As my journey in COMM 555 comes to an end, there's a lot to reflect on! Here are my top 5 takeaways from this course, ranked in terms of impactfulness.
When I began COMM 555, I was very hesitant about the course content, namely the focus on artificial intelligence (AI) exploration through our selfie projects. Some of my other courses (like COMM 505) helped me realize the more limiting, invasive, and dangerous sides of AI; my own work as a writer and communicator also made me weary to give in to the technology. And online content, like this video, surely didn't help ease my feelings on the changing digital landscape:
Surprisingly, as we finish this course, I find I hold very few of those same reservations. I am still cautious of AI, sure, but that is more about the misuse of it by humans than the technology itself. We also covered a lot of other interesting content that has shaped my better understanding of new media. While I've learned so much this term, there are five key concepts that impacted me more than the others.
5. The Potentials of Digital Storytelling
Modules 8 and 9 were just what I needed to end this course's journey on a high note! Learning about Indigenous storytelling was especially comforting for me, as I see so many parallels between Indigenous and Indian storytelling, as covered in my blog comment. Tekobbe's text, in particular, really resonated with me as it talked about challenging white supremacy and the opportunities for digital storytelling to preserve, expand, and assert Indigenous stories in a White-centric world. (I also really enjoyed the stories shared, like that of the Alligator and Hunter!)
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| An interesting educational take on the story can be found here. |
Module 9 furthered the ideas I had absorbed throughout the course about growing technology being a tool for creative content. The Future of Storytelling page, along with the TechCrunch interview, made me excited at recent video game developments and how the choose-your-own-adventure scene is changing in video games. I think what really helped me connect to a more positive outlook through these texts was also the fact that I myself am writing a choose-your-own-adventure (and even have a very poorly edited retro video game promo); this personal project added a deeper, more relatable layer of understanding and intrigue. Together, modules 8 and 9 hyped me up for the potential of digital storytelling, including both how I may be able to consume and contribute to it.
4. Technobiophilia
Module 7 introduced me to a topic I had never heard about before, but was immediately fascinated by! At first, I didn't like it, something just felt inherently wrong about connecting technology to life. But I soon realized this was a very regressive and silly way of thinking! The digital and physical worlds are irrevocably intertwined, whether it be through AI worlds, technical terms relating to life, or simply the physical presence of technology (like phones and power lines) in nature. Moreover, technobiophilia gives hope that we can balance our digital and physical worlds, albeit with some effort. Luckily, Thomas' tricks and tips (like the desk plants!) give great places to start. Despite my initial apprehension, this has become one of my favourite concepts from this course, especially as it applies readily to everyday life and reconciles the growing digital world with our innate connection to the Earth.
Technobiophilia is about “re-balancing your life by choosing more nature, not less technology.” - Sue Thomas
3. The Nuances of Digital Representations
Related Reading: If It Ain't White, It Probably Won't AI Right!
2. The Power of Transliterate Spaces
If I could take this course over, I'd write better blog posts. Seriously! I feel like I wasted the entire time trying to "be academic" that I never clocked in on using this blog space properly! It wasn't until about Module 8 or so, along with the "clickbait title" advice for Assignment 4, that I finally understood what I could be doing better!💀 Oh well, hindsight is always 20/20!
Assignment 4 made me realize how fun incorporating multimedia elements is, especially for academic projects! Thomas' 2013 discussions of transliterate spaces finally made sense to me, as I experienced the importance of being able to communicate seamlessly from one medium to another - and the difficulties that come with it. For me, transliteracy is intertwined with using and understanding multimedia, and communicating in a more widely accessible and digitally literate way. I'm looking forward to further developing my own transliteracy and using it to both understand and build more transliterate spaces!
1. AI As An Opportunity, Not A Threat
In a complete 180, what started out as my biggest worry ends up being my best takeaway! I think that speaks volumes about my journey throughout this course. A lot of texts led to this healed anxiety, especially from Module 3. But, truthfully, it was assignments 3 and 4 that really made me understand that AI isn't the bad guy here - it's the political, cultural, and economic human factors driving AI that make it problematic. AI has great potential and can even be trained on everything from random tasks (like Wu et al.'s focus on book summaries) to bettering its own algorithms and outputs (Ananya). These assignments also helped me realize the role I can play in shaping better AI content through actions like providing human interaction feedback and discussing the nuances of AI biases in both formal and informal settings. I am no longer nervous or scared about AI tools, as I now (mostly) see them as an opportunity to expand new media landscapes rather than threatening them.
Thank you everyone for all of your great and insightful posts - it has been a pleasure learning with you! Best of luck with the end of term! 💖
Works Cited
Ananya. “AI Image Generators Often Give Racist and Sexist Results: Can They Be Fixed?” Nature: International Weekly Journal of Science, vol. 627, no. 8005, Mar. 2024, pp. 722–25. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00674-9.
Fenner, Angelica. “Gunda Werner Institute in the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Center for Intersectional Justice. ‘Reach Everyone on the Planet…’: Kimberlé Crenshaw and Intersectionality. Ruksaldruck, 2019. 107 Pp. Open-Access Publication: Www.Boell.de/En/2019/04/16/Reach-Everyone-Planet.” Feminist German Studies, vol. 36, no. 2, Oct. 2020, pp. 115–17. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.5250/femigermstud.36.2.0115.
“Future of StoryTelling.” YouTube, 2017, www.youtube.com/channel/UCxANyRzvWuk9A5r71joGNNg.
Future of StoryTelling. “Chet Faliszek – Introducing Free Will in Video Gaming (Future of StoryTelling 2018 Speaker Film).” YouTube, 30 Sept. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=vELWK4_Weys.
TechCrunch Video. “The Future of Storytelling With Mariana
Acuna (Opaque Studios), Guy Primus (Virtual Reality…” TechCrunch, 7
May
2024, techcrunch.com/video/the-future-of-storytelling-with-mariana-acuna-opaque-studios-guy-primus-virtual-reality-company-and-jay-tucker-ucla-anderson-tc-sessions-ar-vr-2018.
Accessed 30 Mar. 2025.
Tekobbe, Cindy. “Indigenous Storytelling and Ways of
Thinking and Being.” Indigenous Voices in Digital Spaces, University
Press of Colorado, 2024, pp. 32–51. JSTOR,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.19307138.7. Accessed 27 Mar. 2025.
Thomas, Sue. Nature and Wellbeing in the Digital Age, Amazon
Kindle,
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06XS85C26/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&ta
g=technobiop08b-21&linkId=212ce712bbeec36f26677071ec9f8907, Foreword.
Thomas, Sue. “Transliterate Spaces - Sue Thomas - 3Ts
2013: Transliteracy From Cradle to Career.” SlideShare, 15 Mar.
2013, www.slideshare.net/slideshow/transliterate-spaces-sue-thomas-3ts-2013-transliteracy-from-cradle-to-career/17244433.
Wu, Jeff, Ouyang, Long, Ziegler, Daniel. M., Stiennon, Nisan., Lowe, Ryan., Leike, Jan., & Christiano, Paul. “Recursively Summarizing Books with Human Feedback.” arXiv, 27 Sep 2021, arXiv:2109.10862.
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