Course Reflection - Meredith Leary

A selection of feature images from my blog posts in COMM 555. 

The New Media Narratives course has provided a new lens for viewing communications and technology. I found that it provided different perspectives towards media communications than I had originally considered. I found the concept of transliteracy very interesting, and I appreciated the inclusion of this concept early in the course. It helped provide context for the different topics in subsequent modules, as well as the assignments we were required to complete. While I found it challenging to transliterate certain topics through different media, such as Assignment 4: Theory of a Selfie, I appreciated that it required me to think differently about how I am communicating. 

I found that the concepts around Identity, Representation, and Selfies from Module 4 also set the tone for the course. I found that I kept coming back to the readings from that section, and the connections being made to other areas of the course, such as how identity is reflected in AI constructions or in social protest narratives. On a personal level, O’Hagan and Spilioti’s article on Edwardian selfies was particularly interesting, and I can see it being useful for me professionally outside of this program (I am a museum professional and anthropologist by training). I found that this article also inspired assignments in other modules, such as my Pinterest Board Assignment  in Module 5. 

The inclusion of AI narratives and the potential benefits and harms of the technology definitely complimented my previous learnings around AI technology and AI ethics. It is interesting to consider this future of narrative technology, such as AI or AR, when taking a moment to reflect and look back at where technology has come from, such as the Edwardian selfies, or my own personal digital journey that was shared at the beginning of the course. Some of my key takeaways from this course are to always be critical of new technologies. You can be open to the opportunities they provide, but also be aware of their societal and ethical contexts. To gain this critical awareness, it may be necessary to gain a better understanding of past contexts before you can understand the potential implications of today. 

References:

O’Hagan, L. A., & Spilioti, T. (2021). The Edwardian Selfies: A transhistorical approach to celebrity culture and pictorial bookplates. DISCOURSE CONTEXT & MEDIA, 43. https://doi-org.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/10.1016/j.dcm.2021.100522