I really enjoyed the word art that we made. For me, a business major, I am not a great historian but I do enjoy it. I think from my perspective this was a cool idea and was very easy to digest for someone who isn’t great at history. I think for an everyday person this would be very easy and fun to do and a great way to learn and represent a topic. I think on the future I may want to insert my own words because then it could be more specific and even a better representation of what I was talking about. I would love to reattempt this because I think I could do it even better and I believe that us a very versatile tool that could be used in many different topics. We found a data source and we uploaded it to the website and it took all of the most used words a created a visual of all of those words. It is a very simple process and you can accomplish it with many different types of words.
All of my works in HST 251 have allowed me to increase my skillset when it comes to creating visuals. Before this I believed you’d have to contact a graphic designer if you wanted to create visuals. This is not true. I got to learn and experience making different types of visuals with real evidence and data. This is a skill I do not think I would have otherwise learned to this extent. It also got me interested in a whole new subject I never previously thought I would. This will helped me be an overall more skilled employee and be more marketable in my career. These are also tools that can help me be more efficient in the work place.
I also wanted to say that before I took this class I was dreading taking a history class. I do not generally like history. I was wrong and I genuinely enjoyed this class. It helped me see history in a different way. I also think this class really helped my stress and overall experience this semester because of how it changed due to covid. Some of my classes were unrealistic in its expectations for students this semester and were very strict when students couldn’t do what was asked. I am thankful that this class and teacher was so reasonable and understanding when it came to certain circumstances. I can now definitely see myself taking more history classes and looking deeper into the subject.
I really enjoyed reading about your reflections of the course and the specific activities you found useful. Voyant is such a versatile tool that is great for anyone who needs to analyze word frequencies! Since you are a business major, this might be really helpful for advertising, identifying target audiences, etc. I am also glad that you enjoyed the content of the course and how it has changed your views on history! If you do wish to take more history classes in the future, I recommend courses that focus on a singular subject, like how we centered the history of slavery in this course. The problem is that a lot of the big, intro courses in history (or IAH/ISS) have to stay at a very abstract level and is actually quite far from what historians actually do and study.
Thank you for all of your contributions this semester and bringing a unique perspective to this course! You should be proud of your accomplishments this semester and the new skills you acquired! I really appreciate the kind words about the course as well. I wish you the best in all of your future endeavors!