Over the last 8 ½ weeks, I have had one of the most stressful, yet inspiring experiences of my college career. On the first day of class, I felt incredibly overwhelmed with the material to be covered and the work that was to be expected. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when signing up for this course. Was it worth it? Without a doubt, it was.

The very first assignment was introduced on the first day of class, entitled the “Personal Website.” Seeing as I had never before even attempted to design much more than a simple essay on the computer, I was a bit overwhelmed. I eventually conquered the project, on the basis of creating the site itself, yet I have not yet accomplished the publication of the site. I went through four complete sites and about a dozen incomplete sites, and I still have yet to publish even one. It has been frustrating, to say the very least, but the various sites that I created and the numerous design techniques that I used in creating those sites gave me the confidence and increased ability to create the main project of the quarter, the hypertext essay.

Though I was definitely more comfortable with the Dreamweaver program by the time the hypertext essay came around, I still was uncomfortable with what I was going to base my project on. I went through a number of topics before I settled on “Living the Low-Wage Life: Prison Inmates.” Going through the first draft, I thought that I had done a fairly thorough job, but in going on to create my annotated bibliography, review of the literature and the printable version of the site, I found that my site wasn’t quite as complete as I had thought.

I found that the printable essay was much easier to write than any other in-depth essay I had ever written, considering that all of the work was pretty much already done. I didn't realize at the time, but writing the review of the literature was actually the perfect section of writing to introduce the entire essay. Previous to writing the printable essay, I had though that the review of the literature was just another one of those teacher torture devises; on the contrary, I found that it was one of the more helpful aspects of the project leading up to the final linear essay. Vice versa, I found that in writing the printable version, new issues and questions, as well as transitional issues within the hypertext were brought to my attention. I now understand why we were forced through this long and grueling process.

In continuing to revise my hypertext web site, I think I would like to better address the issues and information regarding the inmates themselves. I have yet to find information on the “lived experience” of the inmate in the prison industry. Though this is the most essential part of the project, it seems to be the least researched and commented on in the resources I have found. As it stands right now, I think that my site would provide important information for inmates, themselves, as well as an interesting opinion and outlook on the issue at hand. Though inmates, as described in my hypertext, don’t really have a choice or a stand in the issue, certain activist or business groups might find my essay intriguing and inspire them to take a stand. This is why I really want to include more information on the “lived experience,” so as to give more insight into how the inmates actually live, what they do, why should we care?

The important part of this project, though I do care about the issue and the work I have done; in all actuality, it was a learning experience. This project challenged each of us on a number of levels. First of all, we all had to conquer the program. Though, more importantly, we had to learn how to truly analyze and interpret information and think critically about how design and organization, as well as content will affect the overall project. Using the MCC General Education Initiatives definition of Critical Thinking, we successfully "responded to material by distinguishing between facts and opinions..." we also, "defin[ed], analyz[ed], and devis[ed] solutions for problems and issues..." by, "sort[ing], organiz[ing], classify[ing], correlat[ing], and analyz[ing] materials and data..." we then, "integrat[ed] [the] information." Though this is mainly in regards to the hypertext, multimedia project, the process of organizing our ideas and then putting them into a logical and meaningful sequence for the printable version will provide each of us with a new way to look at the rest of our classes and projects, throughout the rest of our college and career lives. Specifically, this type of process in completing essays and research projects can be particularly useful in English and history classes. I have always thought, “if I could only put a couple of pictures in there; if I could only let the topics flow without linear transitions; that would make this project that much more interesting.” Not only this, but the process allows for a gradual development of ideas and a more in depth level of research.

When I set my midterm goals, I felt overwhelmed and desperately behind. Looking back on it, I don’t know why I was so stressed about it. I feel as though I am fairly caught up, at this point and I think I have accomplished something truly amazing for myself in the last 8 ½; something that I never would have accomplished on my own terms. I successfully created a fourteen-page hypertext essay with over 3000 words of original writing and, on average, five internal links on every page, plus a navigation bar of seven standard links. I have about 9 external links, including links to the class homepage and the project assignment page, plus a 3100 word printable version of the site. Overall, I find it to be a great accomplishment. I can’t remember exactly what I was thinking when I filled out that midterm review sheet, but I know I wasn’t very confident. I set up a lot of goals for myself, and I have accomplished them, virtually without much conflict. I am very impressed with myself and ultimately happy that I took this class.