My final thoughts and reflections on my WEPO course (WJ #5)

Holy wow, I cannot believe this is my last Writer’s Journal for the semester. As I reflect on my semester as well as the most influential class of my academic career, Writing and Editing in Print and Media Online, I am grateful to have these WJs to come back to and review. It has been honestly astonishing to see the progress I have made over this short amount of time, and I can confidently say I am a more confident writer than I was at the beginning of the semester. Since then, I have learned about the power and significance that my words can hold, and how my abilities as a writer aren’t defined by other people’s perspectives. 

If you go and look back at my very first Writer’s Journal, you can see how affected I was by the numerous writing parameters I had forced myself to follow after years of public school. My work during my WEPO class has allowed me to find confidence in my writing voice, as well as myself. During the semester, we reviewed multiple sources that proved to be the most influential to me, some of the most important ones belonging to categories that validate all forms of writing. One of the best examples of that from this semester was Doug Hesse’s article discussing the significance of online communal discourse (I actually quote him in WJ #1), another quote from him that allowed for the biggest reform of my writing was, “People write for expression and interest and—this is my key point—they write to form and consubstantiate identity. To participate in these forums is to claim yourself as a part of the climbing lineage and lifestyle,” (Hess 108). While he’s talking about a climbing lifestyle, I remember reading this and finally allowing myself to begin to feel more comfortable posting into the internet voids. I was completely mortified at the thought of even having to post these journals to the archives, and yet now, they’re one of my favorite assignments I have EVER done, as they have allowed for me to mix my familiar (academia) with something I have always wanted to participate in (the internet). 

While my writing has evolved beyond my own understanding, I have also been allowed to stress my online design skills. Soon, I will have made my very own website, something I never thought I’d have the privilege of doing, and while I have gained a new confidence in my abilities, I have also learned about the subtle importance of these forgotten digital elements and how I understand design. We got to review multiple sources over our course that have defined the importance of quality within digital media, one written by Cara Miller, concerning the basic design principles, states, “And while this snap decision happens quickly, it’s actually a pretty nuanced decision-making process based on a number of visual cues—colors, pictures, navigation menu, page layout and readability, and so on. Several design elements come together to create an impression in the user’s mind about the company itself, about how relevant their offerings are to the user’s needs, and about how easy or difficult it will be to get the information they are looking for." (Miller). These subtle aspects are something I never considered before a class like this one, allowing for my appreciation for digital design to deepen!

I am honestly bummed this class is coming to an end, but I am eternally grateful for the impact it has had on my confidence and ability to write. I hope to take the skills I have learned in the course and continue to build on them so I can begin to feel comfortable in all spaces, whether on the internet or academic.