I have now completed all of my work for the portfolio which is ready to be submitted, so the last thing I have left to do is my presentation. I have made notes on what have been the most important and significant factors to me during this module and then created a script and slides to accompany these.
One particular thing I think is important to talk about is that my lessons were one on one as this has been very significant for my experience in this module. I think in many ways there were disadvantages to this as with a small class it is very beneficial to share and bounce ideas off of each other. Also it is helpful to be able to share the learning of the module with other peers for social reasons, whether negative or positive. However because I was on my own meant all the time could be focused on my own work and my own interest and this has been extremely rewarding and beneficial. Also I felt that the initial study plan, or assignment layout did not reflect what would best suit me, or what would help me and this was changed to a negotiated outcome which I was very happy with; obviously being on my own meant this could happen and so that is very significant.
I very much enjoyed the content of the lessons and found the themes very interesting as they were new to me. Or in cases where I had done stuff on that topic before, we looked at it from a different angle and looked at new material and so this was very beneficial to me as I wasn’t just going over old stuff. Although there was one particular lesson which I didn’t enjoy very well and I didn’t really take to it. The lesson was undead media and was about the obsolescence of technology and methods of resurrection of these platforms. I was very interested with the sheer amount of technological devices which are working that are disposed every year and whilst I think its intriguing I thought that the people who commented on the subject were covering it on a very archaeological and historical basis, and the methods they proposed to resurrect dead media were very niche and not something that interested me that much.
One of the lessons that I enjoyed very much was on the gesamtkunstwerk. It wasn’t necessarily the Wagner side that appealed to me but the way it can be used today to analyse convergence. I enjoyed comparing his idea with Lessing’s and I really liked how I could be critical with both arguments. This concept was completely new to me and I found it interesting how The notion of Gesamtkunstwerk supports that by fusing together the arts, each medium did not lose its individuality or distinctiveness but rather each was given the platform to predecess what it could achieve in singularity form.
But I also appreciated how Lessing recognised that each medium has distinct differences, although they do share some common parallels but ultimately he states that both mediums have significant qualities which are elevated when produced in a singularity form. I personally think that yes fusing together a phone and a camera for example does mean that that photography is limited in how much one can achieve with a camera phone but at the same time I don’t think it destroys the camera, it merely supplements it.
It is the same with a computer. I can very easily find out something using my phone but it would be hard for me to complete sufficient research without a computer. But being able to use both devices is very beneficial and I think we are in an age with convergence that doesn’t destroy the art of music or photography or video making, it simply helps enable it through convenience with the possibility to still have those mediums in their distinct forms.
In terms of the skills I have gained I feel this module has placed great emphasis on being self-reflective, especially through the blog allowed me to be constantly reviewing what I was doing and from that perspective I could see how I was improving in certain areas and I have really identified and developed my own methods of working.
I have also Become much more confident in using sources whether it be text based or amateur video etc that aren’t necessarily authoritative and in some cases even unreliable or inaccurate, but in some way they are inspiring or very useful to me and because I have become more critical I am able to make a decision that I can use that in my own work for some sort, because although it may have flaws, I am aware of them, and I can take note but still ensure it has a positive impact on my work. At undergraduate level I would be hesitant to use material that was not authoritative but I now feel like I can justify my decisions and because of this I have a much better overview.
Finally, I think the module was very intense and required a lot of work very frequently and this was something I was not so used to and admittedly I did struggle. But because of this I got into the habit of being very quick, precise and sharp with the work I did, also I had to be very strict with my time management and I think this will be very helpful with this coming semester but also in a general work sense, whether in education or employment because I have had to go away and produce what has been asked for me in a very short amount of time.
Since this covers the final part of my assignment requirements, all is left for me to do is practice my presentation, and so this will be my final post. All in all I feel I have contributed a lot towards my blog and I have a lot of varying content which has shown my progression very well throughout this module.