Mediated Writing-Reflection

I appreciate the fact that mediated writing is an excellent platform to bring awareness to any given issue, in addition to calling for change. The focus of this mediated writing project was based on a research topic for my organizational change class. The research topic focused on the current lack of additional resources for homeless youth, outside of the basic services already provided. Therefore, I wrote my organizational change proposal on the additional services we could create for homeless youth at risk. It was a fun opportunity for me to bring to life an academic piece of writing. In fact, this platform allowed readers to choose how much they wanted to interact with the information presented to them, through the use of links.

The mediated writing assignment was an interesting one for a number of reasons. What was gained for me as a writer was the ability to create something that succinctly highlighted the key points from my proposal. Rather than presenting a thirteen page document, my audience may have an easier time understanding the main concepts of my organizational change topic.  What was lost for me is the fact that it took a while to sift through my proposal to identify relevant information to include. There was too much information that I felt I needed to leave out, for the sake of simplicity. The use of hyperlinks was a solution that alleviated my concerns that enough information was being provided to my audience. Hyperlinks provided readers with the option to follow up for additional information on their own. I particularly liked the idea of being able to create a hyperlink for people who might be ready to jump in to make a change, in addition to providing a link for the crisis hotline page. Breaking up the text into shorter sections may also contribute to a higher level of interest for my readers. The use of pictures seemed to help make the facts presented more meaningful as well. What may be lost on my audience is the inability to ask follow up questions. I was unable to figure out a way to create a link for my audience to interact with the information presented to them, as well as the author of this mediated writing piece (me). The best I could do was post this to my class blog, which is not public. How would I go about sharing this with the general public who may not be connected to social media?

As I worked through this project, understanding of my topic shifted in a number of ways. I realized that there are many factors that go into organizational change. One factor that I had not yet considered, is what the next step looks like once an organizational change plan has been proposed. If change is to take place, it is important to communicate facts to all stakeholders that may be interested. The way that information is presented matters, therefore mediated writing may be one of the best ways to go about creating positive change within an organization.

Please check out my sway creation! My Sway (Mediated writing)