Unit 1 Reflection

My workspace: where I interact with technology on a daily basis!

Following the completion of my curated source collection, I feel that the three sources I chose were all high quality. Each of them was produced by experts and researchers within their respective fields, and they all referenced/linked additional media to support their work. This interconnectivity among sources reassured me of their credibility.

The first source, a Vox YouTube video exploring the rise in subtitle usage, I found to be particularly well-researched and presented in a unique, engaging, and graphic manner. The video creators conducted their own research, utilizing both physical and digital sources. Additionally, they collaborated with long-term professionals in various industries, each offering their expertise on different aspects of the story. For instance, the video featured a sound engineer who explained how modern audio mixing affects dialogue clarity in movies and television. By compling these expert insights together, the producers were able to create a concise, visually compelling, and digestible format that appealed to a broad audience. The depth of research and expert collaboration strengthened my confidence in this source’s reliability. The second source, a TED Talk, was of equally high quality, but for different reasons. The speaker’s credibility as a well-known and reputable author immediately established authority, making her insights more persuasive. Furthermore, the TED Talk’s widespread popularity (it has garnered millions of views) meant that it resonated with a vast audience. The talk's structure was also particularly effective -- the speaker used personal anecdotes, compelling statistics, and engaging rhetoric to communicate complex ideas in an accessible manner. One key quote from her talk that stood out to me was: 'language shapes the way we think, and by understanding its nuances, we can better navigate our world'. This statement encapsulated the essence of her argument and made it clear why so many viewers found her perspective so valuable. The final source, a Nature article on AI and its role in education, stood out due to its technical rigor. Unlike the previous two sources, which had a more narrative approach, this article relied almost entirely on data, statistics, and scholarly references. It cited multiple peer-reviewed journals and included visual aids to support its claims. One particularly striking statistic stated that 'students who engaged with AI-driven learning tools showed a 15% improvement in retention rates compared to those who relied solely on traditional methods.' This quantifiable evidence made the article highly persuasive and grounded in research rather than opinion. The presence of graphs and charts further reinforced the article’s credibility, making complex information a bit more comprehensible for readers.

I utilized technology extensively throughout this project to aid with my research and organization. Google Docs was my primary writing tool as it allowed me to draft, revise, and organize my thoughts efficiently, and it provided me with a word count feature to ensure that I was fulfilling the requirements in the project brief. Additionally, I used social media platforms such as YouTube to locate my video sources to make sure that I had access to a diverse range of perspectives. One of the biggest technological aids came in the form of AI tools (ex. ChatGPT) which I used to help analyze the more complex sections of my sources. For example, the Nature article contained detailed data visualizations that were difficult to understand. By inputting these graphs into ChatGPT, I was able to generate simplified explanations of the data, which really helped me interpret the source better. This technological assistance allowed me to engage with higher-level academic material while avoiding feeling overwhelmed.

Reflecting on the quality of sources in my chosen topic, I can confidently say that there is a lot of well-researched material available out there. That being said, I did also notice gaps in the conversation that could be addressed through future research. For example, I could potentially expand on in the intersection of AI and subtitle usage in media. While my sources discussed AI in education and our rapidly growing reliance on subtitles separately, none of them explored how AI-generated captions and subtitles could impact learning and accessibility -- this may be an opportunity for Unit 2 or 3, particularly in understanding how AI transcription tools could be optimized to benefit diverse audiences, such as inidividuals with hearing difficulties or language barriers. Additionally, looking ahead to the next two units, I see potential for integrating my other curated sources into future research. The TED Talk’s insights on language could be useful in discussions on communication strategies or digital literacy. The Nature article is also a good base for exploring the ethical implications of AI in education. The Vox video, while more entertainment-focused, still offers valuable perspectives on media consumption trends, which could tie into future discussions on digital accessibility. It also is a good reference for a more fun, engaging style of content presentation that I could draw inspiration from later on.

Throughout this unit, I challenged myself by engaging with sources that were outside my comfort zone. The Nature article, for example, was significantly more technical than what I usually read. Initially, I struggled with its dense academic language. However, I took proactive steps to understand it, from using AI to simplify graphs and re-reading key sections multiple times. As a result, I not only gained a deeper understanding of the subject matter, but also improved my ability to navigate and analyze academic texts. Additionally, pushed myself to be more critical in my evaluation of texts. Instead of just passively accepting information, I examined the credibility of each source, considering factors such as author expertise, source citations, and audience reception. This approach encouraged me to be more discerning in my research process so that I selected only the most reliable and impactful sources for my project.

Overall, this unit has been eye-opening in terms of research methodologies, source evaluation, and technological integration. The process of curating/analyzing/reflecting on sources has strengthened my ability to conduct critical research. Moving forward, I plan to apply these skills to future projects by identifying gaps in existing literature and contributing my own perspectives and skillset. Especially as an architecture student, I often have to interpret dense readings on architectural theory, discourse, and philosophy on a weekly basis, and analyzing these different genres of sources, I feel more confident that I can better/more critically discuss my work and thoughts.