It wasn’t until I took a step back and reflected on the E-Portfolio that I realized how much work I put into it. From the creation of my website on the Cuny Commons, all the literacy logs I wrote, my digital artifact, to this reflection paper I’m currently writing. Some aspects of the project were interesting to complete while others were very time-consuming and frustrating.

This project started with creating my website, which had a learning curve that wasn’t easy to figure out. The Cuny Commons and WordPress are two sites that I had no experience working with which made my experience quite difficult. Once I figured out how to create my site, I spent an hour scrolling through every template offered until I finally found one I liked. Then I changed it and changed it again, figuring out the aesthetic I wanted my site to have was a time-consuming task but, it had to be perfect. Once I officially decided on what I wanted I began playing with all the options I was able to customize. I began to create a menu for my homepage until I realized I didn’t know how to create other pages or even link them to buttons. I found a page on the WordPress website that had a brief tutorial on how to navigate the site, which proved very helpful. I was able to make a menu that even displayed a dropdown menu of the other pages when you hover over the Literacy Logs section. Which helped make the Homepage feel more organized and less cluttered. Then to give more of a description of what was featured on the site, I decided to create three different colored columns. Which displayed the three main components of the site with buttons that were also linked to their respective pages. The background of these colors is really where I officially finished the color set of the site. I chose cool monotone colors to keep with the professional but modern aesthetic I was going for. I then decided to add a short blurb about myself to give readers some additional background information. However, the space in between the items on my homepage wasn’t sitting right with me so, I added a separator to break up the page into sections. Once everything was titled and filled out on the homepage, I felt that to make the site feel realistic I needed to add widgets and a logo. I researched a logo generator and went through about four different designs until I got the current one I have now. Once the architecture of my site was fully completed, I began to work on the part the Literacy Logs would play in it.

When we had to upload our literacy logs, is when I began to focus on the other pages on my site. I spent about an hour creating each log, so when I published them on the page I was bothered by the fact they looked so bland. I was irritated with the fact I couldn’t change the font however, I was able to change the size of the text and add images to the page. Once I picked pictures that I felt corresponded with some aspects of the content in my post I published them on the page but, something wasn’t right. The images would sit on the page broken away from the rest of the text. I ended up spending the entirety of the class just figuring out how to wrap the text around the images so, it would look more visually pleasing. 

When it came to actually writing the logs I found that the “Investigating My Digital Footprint” log was the most interesting. Before starting it I thought that it may reflect my interests and show me something about myself that I didn’t know before. However, after seeing all the different ad topics that Instagram assigned to me, it felt more like they cataloged every single action I’ve done on the platform, whether by accident or not. It was scary seeing how much data they’ve collected on me, which I believe tells me more about them than they actually know about me.

The Log I found most challenging was the “Uncreative Writing” log. It felt odd piecing together all the different sources of information while still trying to make a coherent post. Not being able to include my input made this a very difficult process. I was unable to make any of this piece my own which felt as if I was losing my credibility as a writer. However, after spending an hour and a half, searching the web I was able to pull information from ten sources and create a respectable literacy log. It is easily understandable and flows well, instead of sounding completely copied and pasted. However, I did learn a lot from this experience. It proved some of my own beliefs about technology, that modern technology connects us with the entire world yet destroys the meaningfulness of interactions we have with others. Creating more isolation in today’s society. This Log may have been challenging but, there were other parts of the portfolio that I struggled with.

The digital artifact was the piece of this project that I had the most difficulty with. I found it hard to pinpoint a form of digital literacy that I obtained that I could write about for that long. I kept hitting roadblocks on how I could elaborate on certain topics in my narrative while making it an interesting and captivating piece at the same time. When writing it I had to think of everything I could remember from my experience learning during the Covid-19 Pandemic. While not trying to be all over the place and still make my essay relevant to the prompt.

Overall, I’m proud of the work I did and took away a lot from this experience. The creation of my E-Portfolio was beneficial in many ways, it allowed me to express my own creativity, while also expanding on my writing skills. I had to connect all of the different topics of the literacy logs to the bigger picture of digital literacy. Which improved my writing skills when it comes to cohesion. The creation of my website also gives me opportunities to take advantage of in the future. If needed I’d be able to create an online portfolio to display my work to future employers. This experience has greatly changed the way I view technology while exposing the benefits and drawbacks that come with its use.