Quest II Reflection

The Memorial Project was assigned to explore the effects of public memory and opinion, the Hero and New Heroine’s Journeys, and the use of networks. I chose to demonstrate my understanding of these themes by researching the United States Marine Corps War Memorial and displaying it in the form of a website.

To begin this process, I had to determine a medium in which I wanted to present my knowledge. Initially, I had settled on writing a paper since it was in my comfort zone and fairly straightforward. However, after some thought, I reasoned visuals were equally as important as the information be presented. In this case, memorials are physical objects that cannot translated or completely understood by means of words. Additionally, with one of the major concepts of the assignment being networks, I wanted to enable interaction and engagement from the community at large. Though this is my personal project, a conversation is always more powerful than a single voice and a website allowed for that to be understood.

Knowing where to begin when crafting a website was the first challenge. Though, after some trial and error of testing different website creators I settled on using Wix. I played around with the program for about an hour before becoming frustrated with it. I considered reverting back to a traditional paper, though as I spent more time with Wix the setup become more apparent.

Going into the process I researched other websites for inspiration. I sorted through my likes and dislikes and started gaining an idea of what makes certain sites more user friendly. Having a clean and simplistic design became a high priority for my website. As for content, I had a rough idea of what I wanted to include though a majority of my ideas were dictated by what options Wix provided. For instance, the photo gallery portion was not something I sought out though it became a crucial section for the visual aesthetic. Additionally, the format and break down of sections allowed me to clearly develop and flush out thoughts in a way in a way an audience could easily follow.

By the end of two drafts and numerous edits, I have come to realize how time consuming and detail oriented the website design processes can be. Despite being a rather simplistic to the user, the technicalities and minor adjustments that make the site uniform are what took up most of my labor. Writing was another major portion of it, however that is a skill that has become more routine and comfortable for me. I had to develop and understand an unfamiliar skill set to complete this assignment which is one of the reasons I think creating a website deterred other people.

The Memorial Project gave me a new understanding and appreciation for the editing process. By the end I felt more versed in content creating and hope to continue to expand on my skills.