Blog 9: A Change in Work Environment

A Change in my working environment has affected my production of University-related projects. I’m currently taking a university course, called DIGI 340: Digital Social Narratives. The course requires students to complete an extensive final project of which digital storytelling is the main component. For my final project, I’m undertaking the creation of a podcast series about trans-racial adoption. I’ve planned and scripted my first podcast, but have yet to record it due to extenuating circumstances. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, my University has switched to online classes, and many of the facilities (audio recording rooms) I would have used to produce my podcast are now shut down.

The environment of production for my podcast has been severely limited, which has resulted in my digital storytelling project being altered. I now need to record my podcast from home, which will affect the audio quality of my podcast. I am also unable to interview subjects for my podcast in person, which has led me to change the focus of my first podcast episode to telling my own story instead of conducting and outside interview. Although interviews can be conducted via phone, I believe that this process would further reduce the sound quality of my podcast.

Now that I will be working exclusively from home. I see how different working environments can impact the production of work. I find myself detaching and becoming removed from the school environment and the regularity of classes. I don’t have the same motivation to complete work and find myself procrastinating a lot more than when my University had regular in-person courses. I think for people that can focus in an at-home work environment, online University classes/work would allow them to get projects done quickly. For myself, once I’m out of the weekly University routine I’ve had for the past several years, my work begins to suffer.

My University moved to online classes towards the end of the semester, which allowed me to remain more on track with assignments than if it had transitioned towards the start of the semester. Because I was able to start all of my assignments in a regular school environment, moving to online classes with much of my work completed made the transition to producing work in an at-home environment much more manageable.