A few notes on things from this semester:
Live Coverage
I worked on the back end of this project helping to design the website and coordinating the posting of projects. It gave me insight into what goes into producing a project with so many participants and numerous people who have thoughts about what the end product should be. The biggest improvement that could be made if this type of project were to be done again is to start earlier. There were some design/functionality things that were proposed that were too complicated (but would have looked nicer) and perhaps they could have been implemented if we had more time. Also I think it would be helpful if the major themes were decided ahead of time so that students could pitch stories to fit a theme instead of trying to force stories into themes after the fact.
Analytics
I am not using the portfolio site that I set up at the beginning of the semester. I did it quickly to fulfill the assignment and have been working with Daniel all semester on customizing WordPress themes. I successfully customized a theme for my iPhone photography site (iphonemeetsnyc.com) using HTML, CSS and PHP, including making all images shareable via Facebook and Twitter. I activated the plugin for Google analytics but I have not started promoting the site yet because I am in the process of adding content (at least one photo for each day starting in July 2009).
I also visually designed my final portfolio site, but it will require creating a WordPress theme from scratch. I have documentation to study over the summer and will complete this with Daniel’s help in the fall. Working with him has been very helpful in learning how all of this stuff actually works so I can better manipulate it myself.
Other
Learning Flash was very helpful for me, even if it’s on its way out as a widely used platform. I am taking Interactive III in the fall and hope to use it as my capstone class so I can combine all of these skills to create a multimedia heavy capstone website showcasing reporting and other material that I will gather over the summer in Egypt.
