My experience in developing my story has helped me understand digital journalism better through multimedia tools in storytelling and gathering real-world stories. The variety of digital tools and platforms introduced in the course allowed me to experiment with different storytelling formats, making my work more engaging and interactive. For instance, creating infographics helped me translate complex information into visually accessible content, while recording and embedding audio and video added depth and authenticity to my reporting.
I found that working with databases and Google Sheets was a little tricky, as I am not a math person. However, once going through the steps a couple of times, it became easy to navigate. I used Google Sheets to organize information, track sources, and manage data sets in a structured way, which made it easier to identify patterns, trends, and key insights relevant to my story and in the class practice sheets. Learning how to sort, filter, and visualize data helped me present information more clearly, especially when translating raw data into charts or infographics for an audience. For my story, I did use database information, but didn't solely rely on the data translation since my story is broader than a precise amount of data. I used overall percentages and created visuals to represent that.
Creating my website was a learning experience, and it taught me to just add little by little. I wanted to make sure that my website was a reflection of myself and a creative approach to digital journalism. I made most of my backgrounds myself through Canva and would have to alter and make alignment changes based on the website view. However, as I became more familiar with the platform, I was able to design pages more intentionally, thinking about visual hierarchy, navigation, and how audiences interact with content. Working with WordPress was a key part of developing my digital journalism skills, especially in terms of organizing and presenting content in a professional, user-friendly format.
What I enjoyed the most about working on my website and story was my genuine interest in the topic, as well as checking out stores I had never been to. I gained more insight about how to approach people for my story and navigate questions based on the store inventory and personnel. I am very passionate about creative approaches to journalism, as this is something I want to do career-wise. I wanted to learn and dabble more in magazine editing/writing, and I am happy that I can say that I have learned more about the media styles and what I want to do more of in the future. I practiced a lot of design, creating and trying out different graphic elements to portray a cohesive "look" to my story.
