Over the course of the semester, I wanted to approach my story in a unique, creative journalistic way. Since my story has these visual elements of fashion and design, I also wanted to make sure that was reflected in my story. I was mindful of representing individuals and communities respectfully, and ensured that my framing did not introduce bias or misrepresentation. Additionally, I adhered to ethical guidelines related to attribution by properly crediting all sources, whether they were interviews, articles, or multimedia content. When producing digital elements like images or audio, I made sure I had the right to use the material or created original content to avoid copyright issues.
Some challenges I faced when working on my story would be getting boutiques/shops to respond and agree to an interview via email. I reached out to many different clothing stores across San Diego, and one in Tijuana, as well as fashion instructors at local colleges, but struggled to get responses, or the owners/managers would refer me to someone else. The process of getting interviews can always be a challenge for journalists, especially as student journalists. I found that I gathered more interviews and answered questions in person, asking on the spot, since people can see me and who I am, and I am able to explain my story better in person. Technologically, I struggled with embedding some videos or audio recordings since I did not have much experience with embedding material before.
Working on this story has definitely given me more opportunity to practice media editing, creating backgrounds and layout designs, which I found to be really fun to work with. I love adding my own personal style and touch to this portfolio and story. For fact-gathering and coming up with ideas to enhance my story, I looked at many fashion magazines and how they used certain tools to showcase certain fashion choices. When I was creating my infographic, I used a lot of statistics/data to gather information on where certain materials and textiles are imported from to Southern California.
