Overview

Truly, prior to being in this class, I have never thought about the relationship between digital and literary culture. I’ve always been a bookworm ever since I learned how to read and have been into a lot of literature. Truth be told though, I’ve always hated reading books or texts online, and honestly that sticks with me even to this day. Although, this term has been the very first time I have really analyzed and really thought about digital culture. It has opened my eyes to how much more accessible and convenient it is especially while being enrolled in a university. I won’t always have the time to be able to go to the library and scroll through the endless books that are provided. My possibilities truly are endless the material that has become available to me, and how much that I haven’t had the opportunity to recognize that I have at my disposal. This newfound abilities are all thanks to Monica Chin and her article, File Not Found. 

Experience

I’ve never really been one to be good with technology or computers, even when the majority of my schooling career starting as early as third grade uses computers or some form of technology to teach or learn. I have always known that technology was complicated with so many parts that go into it, but after taking this course I have learned that there is even more to what I had initially believed. For instance, I have never known about needing to change the slug on urls just to be able to get to the actual website you need or have created, as well as the urls growing larger from jumping from website to website on the same browser or tab. I have learned much more about how to organize my computer, and how to make it more accessible for myself. Most important to me, I have finally learned what cookies mean and what they are used for.

Going into the class I knew no one; but that is really what college is about. I had to make connections with the people around me. I was able to get contact information of people I had met, which allowed me to feel more comfortable in the class. I haven’t made a crazy amount of contribution towards the lectures, as that freaks me out just a little bit with the amount of people that are present, but the discussions allowed me to feel even more connected with those around me as we are having more one-on-one time. Participation wise, despite the fact that I didn’t make much verbal contribution, but I was a very attentive student, taking notes during class, and if I (unfortunately) missed a class, I always kept tabs on canvas and contacted those who I knew in the class to see what I missed, and what materials I needed to read or what I needed to do to be prepared for the next lecture. There have also been times where I would get with some people outside of the class just so we could work together on our lab notebooks, go over each other, and overall just make sure everyone was on the same page and we were all caught up. 

Reaching Out With Peers

Keeping track of time I have spent outside of class studying or working isn’t necessarily my forte, but I definitely have a hunch that I spent about 9 hours or possibly more, just due to the fact I am a very big person on going over material from class once more when I am studying or working on projects. I have spent plenty of hours in my room reading and rereading materials and making sure I really have a hang on what I’m doing in comparison to what I am actually supposed to be doing. I have read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley in a class prior to this, but even then it was analyzing it in different ways, allowing me to read the novel in a separate light. I didn’t necessarily use any resources provided such as office hours or tutoring services, but I will consider associating with my peers from the class on our own time a little bit of a resource that I have used. It has really helped me knowing that there are others I can rely on outside of class when I have a question.

Conclusion

Advice I would give others who will later take ENG 250 is to just be prepared for a lot of computer use, and a lot of lingo towards technology. I knew going into this class that it would be a part of it, I just didn’t know it was going to be this much. Albeit, that didn’t change anything about the class, or make me regret taking it, it opened up the opportunity for me to learn more about my own computer and what I can do on my own as I wouldn’t of gone out of my way to learn it myself.