Bryn Mawr College's Digital Competencies Program helps students build the digital skills and critical perspectives on technology needed for success in the digital age.
Happy February, Mawrters—with the madness of WTF Week nearing, now’s the perfect time to dive into some digital competencies!
This month we’re going to look at 2.2: “Digital writing and publishing”. This competency focuses on professionally and effectively communicating using digital word processing and web publishing software. Depending on your major and interests, this may involve learning:
- To typeset mathematical or scientific formulae (e.g., with LaTeX).
- To type and proof documents in multiple languages.
- To provide references in footnotes or endnotes.
- To embed, format and caption images, charts, or tables.
- To give credit to other’s creative work and original ideas, through attribution conventions appropriate for digital media.
Whether adding footnotes to your ridiculously long paper or using Wordpress to capture your study abroad experience, odds are you’ve been using 2.2 without even knowing it!
2.2 Digital Competency IRL Applications
Of course, this competency doesn’t just apply to personal blogs or websites—it’s also practiced via social media. Using any range of digital publishing or social media tools, such as blogs, wikis, WordPress, Twitter, etc. count towards practicing this competency.
Here are some LITS tips to make sure that your accounts are reflecting your best self:
- Set your accounts to private when possible.
- If that doesn’t work for you, only post/reblog things that you’re comfortable with being public—even if you delete something, there’s always a chance that someone took a screenshot of it before you got the chance.
- When reblogging/posting/tweeting someone’s work, don’t forget to give the creator credit!
- Practice mindful posting: if you wouldn’t be comfortable with your employer/mom reading it, then you shouldn’t post it.
Contest Time! Create Your Own Website
It’s your turn! Put this competency in action and show us what you’ve got. Create your own Wordpress blog and sign up to participate in our "Finding the LITSEST Domain” contest! The deadline to submit your form is February 15th, so mark your calendars!
Here’s the nitty gritty:
- You MUST be a current student!
- Your domain MUST be hosted on digital.brynmawr.edu.
- You can only enter a website that YOU own.
- First Prize wins SEPTA tickets.
- Send us your link here! Submissions will only be accepted through this form.
To learn how to use Domain of One’s Own to create your website check out our Domain of One’s Own documentation or get in-person help.
Upcoming Events
From Tech Talks taking place in Old Library discussing ways WeVideo can be used to promote digital storytelling to the new Tempermental Prints exhibition coming to Canaday, we have numerous thrilling LITS events planned for March! For more info, see the LITS calendar.
Students who have registered for the exciting Digital Narratives Intensive, co-hosted by LILAC and LITS, will be developing this competency and 2.3 Audiovisual Analysis and Production and meeting alums who create digital narratives professionally over Spring Break.