For my Capstone, I created “Who Is The Image,” a multimedia website examining the representation of women of color in media and social media culture. Driven by my own experiences with harmful stereotypes and exclusion, my project went far beyond a traditional research paper, combining interview narratives, collage art, a podcast episode, anonymous social media submissions, a media literacy guide, and a community resource guide into a single interactive platform. My process involved extensive research into the historical roots of misrepresentation, designing interview protocols, hosting an identity collaging workshop, and collaborating with peers, totaling over 80 hours of work. The project aligns with my future studies in Media and Technology Cultures and reflects SLA’s core values of inquiry, collaboration, presentation and reflection. What I am most proud of is the non-traditional, human-centered approach I brought to my research, building a space for dialogue that treated participants as full people rather than data points. I hope my project models the kind of critical media literacy and community storytelling needed to challenge and rewrite the narratives that marginalize women of color.

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mPH-A0Y20URyF3SqkkPxWfq4woTYc4WlLV1xKlTJS6k/edit?usp=sharing

Capstone Site: https://judicious-broker-539.notion.site/Who-Is-the-Image-34f1c401f9b08099ab08f46c659df8b7?source=copy_link

For my senior capstone project, I created a documentary titled Behind the Screens: What It’s Like to Work in IT, which explores the responsibilities and importance of information technology professionals in modern workplaces. My documentary focused on two specific branches of IT: automation and data management. To create this project, I researched the IT field through articles, videos, and other sources while also interviewing two professionals currently working in these careers, such as my father, who works as an application administrator in automation, and my uncle, who works in data management. I filmed interviews, recorded narration, gathered additional footage, and edited everything together into a final documentary that explains how these careers help businesses operate efficiently and maintain important systems. Throughout this process, I learned how much planning, research, and editing goes into documentary production. I also gained a better understanding of how broad the IT field really is and how important these careers are in everyday life. This project helped me improve my time management, interviewing, and editing skills while creating a final product that highlights careers many people often overlook despite how essential they are to modern society.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w-lxC-tEKK_LhNWiygT4Eusvh8NYa44bjyk5dlV9X3I/edit?usp=sharing

LINK TO DOCUMENTARY: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U7Wn_xwfanDH2ZvIkBuSxyz1jINiyOnU/view?usp=sharing