Uncategorized – Introduction to Digital Publishing

GSR Social Media Remix

To advertise my story in the Greenspring Review, I chose to make the social media post on Instagram. I am quite familiar with Instagram, and the types of posts that are often made on the site. If you follow people who are involved on campus, they often post event flyers on their Instagram pages. This is usually done through Instagram stories, but since the purpose of the account is for this assignment, I will be doing so in post form. In addition, this post will allow me to create a caption for the photo. While Instagram stories contain overlay text, posts are usually accompanied with captions.

Since I decided to use my caption as my text, I was not able to manipulate the text color or font. However, I do not believe this would have added to the post significantly. At the end of the post, I added a playful emoji, along with a Pride flag. Despite the serious nature of the piece, I enjoyed writing it greatly, which I hoped to reflect in the post itself. I did use punctuation throughout, although I decided to forgo the final period where the emojis are.

Pictures are far more popular on Instagram than videos are, which is why I decided to use a slightly modified version of the photo featured in my piece. Instagram uses square photos, which made it difficult to use the banner included in my piece. As such, I grabbed a different image, which also features the asexual/aromantic pride flag in place of the lesbian pride flag. This may be inconsistent, but it broadens the amount of represented identities, and may now include people who were not included before.

I made this post at around 10 P.M., which is just about the best time to post on Instagram (although a little bit earlier may have been better). To increase traffic, I could make this same post on my main account. I could also advertise my piece on social media. In addition, I could make an Instagram story post that says “link in bio” and also advertises the main post itself. I could get more views by encouraging others to like and share the post as well.

Social Media Remix Assignment

Instagram is one of the most used platforms for the Greenspring Review’s audiences. Both students and alumni use Instagram, two of our sub audiences as such, it is one of the best social media platforms to reach our audience and expand it. (Perrin and Anderson) Not only do our students and alumni use Instagram but there is also a large community or writers and literary fans on the platform. The hashtag #writerscommunity has over 7.5 million posts which means we can potentially bring a larger audience into our literary magazine.

Due to the versatility of Instagram, we can employ a different number of strategies to reach our audience and get them to visit the magazine.

For events such as the Greenspring Review release party tomorrow, we can make use of the story feature or a simple text post. This should also be used when releasing a new issue. Hashtags must be a permanent aspect of our posts and we should create a unique hashtag to use along side other standard hashtags. #Greenspring #magazine #literary are some of the hashtags we should use.

Aside from promoting greenspring review events, the magazine should also post some of the articles published in the magazine. We will make use of normal text posts and videos when appropriate.

In these posts we can include a small piece of the article with a link to the full article in the caption. Along our standard hashtags we should include genre hashtags to reach a broader audience such as #fiction #poetry #poem and others. These genre specific hashtags should be the same as the tags used in the Greenspring Review website to maintain uniformity.

Posts should, when possible, have our school colors to emphasize our brand.

Posts should not go out too often. Too many posts and we clutter our audience’s feeds and risk losing followers, on the other hand, we risk being forgotten if we post too little. According to Union Metrics, big companies post 1.5 times a day with the highstest level of engagement being “thursday, not just at 3 PM, but at 5 AM, 11 AM, and 4 PM as well.” (Bercovici) (Arens) We should aim to post once a day, preferably on Thursday to maximize our reach.

Sources:

Perrin , Andrew, and Monica Anderson. “Share of U.S. Adults Using Social Media, Including Facebook, Is Mostly Unchanged since 2018.” Pew Research Center, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/. Accessed 29 Apr. 2020.

Bercovici, Jeff. “The Surprising Data Behind How Often Brands Should Post On Instagram.” Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2014/05/02/the-surprising-data-behind-how-often-brands-should-post-on-instagram/. Accessed 29 Apr. 2020.

Arens, Elizabeth. “The Best Times to Post on Social Media in 2020.” Sprout Social, 10 Mar. 2020, https://sproutsocial.com/insights/best-times-to-post-on-social-media/.

COVID-19 took a piece of me

COVID-19 Took a Piece of Me

Confusion. Traumatized. Devastation. Anger. Depression. Disbelief. Lost. All of these words are things that are constantly running through my head.

Is my family going to be okay? Will I get to see my friends soon? Will someone I know get COVID-19 and not survive it? If I get COIVD-19 will I survive it? Why my senior year? Why did lacrosse get taken away from me? These are all questions that I constantly ask myself.

In the beginning of March, word started to spread about the corona virus entering the United States. There were mild precautions that people could take to avoid getting it; not sharing drinks, Chapstick, food, constantly washing your hands, keeping a distance from people. These were all things that could be easily done to flatten the curve. Little did I know that that wouldn’t be enough.

March 13^th, what I thought would be one of the worst days of my life. The day that I found out my senior season of lacrosse would be put on hold, but to be completely cancelled three days later.

I was sadly mistaken, March 15^th is when a part of my died. To most people that sounds dramatic, but to me something that I had dedicated my life to for 15 years has disappeared into thin air.

Lacrosse was my outlet in life for everything. If I was upset, I played lacrosse, happy, played lacrosse, mad, played lacrosse, confused, played lacrosse. Lacrosse was always the answer to my emotions. Not only because it was a great way to let out those emotions, but because I also had a team that I could always turn to when I needed them, they were my second family.

Over the years I’ve been on several teams, all great girls, great coaches, and great memories, but nothing will compare to my college team. This team has been through it, all the good, the bad, the happy, and the sad. One of the toughest things that this team has been through is the abrupt separation we faced from COVID-19.

We got the news right before we were supposed to leave for spring break, for myself and fellow seniors, this would be the last college

spring break we would have. This would be the last time that we all got to travel together and make memories that would last a life time.

This was supposed to be the best year of my college career, my senior season of lacrosse, my last year with my roommates that I have been with since freshman year, these were the times to make memories before we all walked across the stage together. But no, that was not the case anymore.

We were all sent home, for our safety of course, but that’s not how I felt about it.

COVID-19 ruined my life, or a part of it. For the first two weeks of being home I was constantly upset, found myself crying at random times throughout the day, and isolating myself from my family.

I never thought that this was the way my senior year was going to go, and at first, I refused to accept it, but had a “coming to Jesus” moment and realized that I was being selfish. I realized that I was lucky to be healthy and alive. I also realized that there are first responders working hard every day to help flatten the curve, working 12+ hour shifts, and wish they were at home lying in bed like I am doing while writing this paper.

COVID-19 has devastated me to an emotional level that I don’t think I can recover from anytime soon, but there are some people that will sadly die from COVID-19, and that is a tragedy that I hope to never experience.

Although COVID-19 has put in wrench in my senior year of college, it thankfully hasn’t put a wrench in my family or friends, it has allowed me to realize that the “little things” in life are bigger than I think, it has allowed to realize the importance of family time, it has allowed me to take a step back from social media, it has allowed me to self-reflect, it has allowed me to not be selfish.

So, although I would like to curse COVID-19, and I want to go back to my college life, and lacrosse, COIVD has actually done some good. It has helped replenish the earth and helped bring families and friends closer together.

The feelings I have about school and lacrosse haven’t disappeared, and they won’t go away over night, but there are things in my life now that have taken priority over those things. I am still able to complete my classes, so I can obtain my degree, I am still able to connect with my friends on FaceTime, and I have more time with my family then I did while I was in school.

As crazy as this sounds, I would like to thank COVID-19. Thank you for giving things that I started to subconsciously take for granted. Thank you for helping me bring light to such a dark time. Thank you COVID-19.

Style Sheet Exercise

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RFRg8EBTXeoTwizBOnvGLcAPgFUflA0enz6csxVxjPo/edit?usp=sharing

This process seemed overwhelming at first, especially since I had never even heard of a style sheet before. I looked at the check list and just took it step by step and that helped me not feel as overwhelmed and just focused on one thing at a time. Doing this exercise really showed me all that goes into editing a piece, especially a lengthy one with links, articles, footnotes, etc, things that aren’t always even every piece of writing. I really had to reread it multiple times to do my best not to miss anything, and even then I am sure I missed things as it was a lot to pay attention to. I learned a lot about Chicago style during this process. I have been using APA for so long I forgot a lot of the rules with Chicago style writing and editing, so this was a good refresher. I also learned that to be an editor you have to have a lot of confidence in your skills and knowledge of editing. There were so many times during this process where I was second guessing myself, and if I needed to make a change in punctuation or not. However, by the end I did feel a little more comfortable with the process and overall had a good experience with this assignment and am glad I got some exposure to style sheets and how they work.

A Community Fighting Coronavirus

Understanding and Applying HTML

https://docs.google.com/document/d/16gWdDGofd-hReMRagHGj-QTbz-Kb5hOZ71XWPA8SNF4/edit?usp=sharing

The last time I coded was my freshman year at Stevenson in my Introduction to Digital Media course. I didn’t retain a lot of the information that we learned. I haven’t had a particular interest in coding, which is why I haven’t made any strides to learn or practice coding. When I went through this exercise, I knew I wasn’t going to find it entertaining or enjoyable. Coding is very specific and particular; there are a bunch of rules and specifications.

Overall, the work wasn’t incredibly difficult, but because there was a lot of guidance, it was relatively easy to follow. Once I apply these rules to an actual project, I know I will be constantly referencing sources. Coding is not something that I can retain easily. mostly due to my disinterest in the activity. Coding is very extensive, and after this coursework understanding a few basic rules, I feel like I have a better idea of coding and HTML.

HTML Reflection

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UqN9yjsBiaIRnpDYTBmFTLSiknkwEdiLbPpnSGmc2sk/edit

I was a little apprehensive at first because i had never coded before but knew just how difficult it is. I had seen the “99 little bugs in the code, 99 little bugs, Take one down, patch it around. 127 little bugs in the code!” meme float around Reddit a lot and knew how complex it can be. I took my time with each lesson but the learning process is slow and there is, in my opinion, a huge learning curve when it comes to learning how to code.

Like others have said before, learning how to code is very similar to learning a new language. The first lesson was relatively easy but it I did have to refer back to the tutorial a few times because simply forgetting one sign is enough for the whole code to break. After the first couple of lessons I felt a little more comfortable and felt like was finally understanding how HTML works. I became a little faster at understanding new concepts and putting them in practice.

It felt extremely rewarding when i did the “try it yourself” sections and my code actually worked. Every once in a while I’d click “Run it” and it would be a complete mess and I occasionally had a hard time understanding what was wrong and how to fix it. This is when i understood the importance of comments when it comes to coding. Write code slowly and document everything so that it is easy to come back to a certain part of the code and fix whatever is wrong.

One thing that I enjoyed about coding is that if felt a lot like writing legal citations. When citing a court case for example, there are rules such as whether the volume comes first, or the court’s name or even the year of the case. Everything is well-structured. Once you know how to cite a court case, you stop seeing random letters and numbers and instead immediately know where and when it happened and where to find the case. Coding was a lot like that. Once you master the rules of coding, things become a lot easier because you just follow the structure of the code using specific rules.

I would not feel confident putting HTML in my resume because I’m very much a novice and still cant really grasp how in-depth coding is. Overall this was a very interesting experience and was not surprised with the difficulties i encountered throughout the assignment.

Posting for Mental Illnesses

To create webpage content while being mindful for those who suffer mental illness or depression there are a number of things you should and should not do.

Since there are many factors of college life that contribute to the risk of getting depression, it is important for a school sponsored webpage to be mindful of the content they are posting. Suicide is the second leading cause of death to young adults aged 18-25 years old, so they should not post content that promotes suicide or other toxic behaviors. Toxic behaviors include isolation, negativity, or drug and alcohol abuse, posting content that includes or promotes toxic behaviors, could give readers the idea that these behaviors are ok.

According to Unity Rehab, “nearly one-third of people with depression also have a co-existing substance abuse disorder”

Since there are so many different types of depression it is also important to be mindful of the content that is frequently posted to the Greenspring Review. Many college students experience stress due to financial standing, academics, work, and relationships; posting about this could contribute to a common type of depression known as situational depression. There are also more common types of depression such as major depression, or Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) which is contributed to during the winter months due to the lack of sunlight.

In todays culture people tend to throw around words without realizing their true meaning. There are many mental illnesses that people claim to have, using phrases such as “I am so OCD” when they are just trying to over exaggerate their neatness. Making false claims like this can be upsetting to those who may truly be suffering from these issues.

Do’s and Don’ts Poster for Senior audience

Senior citizens use the internet almost as much as everyone else. In our case, we will find that past alumni, or relatives of current students who publish in our literary magazine may want to access and read the Greenspring review. With that in mind, it is important that these people find it easy to navigate the website and will not have difficulties reading the publications. Moreover, it is important every age group feel included in our community and not left out due to slang or other forms of communication that aren’t common across all age groups or audiences. For this poster, I focused specifically on the geriatric audience, or those over 65 years of age.

When considering a UX design for older people, it is important to maintain a streamlined, easy to read, easy to navigate environment. The main challenges this age group face in most websites are readability issues, and small targets such as clickable boxes or dropdown bars. (Kane) Fonts are usually too small, on a computer or mobile device, and often the color choice also impacts readability. Using jargon or wordplay can pose a challenge for this age group and “sabotage the experience [the website is] trying to generate.” (Adiseshiah) Senior may also face issues with sound. Those who are hard of hearing or suffer from any degree of blindness or eye impairment may find websites without subtitles or text-to-speech features too hard to enjoy and simply give up. Finally, it is important that websites don’t change their appearance too often because with age, “short-term, episodic memory tends to suffer” (Adiseshiah). Having to relearn how to navigate a website may prove to taxing for a senior citizen and they may just give up or not enjoy their experience as much.

Aesthetically, I chose a relatively standard poster. Do’s on one side, Don’ts on the other. I used a pastel background and very little color. I used orange to give some color to the poster but tried to keep the poster neutral without bright colors to not impact readability or create eyestrain. For the body text, I used a large sanserif font. I also used bold for the body text so that users find it easier to read. I created a visual hierarchy and separated elements, the Do’s are not too close to the Don’ts and are not parallel so that the user intuitively knows they either reading the Do’s or the Don’ts reducing the chances of mixing them up. Overall, the aim of the poster was to be very simple and straightforward, without too many elements as too not create a confusing or difficult experience.

Kane, Lexis. “Usability for Seniors: Challenges and Changes.” Nielsen Norman Group, https://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-for-senior-citizens/. Accessed 4 Mar. 2020.

Adiseshiah, Emily. “UX Design Thinking From A Senior Citizen’s Perspective.” UsabilityGeek, https://usabilitygeek.com/ux-design-thinking-senior-citizen-user/. Accessed 4 Mar. 2020.