The most rewarding experience of the GNML online program

 

Theodore Roosevelt once encouraged: “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.”  Entering the Global New Media Lab environment with these words in mind helped create success necessary to make my experience most rewarding.

                                                    Image from Google Images

Through Global New Media Lab, I was able to create and publish my own work on the internet through a personal blog and the Third Planet Platform, formulate a Twitter account, broadcast my views, goals, and opinions through a YouTube account and overall increase my confidence online. Excitement and a sense of accomplishment overwhelm me when I consider all that I have achieved through social media. Despite many failing attempts, the feeling of having my voice heard and opinions shared surpasses it.

The most rewarding aspect of the Global New Media Platform is contemplating how far and how much knowledge I have gained. It is as if I am standing at a crossroad, and as I look back, I identify the evolution of my thoughts and how each session and new piece of information contributed to my configuration of thinking. I consider how I have previously connoted social media to be negative innovation of the 21^st century; ironically, now I view it as a device which I can employ to help induce change in my community concerning teenage pregnancy.

Formerly, I defined social media as “a wired medium of global connection used to communicate and inspire change in societies.” (Session 3: Using Social Media for Social Change blog post) With all that I have learnt, I would like to add a minor addition to that definition: social media is a wired medium of global connection through which I can make a change and have my voice be heard.