Writing and Communication

Prompt: IAS students develop their writing and communication abilities by advancing an awareness of the interconnected relationships between purpose, audience, author and context. They learn to communicate their purposes effectively to diverse audiences through writing, presentations, and other media, and to use a range of evidence, both qualitative and quantitative, to develop ideas and support claims in ways that best serve their needs. As part of this process, they develop the ability to indicate clearly and self-reflexively the ways their specific acts of communication relate to the work of others.

What this means to me: Writing and communication has been the basis of my time at UWB, with each class requiring some sort of writing from different approaches. I have done creative, analytical, and research papers in my year in IAS, much of which directly relates to where I’m going for a career in travel. Being able to write about my travels, my experiences, and my love of pop culture has allowed me to learn how to best articulate these ideas on paper, and to as well learn more myself about these topics.

The following work best pertains in my work with writing and communication of ideas at UWB:

INFO 497- Information, Culture, and Technology in Modern South Korea
Fall 2017
Online Gaming in Korea (Final Reflection Paper)-

For the final paper for my study abroad, we were given multiple prompts we could touch on that related to the integration of culture and technology in South Korea. I chose to write about online gaming culture, and why this pastime became a national phenomenon amongst Korean youth with PC cafes on every block, entire theatre-style arenas dedicated to eSports, and a community of young people using gaming as a way to bring each other together. As someone already familiar with this culture from experiencing it first hand, I wanted to communicate to others what exactly it all entails. I described the excitement that rivals that of Kpop fans or NFL diehards, the intensity of mental training that compares to an Olympic athlete, and the feeling of togetherness Korean youth get from being able to spend time together doing something they love to give the reader a glimpse into this unique subculture that is blossoming before us.

Kennedy INFO 497 Reflection Korea copy

INFO 497-Information, Culture, and Technology in Modern South Korea
Fall 2017
Life Logging-

The majority of work done in the study abroad in Korea was blogging daily observations. As a photographer, clearly a big part of communicating what I was seeing each day was by showing it through photos, but I also provided detailed analysis of my observations. At first, we were encouraged to simply log information on what we did, but as time progressed, we were to focus more on our interpretations of Korea, its people, culture, and how we fit in there. My Tumblr blog I had writings about many different cultural topics, such as eSports, fashion, street food, selfie culture, and relationships to communicate Korean culture in interesting and accessible ways.

You can access the same blog on my site by clicking here