I spent a lot of time in the Introduction to the Minor in Writing course looking back on old pieces I have written. This is how I began my Repurposing an Argument project. I found that a lot of my writing – across grades, classes, and departments – dealt with gender roles. This is a topic I am interested in, and I felt I would be happy discussing the subject in both my Repurposing and Remediation projects.
One piece from my past stuck out to me: a literature review I wrote for a research paper during my sophomore year. The paper asked whether the gender of a reporter affected their coverage of civil rights issues. For the literature review, I compiled scholarly research about gender roles and if men and women are socialized to act differently in the workplace. This became my source for the Repurposing project.
Read the literature review here.
This paper gave me a great starting point for my Repurposing project. It was all research, which provided a lot of leeway to choose a new audience and publication venue. I originally wanted to write a magazine article aimed at teenagers on the topic of gender socialization, giving advice and offering my opinions. My proposal reflects this early idea.
But, I was having difficulty choosing an angle for my article, and I wanted more freedom to write about my own experiences. So, I decided to change my publication venue to Thought Catalog. Pretty much anything goes on this online magazine, and I liked the idea of writing less formal, more conversational pieces. I decided this project would be my own experiment with style, as well as required coursework.
My Thought Catalog model articles:
Are the Internet Really Making Us More Stupidist?
#Millennial Problems: Social Media And FOMO
From there I wrote three articles, imitating Thought Catalog's style and aimed at the publication's 20-something audience, which make up my Repurposing an Argument project.
When this project was finished, we started on its Remediation – taking the same argument we made in the Repurposing project and presenting the information in a different medium. I wrote a lot about gender stereotypes in my Repurposing project, and wanted to stick with this theme while remediating the argument.
I had the idea to make animated GIFs showing ordinary people breaking gender stereotypes. I was going to compile these into a Buzzfeed-type list, which is discussed in my proposal. I was particularly inspired by this list, which shows moments from the movie She's the Man when gender stereotypes were broken.
While creating my storyboard I realized, again, that this was not the publication venue I wanted. My project idea had no depth, no room to provide context. So, I changed it.
I decided to put my GIFs on a Tumblr blog instead. Using a blog would also allow me to include text posts and videos, so I could better explain the relationships between all of my chosen images, and to give my own insight on the topic.
Although I followed an image of a blog layout I created in my mind more than a model text, I really liked the TEDx blog I found on Tumblr. It has the minimalism I wanted, as well as the mix of content. This blog contains everything from text to images, from TED talk quotes to GIFs.
From this point, the Remediating project went fairly smoothly. Though it was hard to find the images I had envisioned, I learned how to use animation in Photoshop, which was the main goal of my project.
Explore my Remediation project here.
I'm very happy with the way both of these projects have turned out. I liked being able to take risks working with new styles and new media. Most importantly, I learned a lot about my writing process, myself as a writer, and the value of peer/instructor feedback (which I received every step of the way!)
Maybe one day I'll submit my Repurposing project to Thought Catalog, or continue adding to my Remediation blog. But for now, I hope you all enjoy reading these works as much as I enjoyed writing them!