MAP - 11/3/25
Blog Post 2 - November 2, 2025
These past two weeks have been quite interesting. We have been diving deep into data journalism and data visualization. At first, I questioned why we needed to learn about this type of journalism, but it's something that I've found really interesting. We've been able to use Google Sheets to practice different types of formulas, such as finding the mean, median, percentage, ratio, etc. It's nice having a solid foundation in Google Sheets. Another thing we learned was how to make a chart with data, such as the sample chart that is right below this blog post.
Another thing that I've worked on in the past three weeks has been our Digital Journalism Story Assignment. I've been able to interview students and a faculty member based on my story pitch. In addition to my sit-down interviews for my story, I was also able to record the social media aspect of the project, which included a man-on-the-street interview with students at the Love Library near the Latinx Resource Center. With the social media aspect, I used straightforward interview questions for quick responses. Then, for my multimedia side of the project, I took pictures outside of the LRC. Now that I have received feedback from Professor Schmitz Weiss, I'll be going over those edits and seeing what I need to add or change. With almost a month and a half left in the semester, it's crazy how much I've learned in JMS 430.
SAMPLE CHART - October 29, 2025
Blog Post 1 - October 5, 2025
Now that we're past the first month of the fall semester, we've covered a lot in JMS 430. We've pitched our story ideas for the semester, and my pitch focuses on Hispanic/Latinx students questioning their identity based on the level of Spanish they speak. I wanted to explore this topic because I, too, have questioned my identity based on my level of Spanish, whether that is through speaking, writing, or reading. All of my classmates had fascinating and important topics for their stories, which I enjoyed learning about as they presented their ideas.
Another thing we've done in class is discuss in groups about the readings and answer questions that Professor Schmitz Weiss had on the screen, which helped us interact with one another. We also created a short social media reel in groups/partners using different shooting techniques, such as over-the-shoulder, tracking/walking, wide, medium, and close-up shots. While these have been the more interactive activities, Professor Schmitz Weiss has a presentation ready for every class to learn about different aspects of digital journalism. We've learned the history of digital journalism up to our most recent lesson on multimedia storytelling techniques. So far, within this first month, I've learned a lot, and there are still about two and a half months left to go.