As a wrap-up to our multimodal projects, we had to create a multimodal final reflection to go along with our projects. The reflection is meant to discuss the process we went through for our entire project and discuss the different rhetorical elements that are involved. For my reflection, I wanted to stay true to my theme of environmentalism so I emphasized the ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ mantra and decided to use an old pizza box to write my reflection. Each ‘slice’ talks about a different aspect of the project. I end with relating the project to a liberal arts education and what we might gain from both multimodal projects and the liberal arts.
Slice 1: Project Overview
The project itself was a challenge video I created to showcase a sustainable lifestyle. I called it The Green Campus Challenge where I documented my life as a full-time student living on campus and uploaded photos to my wordpress blog. The duration of the project took place over the span of two weeks (Nov. 5-18) and every Saturday I recorded a vlog as a sort of discussion/reflection of my thoughts on the project. Each week is separated by day and I have included a photo gallery of each sustainable action I take for each day.
Slice 2: Intended Argument/Message (Kairos)
My primary claim is that environmentalism and sustainable living are extremely important in our society, now more than ever given the current government political climate. From Trump threatening to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement, to electing Scott Pruitt, an affirmed climate change denier, as the current Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, spreading awareness to live more sustainably and care about environmentalism is more timely than ever. My project aimed to demonstrate that it is possible to live a sustainable life while on a college campus and while it might take a few extra measures to do so, it is not impossible.
Slice 3: Intended Audience
The reason for targeting college students and millennials, specifically, is because they are among the most politically aware age group and more and more students are becoming involved in politics. The world we will be inheriting depends on our decision we make within it, therefore it is crucial that we keep up to date with current events like climate change. College students are also more likely to be more open minded about social issues and open to discussing them.
Slice 4: Genre and Design Choices
The design of my project relied heavily on pairing video with photos and text. Using a genre like a vlog allowed me to interact and connect more personally with my viewers and provided a close-up look into my lifestyle on campus. The photos I included were arranged in a gallery format organized by day and then the vlog acted as the wrap-up at the end of both weeks. Within the vlogs, I included some outside environmental facts/context. I believe that a vlog was the best mode to convey my message because it reaches a wide variety of audiences and it is accessible to those with either visual or hearing impairments.
Slice 5: Context for Encountering Argument
My audience would most likely encounter this argument either in a high school or college class at some point. Or, they would hear about the environmental impact on the news or in the newspaper. This topic is a timely one and extremely relevant being that every single person on Earth depends upon the planet for survival.
Slice 6: Something to Think About…
Hopefully, my multimodal project will inspire others and motivate them to take more sustainable actions while living at college. I want my viewers to leave feeling inspired to make more mindful and sustainable choices when they are away at college, and not feel hopeless when they don’t have control over every decision on campus.
Slice 7: Multimodality and the Project
Creating this project made me realize that multimodality requires diligent time and attention to detail. The images require context in order to be ADA accessible to everyone. The videos, when posted to YouTube, have the option to include subtitles for people with hearing impairments. Editing the videos takes time to meticulously arrange and incorporate music as well. There are many pieces that work together to create a multimodal work that flows seamlessly together.
Slice 8: Digital Rhetoric and Writing and Liberal Arts
One of the benefits of a liberal arts education is that we are taught to expand our thinking to consider other perspectives, increases open-mindedness, and allows us to make more informed and balanced decisions. Assigning multimodal projects in addition to traditional academic papers is a unique and innovative way to foster creativity and incorporate different modes into academic assignments.
Read By the Sun, Write By the Moon 