations are, I thought that was a really good standard to have for dating apps and with matchmaking as seen through the show.
From personal experience with my family members, I have seen the effects of hookup culture and especially with one individual wanting to be serious and the other party looking for something casual. That can really be devastating, so dating with intention and being direct and clear about what you hope to give and receive is a great phenomenon to embrace when dating in those situations.
I agree with a lot of the commentary in the interviews and on the website about representation of Muslims in the media, especially after 9/11, being mostly negative and feeding into detrimental stereotypes. I have seen in the news aspects of fear-mongering often employing sensationalized language like “terror” or “terrorist” while acts committed by non-Muslims are discussed with language like hate-crimes. These labels and tactics are incredibly isolating that lead to an overall negative generalization of an entire group of people. As a future journalist, I can understand the power of language and the public’s perception of labels, and how to do better than those currently with platforms, to promote unity and help eliminate those stereotypes.
I think that Muslims deserve fair representation in all aspects regarding love, relationships, identity and culture. I think the media should be actively working against stereotypes and condemning labels that push narratives to further isolate entire people groups and communities. I think that recognizing the humanity in all religions and cultures is important in that representation, so viewers who might not be as educated on what Muslim culture is or what it means to be Muslim leave with an accurate perception and not a convoluted idea — showing the humanity could hopefully lead to more empathy and less animosity. I also think this show was a really strong example of embracing culture in a way that can also be unifying. People who view this show are not all Muslim and can still relate to the content, seen through going on cringey first dates.
Blog Post 2 - November 3, 2025
So far with my digital story assignment, I have just received my feedback and will begin working on edits! I was working on these edits last night and feel like I revised a lot of what needed to be fixed from including a conclusion to adding more analysis after my quotes and even reaching to a source for an additional quote for clarification. I also edited my social media posts, one of which was a video that I added an intro and outro with credits, and another that I reworked to be longer, added music and moved my graphic up to make it more clear to readers.
Next with my story, after I continue to work on edits and implement the critiques and feedback I received, I have my infographic assignment due. I believe that I have finished this, it relates to my story in ways that I already cited in the story itself with relevant statistics and even linking the report. I feel like the color scheme matches my website and I look forward to including this on my website and with my story! I have really enjoyed piecing this assignment together and with ample amounts of time, I have been able to really understand where I need to grow in my writing, which is helping me to be a better journalist.
Sample Map Post
Sample Chart Post
Blog Post 1 - October 6, 2025
In this class we have recently discussed the production of multimedia aspects for a story package. I think this is such an important part of digital journalism that acts as a supplement for writing, or if quality enough can replace written words altogether for a particular story. In the modern day media landscape I think content creators and writers have a lot of similar crossover, and news reporters have tapped into that, spreading news to broader audiences through the use of digital storytelling. I am super excited to get my first experience with video interviews. I use Zoom as a channel for communication often but have not ever created video content out of it, so I know there will be kinks to work out, but overall I'm really excited. I might not have otherwise had the time to pursue that outside of a school assignment.
Also in this class we have talked about digital security, which is imperative to have in digital journalism. Since our discussion I have changed all of my passwords and implemented updating my software to protect against cyberattacks. I found it really interesting that there were so many different ways to protect against getting hacked that are well-known and recommended. I feel like I haven't heard about most of these routine and preventative measures I should take to secure my digital presence. Some notable options for protecting my sensitive information were having separate social media accounts for family/friends and work, and also using a VPN or secure browser when scrolling on the internet.