Mystery Revealed

As a part of the Electronic Media Writing midterm, there was a mystery assignment. This is the mystery assignment.

1. After studying media for eight weeks in this class, what have you learned? Be specific?
I have learned how to script video news stories along with TV commercials, using the "Web 2.0 Mash Method." This has been interesting, because sometimes when I am watching a news story, or watching a commercial, I am consumed by what is going on, that I don't fully understand the full effect of the entire clip. I have learned to listen carefully to what the people are saying, what the background noise is, and to read everything that is on the screen. I have also realized how many different scenes there are in a short video clip. I have also learned that blogging isn't terrible, and it may be beneficial to me in the future. Another thing that I may regret saying is, Twitter is not the devil.

2. What is the most important thing you have learned about yourself as a 1. a critical reader; 2. a writer, and 3. a critical thinker in this class so far?
1. I've learned that I look for specific observations while I read the text book, and other types of writing. I also start thinking of possible questions. This has made me a more involved reader, and has helped me retain more information.

2.I have learned that it is hard to write while keeping all the tool sets in mind.

3. As a critical thinker, I am more inquisitive. I have begun to question things a lot more. I have also started to look at movies and TV differently.

3. What's one thing YOU would do differently this first half of the semester if you were to take this class again?
I think that I would have been more open minded to our social networking tools. When I started the class, I did not want to have a blog or Twitter, because it's just another distraction that I don't have time to keep up with. Blogging also seemed very repetitive, because I am constantly told by teachers to contribute to a class blog. I think that if I was more open to learning about these new types of social networking tools, homework wouldn't have been perceived as such a task.

4. What's one thing you would like ME to do differently this first half of the semester if you were to take this class again?
I would like to do more writing. To be honest, without writing my own things, the class seems like a repeat of Mass Media. I think it would be beneficial to write my own script, instead of re-writing scripts that already exist. It would definitely be harder to do, but it would help me in my professional field. I don't really know what I want to do in my future, but I have considered advertising, and knowing how to script a commercial, and even try to do it, would have been helpful. But perhaps we'll do this later in the class!

5. Please comment on the usefulness of the course blog, your personal blog, our films, and our book(s) as learning tools.
The course blog is helpful when I need to refresh my memory. I hardly ever write down my assignments for this class, because I know that we always have something due Sunday night, and I can always find the exact directions on the course blog. The course blog is also helpful for studying, or completing other assignments. When I was looking for three facts that went along with my news script, I went back to the course blog to see what people wrote about for that chapter. It refreshed my memory, and I was able to find the information I needed in the book, with the guidance of my classmates, and what they wrote.

My personal blog has been helpful to getting a more clear understanding about the blogging world. I think it's been fascinating learning about how to customize the blog, and make it aesthetically pleasing. I also have learned about how to save drafts, so that I don't have to copy what I write on Word and save it for another time when I can finish. I have also mastered the art of going back and fixing my mistakes on the blog. It's easy to do!

The books and tool sets have taught me to analyze the media critically. Sometimes, I curse the day that I learned some of the tool sets, because they are always in my mind, and distract me from the mindless viewing pleasure. However, I think that they are are important, and have allowed me to understand how the media works.