First and foremost, I was a bit hesitant coming into this course, I had never really considered myself technologically savvy so naturally, I felt quite nervous having to work with programs I had never even heard of, including atom. “Markdown and text? What the hell is that?” I thought to myself. This kind of reluctance was surely in some way provoked by the mere fact that I felt uneasy about taking a course that would have such a heavily rendered focus on technology. Most of my knowledge about computing came from my experiences during high school where I was thoroughly introduced to AutoCAD, illustrator, and photoshop. Having attended a specialized art high school in the restless and bustling city of New York, I was trained comprehensively in AutoCAD (a design and drafting software) for a daunting amount of three years, where I would eventually gain my AutoCAD certification during the spring of my senior year. Although I had proved my efficiency and knowledge with the software, I still remember struggling every time the program would be updated and a new modified version of the program would appear on my desktop. It was then that the horrors of unfamiliarity would crawl down my spine leaving me feeling completely horrified (I know, a bit dramatic but nevertheless accurate). Illustrator and photoshop were pretty much on the same boat and although I did enjoy working with such creative and capable programs, understanding and keeping up with all the software updates throughout the years was dreadful. It would feel like an endless cycle of finally becoming familiarized with a certain version of the program, to then having to learn a whole new one all over again. The truth of the matter is, technology is everywhere and as it continues to grow and expand, it also transforms and changes–its inevitable. And as students and learners, it is our responsibility to adapt to our technological driven world in an effort to continue learning about humanity. The experiences I had gained throughout high school really solidified this sentiment for me, so here I was, a few years later into my college career, taking a bold move in adding a literature course studying literature in a digital world into my class schedule.
Perhaps another reason why I decided to add this course that I might have overlooked is that as a self declared artist, I understand that social media has become a powerful marketing tool, especially for freelanced artists. I felt as though this course might allow me to gain access to a more insightful knowledge on how we can embed this tool into our creative endeavors.
