Taking CT101 Digital Storytelling in my final semester of college has been a delightful learning experience filled with obstacles that I managed to successfully overcome. Going into it, I had no clue what to expect and how the journey will go. Sometimes the road to your destination can be a winding one, but what matters is that you get there. I learned a variety of amazing skillsets such as overall exploring the WordPress blogging interface and adding variety of creative content using numerous artistic websites, apps, and helpful class videos.

Experiences such as transferring images and screenshots to my blog posts, creating hyperlinks, learning about URLs and website domain names, creating Gif narratives and finding Gifs from Giphy and Imgur Assignment 2- Animation through Gifs, discovering a new perception of art through internet memes Assignment 3- Are Memes Art? and creating my own with imgflip, completing projects on TheDailyCreate and using Photopea to construct art such as overlapping and blending multiple images, etc.

I learned about the immediacy of digital art making and expanded my own perception through reflection on what creativity and intuition means to me, thus using Figma to create a digital art page with the theme of consciousness by applying various moving imagery.

I feel like in this class the grade I earned was a B or B- because although I managed to complete majority of the assignments with my best foot forward and participated in class, I did end up completing assignments late due to unforeseen mental health circumstances.

Overall, digital storytelling makes better use of multimedia elements and interactive capabilities to fascinate and engage audiences than traditional storytelling methods. It enables a dynamic and immersive experience that keeps viewers engaged and provides a wide range of creative opportunities. To bring their story to life, creators like me can experiment with various media types, styles, and techniques.

We are free to combine different aspects and use technology to create unique and inventive storylines. Online platforms and social media make it simple to share and distribute digital stories, but in my situation, I was able to expand and share my expertise with my classmates who were working on similar projects in the same field.

https://imgflip.com/i/7mmrqw

This enabled interactivity and active participation in creative processes. I am extremely grateful for this experience, and thank you for a wonderful semester.

Enjoy the summer and journeys ahead!

Clickbait has it gone too far??? I was struggling with what topic to really talk about for this assignment in the end I enjoyed it and had fun. I got this idea actually from my girlfriend she decided to help me and thought it would be a fun idea so why not let’s talk about clickbait?

At first, I was confused about how the website worked but I found the writing assignment section and saw many other people’s ideas and they were all interesting I liked the format that they all used.

I first went to youtube to look at random thumbnails and I found some interesting ones like these ones.

Some of these thumbnails are weird thumbnails it just shows that click-baiting has gone far I mean come on why fake that you got your girlfriend pregnant it’s just for views and just weird. The face that he puts for himself in the thumbnail as well is so stupid.

This is what I mean by click-baiting has gone too far. Since I keep talking about it should probably show you guys what I did for this assignment.

I hope it shows well but this is my assignment I put that as the title to be funny but as well to show an example of what actually ends up happening on youtube you will find titles like that. The picture was meant to represent the funny thumbnails that you see on youtube.

Just to be safe if you guys are interested in what I wrote here is the link to my post.

Another assignment I wanted to do was Photoshop I thought it would be fun to have this character that I created and photoshop him in an image like the mona lisa. Hopefully on another post, I get to make that idea a reality.

Until next time everyone.

The project prompt that I gravitated towards was the “Populate The Landscape” Assignment. I wanted to put different images together to portray a certain theme, and put my storytelling skills to the test.

So I decided to actually use TWO bob ross paintings for my assignment. One that’s dark, and the other being relatively bright. I did this to make a clear contrast within my creation.

I then went ahead and used Photopea to take the two paintings, and put them side by side to visualize the juxtaposition that I wanted to convey.

The two characters that I chose the Populate the landscape are Madoka and Homura from one of my favorite anime’s: Puella Magi Madoka Magica. This anime was released in 2011, and animated by shaft studios.

I identify as a certified gym rat, and I think I’m a little more obsessed than passionate. I have been a regular at my local gym for the past year and I started seriously strength training 3 months ago. It started out as a casual hobby that took up about 45 mins twice a week, or whenever I felt like it. Nowadays, even with a pretty busy schedule, I go 3 days/week for 90+ mins without fail and often lose time in the gym. It’s like an adult playground, and the whole world of fitness intrigues me. Now, I seek out high sources of protein for better muscle growth and my favorite shopping addiction is cute gym attire. 

I am the type of person to start 10 different hobbies and lose them over time. For some time, I was a knitter, I garden seasonally, and I love art but am ashamed of how long it has been since I opened my sketchbook. It took some deep self-reflection to realize why I took to this hobby so naturally. It wasn’t a new stimulus, just me rekindling an interest I wasn’t very aware of. 

These pictures are of me and my HS Women’s Sabre(fencing) team posing after winning individual and team championships in my senior year. I went away to boarding school for high school and, if you ask anyone else who has, we would agree that those schools try hard to keep teens busy. There is always something going on, – after school, during lunch periods, on the weekends, during breaks – always! My school, in particular, required all students to pick up an after-school activity and play at least 3 seasons of sports. So high school Jamilah, excited to be in this new environment, did 3 seasons of sports – fencing, volleyball, and tennis- and joined a dance company for all 4 years. At the time, these activities were things just fun to do after school or ways to spend more time with my friends. Now as an adult, I have realized how much those activities impacted my physical, emotional, and mental health.

Transparency moment…..

My first try at college was a very stressful experience. The classes were extremely difficult, the social atmosphere was almost non-existent, and the school culture was pretty toxic. In addition to these things, I often overloaded my class schedule, participated in work-study, and organized multiple clubs while tackling personal issues of anxiety and trauma. Needless to say, I had very little time or motivation, to participate in sports or regular exercise. Although, in retrospect, my weeks always felt better after I took a random Yoga class or walked through the Arboretum. And my favorite mental escape was to bike wherever my legs took me. The bikeability of small-town Ohio is probably the only thing I miss about the Midwest. 

In 2020, I decided to come back home. However, for obvious reasons, there were very few opportunities to get out and do anything. I found that taking long walks, volunteering to do grocery runs on foot and gardening helped me clear my head and recenter myself. At this point, it should’ve been obvious to me that fitness and movement make me happy, but the fitness industry never catered to people that look like me so I assumed I didn’t belong.

Over time, I built up the confidence to put myself out there, but there was a beautiful community that helped me along the way. A close friend of mine decided to start an amazing community around body inclusivity called the Unplug Collective. Through this site and related social media, I heard stories from other people who felt like I did and made me feel less alone in the overwhelming world of slim-bodied expectations. I started going to the gym on occasion to get familiar with the equipment, do what felt good, and get comfortable in the space.

Now I am a regular at my local Blink Fitness and have been going more regularly for over a year now. It has been the best habit I have picked up in life. I don’t feel right when I skip my gym days. It gives me a huge boost of serotonin every time and has become my emotional outlet.

In the past 3 months, I have started a weight training journey that has further boosted my passion for exercise. I do lots of research to be sure I don’t hurt myself and am getting the most out of the work I put in. I work alongside a trainer at my local gym (by the way, if you have a Blink membership you have a free personal training session you can redeem anytime!). He has given me some great guidance and helped me reach my goals. TikTok has also been a great resource for fitness tips and community. It is imperative, however, that you choose the right people since the fitness world can be toxic and fat-phobic. Here are some of my faves:

1. Cranon , an inspirational, black woman weightlifter
2. Nataleebfitness , black woman helping gym newbies feel comfortable
3. JPGCoaching , gives great gym tips, dispelling fitness trends
4. FormerFatGuyFitness, gives great recommendations for high protein meals
5. Callherkarenbby , rare, but necessary, thick girl gym-speration!

Some honorable mentions for great tips and good vibes: BritneyNgwese, Swolerickets, leanbeefpatty, and _castawayj.

If you ever need someone to talk to about fitness or the gym, I am happy to make virtual gym buddies. I currently have a 275lb deadlift and 180lb squat (and climbing), so I think I have a bit of credibility on progress over time. Just remember, there are 100s of reasons why someone wants to get into the gym or fitness in general. Weight loss is not everyone’s goalpost and definitely not mine.

Some potential domain names that are unique to me are:

Sidneyspoetry.com

Poetryfromthesoul.com

Sandrasidney.com

SSK24.com

Blackgrowthabundance.com

These domain names connect to my actual name and the creative hobby I am passionate most which is poetry. Also, Sidney, my middle name, is what I usually use as my alias when it comes to posting poetry on my Instagram or doing spoken word performances in different spaces. I used “.com” as my top level domain because it is the one that is most popularly known worldwide for websites.

My website will be a free access for creatives and curious individuals alike to read poems that I have written myself, in which they can use for inspiration towards their own thoughts and emotions. I am excited to own my own website but also nervous of the work it will take to build it, and uncertain of if I want it to be heavily detailed or just simplistic.

As of late, my favorite existing websites are those used for research or entertainment such as google, Youtube, Netflix, and Pinterest.

https://www.youtube.com/

http://www.pinterest.com

http://google.com

I cannot wait!

In the beginning and throughout CT101, I feel like I could not do as good as I would like in terms of keeping up since I was overwhelmed with so many classes. However, I knew that in due time I will be able to push through and learn a lot of digital storytelling tools and perspectives that will elevate my growth technology and my creative passions in a new limelight.

What have I learned and retained the most so far is how to use gifs within blogposts and create memes, and the various website tools such as Photopea, giphy, thedailycreate, and figma, thus expanding my awareness. The new skills I have developed were learning how to use these tools to create my own work, thus reflected and explained in my weekly posts.

All of the topics I learned and knowledge I acquired, I never previously knew of because I was not technologically savvy or had a reason to learn them in any of my other course works.

The grade I believe I am maintaining, or rather the grade I assume I will end with is a B, since I submitted majority of my assignments late due to unforeseen circumstances; however, I still be content because I know despite the setbacks I still worked hard on each assignment.  My weekly blogging work have expanded creatively because with each one I slowly feel more comfortable in its usage and expressing my authentic self.

So far I am missing all assignments after this current one (8- 10), but I plan on completing before the semester is over. I do make sure to comment on two classmate’s posts for every assignment. The days I was in class in- person, I made sure to participate, either by asking questions or adding commentary to the class discussion. I will make needed improvements by continuing this course to it end, and using other classmate’s posts as a way to see what I may need working on or add.

https://ct101.commons.gc.cuny.edu/?p=21380

https://ct101.commons.gc.cuny.edu/?p=21638

https://ct101.commons.gc.cuny.edu/?p=21750

https://ct101.commons.gc.cuny.edu/?p=21790

CT101 Final Blog Post / Jour Morton

Evolution of a blog post.

I’ve noticed that the sizing of graphics, images, and media in my selected content for Assignment 1_What_Makes_Me_Happy 02/08  isn’t consistent. Unfortunately, it’s a common mistake for amateur bloggers like myself.

At this point, my assignment was only worthy of a C.

I had no idea how to add hyperlinks.

Looking back on my posts, I notice an improvement in my graphics, images, and media placement. Now I understand the importance of aligning gifs and memes and properly sizing everything up for a more seamless and enjoyable reading experience. As my work improved, I became obsessed with adding these little fluorescent blue gems called hyperlinks in Assignment_Two_GIF_Narratives 02/18.

I realized I could enhance the reader’s experience by incorporating visual media into my posts. With this in mind, I started experimenting with giphy.com, a game-changer.

Thanks to giphy.com, I could take it up a notch and edit their gif’s with their excellent built-in editing tool. I loved how I could take complete control of the gifs by applying different filters. Click here to see my strides in assignment #3- Are MEME’s ART?

I’ve learned that keeping videos under 15 seconds is crucial if you want to upload them to giphy.com.

I often use iMovie for editing videos. It’s a built-in feature on most Apple computers and offers a wide range of editing tools and features that are particularly useful for longer videos. Additionally, you can easily add sound to your videos in iMovie.

When unleashing my creative side, I love using iMovie to bring my ideas to life. For example, I recently decided to experiment with a video recording of a Bansky photo and add audio from a gallery show I attended. Thanks to the user-friendly interface of iMovie, I could seamlessly combine the two elements of audio and video to create a truly unique piece. As Professor Ryan would say, I definitely “hacked Bansky.”

At this point, I had started producing top-notch posts worthy of an A grade. However, for my fourth assignment, Passions 03/11/, I was still discovering new forms of media and figuring out how to make my post stand out even more than my previous ones.

I begin to get good at this.

As I progress through Assignment#5, Digital Storytelling Project Flexibility, and Assignment #6, Digital Art Making Immediacy 03/03, I obsess over small details. I am starting to enjoy more freedom and have more fun with my work. Now that I understand how to add images, media, URLs, and hyperlinking, I am becoming more creative and confident in exploring different styles. I even use my photos and recordings from giphy.com, Vimeo, and imgur.com.

Being influenced by Ct101 in Assignment #7 Mid-Semester Reflection Post 04/01, I began to experiment with Ai and create Ai-generated art with Dalle-e-2 and midjourney.com.

CT101 has increased my knowledge and digital skillset, and I landed a new job by learning how to utilize sites like midjourney.com and ChatGPT.

I recently started a new job at BMCC’s Career Center. Interestingly, many of the skills I developed in CT101 are transferable to my new gig as a social media influencer and have proven helpful here.

Thanks to my familiarity with wordpress.com, I was able to successfully create Instagram posts using canva.com. It was easy for me to transfer my skills of navigating the editor tool and resizing media in WordPress to canva.com and IG’s editing tools, as they share similar features.

Furthermore, I have developed a high level of proficiency in utilizing ChatGPT and BARD to operate unfamiliar multimedia software, etc… Whenever I encounter uncertainty regarding a task assigned by my boss, I put on my prompt engineer cap and add a query to these invaluable chatbots for guidance, absorbing their advice and subsequently executing the necessary steps. Consequently, this approach has significantly enhanced my efficiency and timeliness in completing my assignments while earning immense appreciation from my employers.

I’m so grateful for CT101! This course gave me the confidence to apply for a federal work-study. I wouldn’t have felt I knew enough about applying digital media to posts without learning the fundamentals in CT101. I’m amazed at how much this experience has changed my life, perception of myself, and capabilities in such a fast-paced and digital world.

Creating a PhotoGrid for  Assignment #8 Domain Name Registration, Hosting Set Up & WordPress Installation! #8 04/23 brought me back to my past experiences in MMA225. I realized it’d been three months since I last used Photoshop, so I popped it open and watched an old instructional video to refresh my skills. It felt great to revisit and apply my past knowledge to Blog #8.

Assignment 10 WordPress Customizing Series, Part 1! #10 04/30 I initially set out to create an informative site that would guide web developers in creating websites for the wellness industry, encompassing practices like yoga, massage, and skincare. However, my vision evolved into something more comprehensive. This platform educates people on how to create websites for the yoga and wellness community and those interested in building and hosting their websites. Essentially, I aim to recreate the lessons learned about hosting our website on wordpress.com, focusing on the wellness industry.

I had a blast creating the website! It brought back memories of my time using Figma and learning about adding plugins, which was extremely helpful. It took me a while to get accustomed to the WordPress editor tool, but then I realized it was similar to the other website we’ve been blogging on for the past three months. As soon as I made this connection, all the tools and options became more familiar. Fortunately, adding a URL was just like on our other website, so there wasn’t much of a learning curve. The real test was developing and sticking with a solid idea as the website underwent many changes. I can’t wait to keep working on this website this summer and maybe even add it to my portfolio!

Creating a layout with typography, font, and background color went through many colorful ranges.

First, Mandarin Orange with black text

Then lime green with black text

The header navigation menu includes the following pages:

Pages are an essential component that provides insight into the site’s purpose and improves search engine optimization. I will include a comprehensive breakdown of the site’s mission and user-friendly navigation menu instructions in the future. With this page, I hope to make it easier for visitors to find my website through a search. Check out the linked screenshots below to see how I designed the navigation menu’s Pages.

All three screenshots below are clickable. Clicking on the image redirects you to the actual webpage in WordPress. Give it a try and click the images below.

About Page

I am currently in the process of creating the About page for my website. This page is of the utmost importance as it guides and explains the website’s purpose. It also helps with search engine optimization and indexing, with Google being the primary player in this area. In the future, I plan to include a comprehensive breakdown of the site’s mission and how to navigate it. The effectiveness of the About page will ultimately determine how easily users can locate my website through a search.

Contact Me Page:

I’m currently in the process of updating this page. I plan to include links to my Instagram, Linkedin, and Behance accounts so potential clients can easily view my work and contact me. For privacy reasons, I’ll also add a contact form allowing people to leave me a message while ensuring that only vetted inquiries receive a response.

I believe that being cautious about cybersecurity and avoiding phishing and scamming attempts is crucial to protecting my website and private information from potential hackers. Therefore, safety is a top priority for me, and I take it seriously.

I am mindful of my online activity and prioritize my privacy and security. For example, I am careful about what I post on social media and only share personal information that I am comfortable with. It’s important to me to take proactive steps to protect my data from potential threats.

The contact page is also essential if the website has a problem. This is where someone will report that to the host.

Photography Page

I’m considering changing the Photography Page to a Display or Gallery Page showcasing examples of various websites I’ve created. It’s essential for anyone visiting the page to see the work I’ve produced, and it’s a great place to showcase it. I’m thinking of renaming it to reflect its purpose better or possibly even replacing it with a page featuring examples of websites I’ve created specifically for the wellness community.

The website’s purpose went through and will continue to go through a few changes. I wanted to do something that empowers people to learn about creating and teach them to host their websites.

Hosting a website on my own is fantastic and can be lucrative too. However, I firmly believe that sharing my knowledge and skills with others is equally important. By doing so, I contribute to helping create a more empowered and self-reliant society.

I also plan to enroll in a coding BootCamp to enhance my skills further. In addition, I am excited to showcase my website as part of my portfolio when I apply to NYU’s Interactive Media Arts program next spring.

I was told a stat the other day that 22% of undergrad students entering BMCC do not have computer literacy skills, and at 46, I was one of those students. I struggled to find help; if you all know anything about me, I always ask for help.

It wasn’t until I started a course with Professor Ryan that I was given actual instruction in real-time. As a visual and inquisitive learner, I learned to apply skills in industry-standard applications like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. I am constantly referring to videos I made in MMA 100 and CT101.

Furthermore, I found Professor Ryan to be incredibly kind and understanding. He met me where I was in my learning journey, creating a safe and encouraging environment where I could ask questions and receive the guidance I needed to understand the material. As a result, his uplifting spirit was projected onto me and helped me thrive.

I am interested in exploring the world of p5.js. , as well as gaining a better understanding of Git and GitHub. Although the prospect of learning to code is a bit intimidating for me, this course has taught me that with dedication, consistent practice, and repetition, the process will eventually become second nature, allowing me to take pleasure in creating. This course has shown me that with a little effort, acquiring new digital skills is possible at any age.

With all the improvements I have made in the detail of my blog posts, I feel I should receive an A+ in CT101. I have shown that I am willing to do the work and spend hours learning, watching, rewatching, trying new things, and doing it all over again.

I can wholeheartedly say that the first thing I thought of when reading the assignment for this post was MUSIC. I. LOVE. MUSIC. Ever since I was a kid I’ve always been drawn to music.

With that being said, I would NEVER consider joining the music industry or taking music seriously as a career because it is rough, and I’ve heard a lot of horror stories. So I decide to just sit back and appreciate the art that comes from it.

It was almost like it was a party in the house everyday. I started off listening to mostly gospel music due to my mother being a devout Christian woman. She always made sure we knew how much she loved the lord, and one of the main ways she did that was through music. Waking up to “The Battle Is The Lord’s” By Yolanda Adams (my mom’s favorite singer), meant that it was cleaning day and everybody needed to WAKE UP

Now my personal favorite genre of music is undoubtedly R&B. The genre that mostly consists of enchanting melodies, and lyrics that tug on your heartstrings. It was one of the many genres played around me growing up, but it was also the genre that I became attached to, and continued to keep up with. When I begin to feel overwhelmed by school or other things going on, I just turn on some R&B to keep myself calm and it works wonders.

In my perspective Creativity is the ability to express myself freely and authentically through art medium, bringing feelings, thoughts, and experiences into the creation of something new and tangible. For me, that would typically be my poetry- an art form set forth based on emotional experiences and triggers, that can only come out of my mind and cannot be recreated because the creator cannot be duplicated. Immediacy is the ability to do something at once, to put the idea out as soon as it hits, to let yourself write, dance, or tell your truth as soon as it is noticed, immediately. Intuition is your gut or heart feeling, your sixth sense so to speak, the voice of God or a higher power or the universe giving us wisdom that cannot be expressed in words so instead comes forth as a physical sensation. We should always follow our intuition because it guides us to positive aspects that help our growth as a human on this earth.

I would put these words in the order of Intuition + Creativity + Immediacy, and the result is life. The creative potential of my awareness of this moment is expansive and versatile- an art project, a painting, a poem, a silent reflective meditation, but for this class I will intervene by creating a digital art peace for my CT101 blog post. The creative potential of this assignment is to use Figma.com to create whatever feels right in that exact moment, and let it flow.

I used https://figma.com to create how I view the world emotionally, physically, and spiritually, and our strive as humans towards higher consciousness and delving into the unknown- the earth, psychedelics, meditation, Buddha, love, intuition, third eye, scientific brain activities, etc. all show that we truly know nothing, yet our very existence is everything.

https://www.figma.com/proto/ORi7k90AlhRBVdcICrr2C8/Untitled?type=design&node-id=0-3&scaling=scale-down&page-id=0%3A1

In browsing through Daily Create, there are many project options that are available to choose from to complete/ replicate. The one I believe I can figure out on my own is https://daily.ds106.us/tdc4145/ in which a random image pairing is transformed into a self-help book title and cover. The second project that I do not have the knowledge to perform yet is the creation of the three horse people of the learning apocalypse in picture form (https://daily.ds106.us/tdc4139/ ). I do not understand what this truly means or the original analogy, to even begin to develop my own version of this. Therefore, this blog post will only be showing my personalized creation of the first project.

To complete the first assignment, first I need to know how to navigate the Daily Create website. Then I will need to check out the random flickr image blender, and know how to screenshot images that rapidly changes every ten seconds (https://johnjohnston.info/oddsandends/flickrRandom/ ). To capture the entire screen in a screenshot on a dell laptop, which is what I am working off of, you must press the Windows logo key + PrntScrn key together on the keyboard.

Once two images of my choosing are screenshotted, then I have to go to Photopea- Online Photo Editor, to input the two photos and edit for them to be combined, before adding a title.

This process is not as simple as it seems but highly manageable.

• Make a New Project, give it a title and make it transparent.
• Go to File, then Open & Place to add the first screenshot.

• Crop the screenshot if necessary to only focus on the photo.
• Add another layer and make it black, if you want to change the opacity.
• Copy and paste the second image in another layer.
• Change the opacity of either the first image or second image for it to blend together.

• Add another later and insert text box.
• Format and type your title.
• Lock all layers once completed so no erasure can happen accidentally.
• All done!