Prior to starting this course, I wasn't sure what a class about Digital Technology and Culture would entail. I had an idea from reading the course description and syllabus. But It wasn't until after completing the lessons and discussion posts 1 and 2 that I better understood where this course was headed. Learning about Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer's "culture industry" was a revelation. I found the lessons valuable leading up to each project, including the literature, videos, discussion threads, and peer reviews. They did an excellent job laying the foundation for their respective project. I enjoyed the journey to the completion of each project uniquely.

 

I now have a greater comprehension of data and its myriad applications. I have also gained a deeper understanding of the benefits of effective data visualization. I selected to track the number of daily iPhone notifications for the Data Project. Collecting the data, making adjustments to reduce the number of notifications, and displaying the data in a line graph was incredibly useful.

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I enjoyed learning about public domain and copyright laws from the Curation Project lessons. I frequently believed the "newer is better" over "older is better" rhetoric. Reading about the concept of "appeal to novelty" was an eye-opener. For the Curation Project, I chose to display the various forms of data storage available throughout the years. Having years of experience in the Information Technology field, I found the process of locating and curating the images to be nostalgic and satisfying.

 

The knowledge I gained from learning about the "Design Thinking Process" proved to be an essential resource while completing the final project. Information gathering, defining a problem to address, generating ideas for the application, going through the various iterations, and listening to and incorporating the feedback from my family members and peers was a gratifying experience.