We have been using many tools throughout this course, some I already knew from before like Google forms and slides, others were new to me like Slack, Zoom, Soliya and last but certainly not least WordPress.

1- Zoom

Thursday 12th of March, that was the first time I have ever used Zoom. It was still pre-quarantine world, the university hadn’t even thought of telling us to use Zoom or anything, it was just closed for the day due to bad weather, so in order not to miss our class, Dr.Maha suggested that we’d use Zoom instead.

It was still new to me, I’ve used other video conference apps like FaceTime, Houseparty, or even the facebook messenger video call, but never something like Zoom that can be used for educational purposes I guess. I didn’t even know that we’d ever use it again, just thought it would be a one time thing and that’s it but as we all know now, it was only the beginning..

Still, Zoom for me was a very useful application, it almost felt like we were in class again. Seeing Dr.Maha every class made it feel like we were still somehow all in touch, not just talking to a computer. Other professors didn’t even open the camera, which is okay still because I understand that not everyone would be comfortable to do so, but still it made it better for me somehow when I would see her. The application itself was really easy to navigate and understand, it also had a chat bar which made it easier to send links right away during class, and the idea of screen-sharing was mind-blowing for me. I never heard of it before but I loved it, it’s a very smart idea.

Actually, I didn’t use Zoom just for the university classes. I used it with some of my friends, we had Zoom outings, if you wanna call it that. So, yeah, Zoom definitely helped during this crisis and I would have to say that it was my favorite tool this semester. For future students, if you’re reading this, I hope you learn about it but don’t necessarily have to use it as your only form of communication with your class. God knows if I’ll graduate next year on a Zoom meeting or in real life, we’ll have to wait and see..

2- Slack

I have never heard of Slack before taking this course. We started using it since the beginning of the semester, this wasn’t a surprise “corona tool” like Zoom was. At first, I didn’t get the point of it, I just thought maybe the doctor didn’t want to share her number with us so we could do a normal WhatsApp group like most other courses. It’s just like any chatting application, but honestly for this type of course I realized that it was way more useful than having a WhatsApp group. I’ll tell you, the thing is with this application is that you can have a group of people and then you create like mini chat rooms, which you can name anything you want. So for example, our class had different mini chat rooms, one for assignments, one general, one for Soliya, one that’s random, one that was created specifically for our first Zoom class, and one called digital-literacies. Oh, we also had another mini chat room called class but this one was private, just for us, without the doctor, so now you know doc. This option for me made Slack way more interesting, because if we only had a WhatsApp group, sometimes you get lost and don’t find what you were looking for and everything is just in one place not in order. I would definitely recommend other professors to start using Slack with their students if the course itself has like a variety of subjects or different things. I wouldn’t use it with my friends but I would see the point of using it academically. I forgot to mention that you also have private chats with any one of your contacts of the group, so you can send the professor private messages instead of having to send an email and all of that.

3- Soliya

You can find here my full experience with Soliya but for now let’s just talk about the Portal itself. Soliya is supposed to be like an online exchange portal where you get put in a group with strangers from around the world and talk for 2 hours a week for 4 weeks (I guess the time period depends on the program, I’m not sure). Anyways, it was a website and not an application, I dont think they have an application, which is not very smart of them, because it’s 2020 already, I wanna be able to open it from my phone. The website itself was not that easy to understand at first, it’s not even modern looking. When you enter the room itself, it doesn’t look appealing also. Like for instance, Zoom was also a video conference application, but the video bubbles and the overall appearance was way better. As for the technological aspect, I always had difficulties with the portal, I dont know why. It logged me out several times during the session, and it would stop my camera out of nowhere sometimes. It also made my computer SUPER hot, like BURNING, and that wasn’t only me, I even asked Sara and she said that her laptop would get heated every time we were on it. They need to update their portal or find a new way to connect. Something else that I didn’t understand was the fact that you couldn’t control your camera. It had to be open all the time, no option of turning it off anytime you wanted like Zoom or any other video application. Overall, I wasn’t impressed.

4- Google Forms/Slides

Google is amazing, we all know that. I’ve used both Google Forms and Slides a million times before this course and I’ll keep using them. However, I learned something super fun about them. You can actually make a game on them. It was my first time hearing about that, it’s the way you can link your slides to each other so that when you press on a certain word it would take you where you should be. It was really easy to learn but it took a lot of time tho to link each slide and so on. If you haven’t checked our game yet, you really should!

5- WordPress

I have heard of it before but never really knew what it was about. I knew the concept of blogging, but I thought it was “démodé” I guess. I know that it was used a lot during the 2011 revolution. When we first started the semester and learned that we would be using this website for our assignments, I didn’t think I would love it this much. I won’t lie though, at first, it wasn’t so easy to figure out, like it was still new to me, but after a couple of times you get the gist of it. I’m even thinking of having my own blog after this course. I just hope more people would use it and the blogging-era would come back. So can I put in my insta bio “blogger” now?

So the first part of this is already done in another blogpost that you can find here.

Now’s here’s the good part. Out of the 4 options we had, I chose the tinkering path, which was basically practicing digital literacies hands-on. I love understanding and trying out new things by actually diving into them. I had to do 6 activities from an entire list of things. Here are the 6 I picked to do.

1- ComboPhoto

Use photo editing software of your choice to splice pairs of pictures into single images. Play with scale in delightful ways. 

As you can see, I loved this assignment and I’m even more in love with my outcome. Fun fact about me, I have always loved collages and photography so it was very interesting for me to try and do this. It just took the normal picture to a whole new level of art. I am actually thinking of continuing to do more collages like this one just for fun.

2- Bucket List

For this assignment you should create a collage with AT LEAST four pictures of four different things you have on your bucket list. Add text to your picture of what or where it is. 

When I saw the word bucket list those were the top 4 things that crossed my mind. I’ve always wanted to travel the world, see every country, meet new people, learn about different cultures. I’m also an adrenaline junkie so I really want to go skydiving even though I know my mom would go crazy if I do. Another thing is that I want to be fluent in spanish, I already know a bit cause I took a course in school but still I’m just a beginner. I’m already fluent in Arabic, French and English so adding Spanish doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Finally, I really want to learn how to surf. I love the sea and the water so just being in it and riding the waves has always been a dream of mine.

P.S: I used a website called BeFunky to create my collage.

3- Google Draw

Use Google’s drawing game to create art and have Google guess what it is! You will be given 6 items to draw and in under 20 seconds Google will try to answer it.

Unfortunately I didn’t get all of them right, camouflage was pretty hard to draw. It’s so cool how a computer can guess your drawing from just a few lines, sometimes I didn’t even have to finish the whole drawing. I actually have an app on my phone called Draw It, but it’s with real people. It’s pretty fun too.

4- Logo Switch Up

Use one brand’s advertisement for another brand by replacing the logo of one brand with the logo of another. Be creative and try to pick similar logos that could look correct in the advertisement if we did not already have the brand awareness!

Honestly, I think I did a pretty good job. It was a bit tricky to think of two brands that would be a bit similar in colors or that would look good together but here it is. If we had no brand awareness I would actually think that Coca Cola is a pizza place. What do you think?

5- Splash The Color

Color splash is a technique to emphasize details- you remove all color from a photo, and then restore original color to a single object.

I wanted to use a picture that I took because I love photography and I love playing around with it. Yet I chose this picture particularly for the color splash effect to emphasize something. I felt that this picture would really serve the effect and give it meaning. For me, I felt that by emphasizing the color of the lemons in the basket, it just shows that this thing right there is her work, that’s how she get money to feed her family, and that’s why it should be an important element in the picture. In addition, the color was a very nice choice because it’s already yellow so it makes the picture pop and be more vibrant. I really like editing pictures, it gives so much more meaning and that’s why I loved this task.

P.S: I used a website called Fotor to edit this picture.

6 – Switch Up the Mood

Color, lighting, saturation, contrast, and many other factors all play in to taking a decent photo and making it fabulous. This assignment is to change the mood or tone of a photograph by altering the contrast, brightness, hue, saturation, exposure, etc. You do not have to change all of those things about the photo, but you can if you would like to. Experiment. Don’t be afraid to take it to the extremes, and don’t be afraid to be subtle.

• 

• 

For this task, I’ve also used a picture that I took while walking one day before this quarantine. I loved the tree branches coming from every corner of the picture and the sky and building in the background, I just had to capture this moment. When I edited it using Photoshop, I started playing around the exposure and saturation of the picture, and here you have it, a completely different mood. The editing gave the picture so much depth in my opinion and made it have a mysterious side I guess. Editing for me is just another form of art that complements photography, I love learning more and more about it everyday.

7- Love at First Shot

Take/Find a picture of a couple who are obviously in love. Use the picture to tell a story. Give the story some background and maybe even create a dialogue between the two or tell the story from each point of view. Just give it some detail and create a background to your photo! It can be a true story or a completely made up one, just have fun with it!

Last fall, I went to the Citadel and while being there I just had to capture this moment. I know that most people go there to take pictures of the actual Citadel, which is obvious and don’t worry I took some, but I could not let that moment pass uncaptured.

Story for the picture

The women thinking to herself: It’s always been you. From the moment I saw you. I knew I wanted you in my life. I knew I wanted you to be mine. I just knew. It’s one of those things you feel. One of those things you just know.

The man thinkings to himself: No matter how strong you are. You’re still going to need someone to be yourself with. Someone to talk to. Someone to share your secrets with. Someone to love. To hold. To comfort you when you feel broken. Don’t ever think you’re too strong to be vulnerable with someone. Don’t ever think you’re meant to be alone. It’s okay to fall in love. It’s okay to put your guard down sometimes.

The words used are from a poet I really love called R.M.Drake. I just felt that they really caption both of the character’s personalities in the picture.

This assignment was supposed to be made of only 6 tasks but I got a bit carried away because I just loved it and enjoyed every minute of it.

References for the pictures used in the Bucket List collage: 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spanish_Presidential_Flag.svg

https://pixabay.com/photos/surfing-surfer-surf-surfboard-1208255/

https://www.pikrepo.com/fgaim/two-people-skydivin

https://www.wallpaperflare.com/travel-the-world-travel-the-world-scrabble-letters-words-wooden-wallpaper-zhlln

I remember the day my professor told us about Soliya. It seems so long ago with everything going on these days. When I understood what it was, I was super excited. I have always loved meeting and talking to new people from different cultures and background than mine. I felt like it was going to be a very nice experience and that I would even get out of it with new friendships. If you know me, you know that I am a very outgoing person, so I wasn’t worried at all. I don’t know why but I had set my expectations really high for this program.

Starting off our 4 week journey, my first session was on a Tuesday from 1 to 3 pm. Unfortunately, I had some connection issues so I logged in an hour late. As soon as I opened the session, I saw 8 women in front of me, to my coincidence, one of them was actually my friend Sara from class. I didn’t really understand what was going on at first. I quickly understood that we had 2 facilitators and the rest were participants like me from different colleges from around the world. 2 girls from Lebanon, 2 girls from Italy and one from USA and then there was Sara and me from Egypt. I still don’t know where the facilitators where from though.

My first session was a bit disappointing. It didn’t meet my expectations at all. With all that is going on, I thought we would be having an actual conversation about what was happening and how each one of us is living through it in their own country. It would have been a great bonding session. But we didn’t, instead the facilitators asked us very vague questions about online communication and I wasn’t as interested as I thought I would be. Even the way it was structured was very different than any online class or discussion I had. We had to take turns in our conversation, I don’t know it didn’t feel smooth at all. Sometimes even very awkward and there would be a couple of moments of silence, without anyone saying anything.

In another session, we started to feel a bit more comfortable and the conversation was more interesting so it was more enjoyable. We also did breakout rooms to have a conversation privately beside the group discussion, that was nice.

Unfortunately, I missed the other sessions because of internet problems so we had other alternatives offered by our professor that we also revolving around online communication and dialogue.

The first one was a Zoom discussion about wellbeing in times of COVID-19. It was with different people from around the world with our professor. I really enjoyed it. Even if I didn’t really talk but I was participating in the chat and everyone was so friendly. We all talked about different things and how we felt and I honestly didn’t feel awkward at all. The hour went by very smoothly, the topic was very interesting and we didn’t even need navigation. They didn’t even feel like strangers in a way, it was fascinating to talk about something common and happening to all of us at the same moment of time while being miles apart.

Finally, my last online discussion was also a Zoom discussion, this time about caring for students. It was a bigger group than the previous one but it was also very enjoyable. It was nice to hear professors talking about different ways and techniques they tried to use to show students that they care about them during these difficult times and through this online transition. The chat was also very nice for everyone to participate, and it was interesting to hear the point of view of students like me and tell the professors what we think.

To conclude, I think that this Soliya and the other online discussions came at a very right time in my life. Having talked to different people from around the world and seeing them through my laptop screen while being quarantined at home and having no human interactions at all, felt nice for a while. Technology really is great sometimes.

After trying endless times to agree on something, Omar and I have finally decided to do our digital narrative game on social distancing during this Covid-19 situation. We both felt that it’s very relatable and can be really challenging sometimes so might as well turn it into a game.

So, the game will be sort of a series of hard situations where each player has to pick a choice that has consequences. Actually, Omar and I have both been put in difficult situations lately due to social distancing. For example, the father of Omar’s friend passed away a week before quarantine started. You can imagine how it was very difficult to deal with such a thing during this period of time. He still felt obligated to be a good friend and be there for the guy by going to visit him however at the same time he tried to keep a social distance between him and his friends when they were at his house.

As for myself, one day right before quarantine started, I met a family friend, keep in mind that I was already trying to keep a social distance between me and everyone else, going out with hand sanitizers and everything, and he insisted to come say hi, shook hands and hugged me. The thing is I did not want to because of what’s happening and I assumed that most people will be doing the same but apparently he didn’t think it was a big deal. So when I was in this situation I had 2 choices: be rude and not shake hands with him even though he already put his hand out for me to shake, or just shake hands and risk being sick.

Social distancing and trying to be safe can sometimes be very challenging and some might even take it as rude in some cases. If you have a business meeting and your boss is still not convinced that we should stop shaking hands, what will you do? For me, I have an engagement soon so will I go and risk being around people or stay home and try to be safe but risk upsetting my friend for missing his engagement? I still don’t know.

1. Spent

This online game was designed to make players aware of how easy it is to become homeless. The game challenges players to “make it through” one month of life. You have no job, no home, and your savings are basically gone.

It was created by a partnership between the Urban Ministries of Durham and the advertising firm McKinney. Being an IMC major myself, I loved the initiative as soon as I found out about it from class. The motivation behind it is to raise awareness about unemployment, homelessness, and the need for social services.

I usually love digital narrative games, I even have one called “Episodes” on my phone. So obviously I was really excited to try this one out, little did I know it would have such an big impact on me. I knew that I would be put in difficult situations throughout the game but I did not realize it would feel this real.

So let me take you through my choices in the game. All of a sudden I had to pick between 3 jobs all of which are low income. Having the choice between being a waitress, an office temp and a warehouse associate, I picked the first one.

The first time I played it, I ended up losing all my money in the first half of the month, I did not really think about my choices and was spending way too much. Then I decided to really take care and think about every decision I take and guess what, I ended the month with 469$! Don’t get too excited Roni, you have to pay rent tomorrow and you don’t have enough to cover it.

Honestly, I tried to have some morals during the game choices. For example, one question was about someone dropping 10$ on the ground and I had the choice between giving it back to them or taking it for myself. I am not gonna lie, it was hard. If I really had no money, I would obviously need any money I could find, and this fell from someone else’s pocket on the floor, I basically did not “take it” from them right? So, does this really count as stealing if I just take it? In the end, I decided to give it back to them. I thought to myself, I have to let it be as real as possible and deep down I believe that if I do good to others, it will eventually come back to me, even tho this did not happen in the game obviously but still. I really did answer as honestly as I could, I put rules to myself in the game, if its necessary I’ll try as much as I could to get it done. My kid’s education was a top priority for me in the game, because that’s what I think really matters. While playing this game I thought about my parents and how they sometimes sacrifice things for my happiness and honestly it felt really hard being put in poor person’s shoes.

2. BBC Syrian Refugees

I was not that excited about this game as the one before, I don’t know why. Maybe the format of the game was not that capturing for me. I did not feel attached or emerged in the game as I did in “Spent”. However, I still played the game. I tried it twice and both times I failed in reaching Europe.

• 

• 

However, I learned more about the struggles of being a refugee, and I think this applies to any nationality not only Syrian like in the game. It’s a really difficult position to be put in, all of a sudden having to leave everything behind and leave. In this game, you could try again as many times as you wanted if you failed, but in life, you only have one shot, one opportunity (yes, I started rapping Lose Yourself by Eminem) and you either succeed or lose everything, sometimes your life.

3. Bad News

This game is really interesting, specially right now with everything going on in the world. I liked playing the game and seeing what would increase my number of followers, etc. This game is really accurate, people online try to appeal to other people’s emotions sometimes just to get a reaction or a trend. A lot of influencers use clickbait nowadays just to get likes, shares and followers. Unfortunately, in a country like Egypt, most people are uneducated so they can easily believe anything they see online. It was a fun experience to try.

4. Responsible Partying Game

The topics present in this game are VERY important but alas the game format is extremely boring. It could have been done in a much interactive format. However, it felt like some people could learn a thing or two from it regarding sexual consent. Some guys unfortunately still don’t get it when someone says no. I relate to the scenario in the game because I’ve went to a lot of parties and been put in a situation where a stranger has come offered me a drink but I refused and I felt like that they took it in a bad way when they shouldn’t have. People, specially girls, need to take care at parties. It’s sad seeing a lot of young adults nowadays get drunk every weekend and recklessly drive home. In fact, last summer a friend of my friends passed away in Sahel due to drunk driving.

5. Sleep-Deprived Mom Game

This game felt really stressful because I can’t imagine how moms handle everything sometimes. I am just a student and a feel sleep deprived most of the time, so being also put in the position of handling another person and balancing between work and life sounds like an impossible job. I don’t know what the 10/14 mean anyways but I sure did not do a good job in that game. The choices were very hard and you had to sacrifice something either way.

6. Know Yourself

The title did not really prepare me for the questions, I thought the game was about something else but after all it was still nice. I have this problem of always jumping to conclusions, but lately I’ve been trying to change that. Even in the game, after assuming in the first question that my “boyfriend” was bored when all along he was preparing me a surprise, I felt really bad and tried to take a moment and think before taking any action in the questions. It’s a good chance for people to notice that they prejudge people sometimes.

So, apparently you can overcome the corona virus just by washing your hands. The World Health Organization said that hands should be scrubbed for at least 20 seconds, the time it takes to sing the ‘Happy Birthday’ song twice, to ensure germs won’t be transferred to objects or spread from person to person. Of course the whole word is making fun of this statement because of how obvious it is, but Egypt is on a whole other level. The meme about not washing their hands after peeing made me laugh so hard because to be honest it really is true. I bet you that most Egyptians don’t even wash their hands after peeing so let alone wash it while singing happy birthday twice. This morning, Tom Hanks announced that he’s corona positive so the second meme is also making fun of the fact that washing hands will not do anything, as if Tom Hanks didn’t wash his. I love that Egyptians can find humor in literally anything but I still hope that they follow through and at least learn to wash their hands from now on, after peeing and for corona..