For my final project, I expanded my main domain and included some of the work that best reflects my online identity and career aspirations. I included my video and storytelling assignment from this Digital Studies class, as well as four other projects. The common themes for the included work are literacy, advocacy, and neurodiversity.
Accessibility
The media on my site includes accessibility features where appropriate. For example, the neurodiversity video includes closed captions and the literacy Storymap includes alternative text with the images. There is also alternative text on the three images on the Home Page. Also, I used a dyslexia-friendly font on my Gold Award website, which I completed before this class but included on the Literacy page.
Media/Source Credit
Video
Intro and Outro music is by Lily J, downloaded from Mixit (https://mixkit.co/free-stock-music/).
Graphics in Intro and Outro slide by Pixabay from Pexels (www.pexels.com)
Information from:
VitalSource (https://www.vitalsource.com/) and International Dyslexia Association (https://dyslexiaida.org/how-to-advocate-for-assistive-technology-tools-and-services/).
StoryMap
Photo by Thirdman, Pexels.com
Photo by RDNE Stock project , Pexels.com
Photo by Pixabay, Pexels.com
Photo by apmreports.org
Photo by Arizona Department of Education
Photo by lexialearning.com
Information from:
https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/literacy_report.pdf
https://www.thepolicycircle.org/brief/literacy/
https://www.lexialearning.com/blog/the-science-of-reading-vs-balanced-literacy
https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2019/08/22/whats-wrong-how-schools-teach-reading
Infographic
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde23/6431/2023/en/
Information Accuracy
All information presented on my site is accurate and cited where appropriate. Factual information was obtained from reliable or scholarly sources.
Copyright Licence
I added the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Creative Commons copyright license to my website because it is the most restrictive. Although others can share my work if they give me credit, they can not edit or use it commercially.
I chose this copyright because I support the sharing of information and ideas, but also believe that creators should be fairly acknowledged, protected, and compensated.
Artificial Intelligence
I used Microsoft Copilot to create the three images on the Home Page.
Process of Building My Website and Media
Building the Main Site
To build my main site, I decided to use a different theme than I used in my subdomain. I had already downloaded WordPress, so I was able to immediately begin customizing my site.
I like the favicon and header image I used in my subdomain, so I decided to reuse these. I used Canva (Digital Image Creation) to create both the favicon and header image. I chose this software because I have some experience with it, and also because it is a vector-based editor.
After deciding on my three categories, I added Pages and created a Menu. Next, I used Microsoft Copilot to create three images for the Home Page, representing my three categories. My goal was to create a set of cohesive, attention-grabbing images. Since this was a new theme and the first time I created pages in WordPress, I spent a lot of time learning how to arrange the images and include the links. Once my Home Page was completed, I began to add content to each page.
Creating the Video
To create my video, I took photos using my iPhone and my iKross tripod. I also recorded a lot of screen images and videos on my laptop, since my topic is about technology. I created intro and outro slides in Canva. I uploaded this, my audio, and all of my images to iMovie and chose to stream the video on YouTube.
Creating the StoryMap
I created the ArcGIS StoryMap using a free public account on my MacBook. I followed instructions to embed the StoryMap into my WordPress site. I also used Excel to create a few of the charts, using data from The Nation’s Report Card. Some of the data that I wanted was not downloadable. In these cases, I used existing charts and gave attribution to the author.
Including Existing Projects
I also decided to include two additional research papers, an infographic, and information about my Girl Scout Gold Award on my website. I chose these projects because they present additional examples of my interest in literacy, advocacy, and neurodiversity and in the case of my Gold Award, exemplify the work I have done in these fields.
To embed these projects on my site, I had to research the correct HTML code to use. Since I am not a coder, this was challenging but I am happy with how it turned out.
