It's been a surprisingly busy semester. Although I still feel a little like a failure (I haven't posted near as many blogposts as I have written in my head, the eBook we dreamed was not published, and I still feel this looming sense of disapproval from Dr. Burton)-- I think it was an overall success for my education. And since I finally have time to sit down and collect my thoughts, I might as well write up my reflexive post before the next whirlwind of crazy semesters.
The Beginning
I was excited by the idea of the class, but pretty confused by the application. I already had a Google+ and created a blog almost the first day, but then had difficulty getting the two connected and so by the time grades came out, I already had my first 0. I attempted to write blog posts, but nothing I wrote ever seemed as good as what the professors would write and most of my posts were smothered by fear of failure. I came to class, but the only participation points we received were from our digital presence. I didn't have a laptop that I could really bring to class and almost all of the actual "activity" would occur online, so by the time I would go home and post, no one was around to look at it. We were required in our groups to put on presentations and so instead of just having a humdrum powerpoint, I worked with both of my groups to make something that would be both entertaining and useful. And yet all of my hard work, coordination efforts, and innovation seemed to no avail because the next set of grade releases was just as low as the first few.
To say the situation was discouraging would be a vast understatement. I had a desire to achieve and in most situations I can learn to adapt and excel, but after giving so much and seeing so little in your efforts, it's hard to motivate yourself.
Project-iles
During this era of lacking motivation and disappointment, I had a lot of discussion with one of my co-workers, Bryan, about the class. He seemed to enjoy it a lot more than I did and had an idea for a project. I'd been trying to work towards getting project ideas out on the table and so having his initial idea of an eBook was just as good as any other that I could back. So we came up with chapter titles one day and submitted it to the professor for feedback. Bryan happened to have a meeting set up with Dr. Burton so I tagged along, gave a couple of opinions and then the next day it was announced that not only were we going to be making an eBook, but Bryan and I would be in charge of the actual creation.
I was taking 18.5 credits, working 24 hours a week, and getting married at the end of the semester (actually, it's still on, two weeks and counting to April 27th), and I had a school trip to Washington D.C. planned for one of the first weeks of production. Nevertheless, I found ways to make time for it, and I wrote an introduction, drew out designs for a webpage, worked with Dr. Zappala to set up the necessary tools for Booktype and began editing chapter submissions. When Booktype unexpectedly began having troubles, we opted for Sigil and the work began all over and the time I spent on the project increased.
Although there were definitely long hours spent at Bryan's place editing, brainstorming, and having mental breakdowns, it was an amazing experience to get to know my fellow classmates better and see all of their great ideas. I tried to spend time going around to each group, getting to know the members and their thoughts and ideas. From editing the chapters I began to learn about topics I probably wouldn't have even thought about before (like patents and copyrights or using research 2.0). I was able to talk to the professors almost 24/7 on google+ and the time that I spent working on the eBook always seemed to go by faster than I anticipated. It was a project where I could use knowledge and skills that I already had, but it also required a LOT of research and learning (figuring out how to use CSS, feedback about various failed attempts to organize groups or ideas, etc).
In the end, our final product was not quite marketable, but it still represents hours of time and effort that I will cherish.
The Event
Until a week before the event took place, I still hadn't given much thought to the presentation or what exactly I would say or do. Instead I was pouring over book editing, trying to learn HTML and CSS coding, and overcoming technical difficulties. And then one night -- the idea came.
What would we talk about? We would talk about this, the process, the setbacks, and the successes. For as we all know, one does not simply make an eBook, oh no, there is a very detailed process to making an eBook, there are hurdles to overcome and organization that needs to take place. Bryan and I spent an entire evening creating a prezi and even my fiance, Daniel, came over to help us come up with caption ideas. Originally I don't know much about Lord of the Rings, but as the night drew on and I began to watch more and more YouTube clips, I felt almost like a LOTR expert.
And of course, after all of our effort we realized that we were missing large, pertinent pieces of information, like: what was our real motive? Why does it matter if we made an eBook? What is an eBook?
So it was back to the drawing board.
During this process, as I began to become more and more excited by the event, I reached out to those around me and began inviting them to the event. The night that the Facebook event was created I went online and scanned my friends, inviting 15 that I thought would be interested (I'm not big on mass spamming). Then, while at work, I spent some time personally asking 6 of my co-workers to come, letting them know it would be an event with Tedx type talks and engaging topics.
In the end, only my sister, Anna and her boyfriend, Aaron were able to make it. Anna is an Economics major and had a lot to say, especially about the Creative Commons presentation (she had heard a lot about patent trolls from various classes). So although I didn't get as many in attendance as I had anticipated, I threw myself into it, it was semi-engaging, and it gave me ideas for the future. And that I would consider a success.
