The Exploration of Helping Others
By: Zach Benson
Tags: Help, Dml, iPhone, iOS, Education

In our modern day many people rely on social media or digital media in general to learn many things. Much has changed throughout time and how information and equipment is managed and used. And many times, the information could be gathered or shared in much more efficient ways. How many times do you see people looking at news on their phones or learning off of websites such as YouTube? In this modern era where we live off learning on social media it is important that we are literate in the technology that we use. Many people own smart devices where they can learn through digital media but knowing the tools that allows you to find information quicker on the things that are being used to learn. It is very important that people know how to use the technology because of the change in technology that is constantly being created or implementing upon already existing methods and processes. Further creating a larger gap or space in order to enter the technological world. That is why our groups decided to create a session in which we teach a certain group of people how to use technology that they have.

In the beginning as a group, we struggled with what we wanted to do. All we knew about what we wanted was that we wanted to teach somebody about technology. First, we thought maybe we would teach older folks that may need it. Since they weren’t gradually eased into the technological era as younger generations have. We thought this was a great idea, because we could really just simply go to a nursing home or even Skype the employees during a time where anyone was free and either answer questions, or even go over to the facility. But as we were planning out what exactly to do, it became clear that there were several problems with what to do with the goal; teaching others and scheduling issues within the group. As we discussed the plan of attack to teach the elders, we soon realized that it may have to be more than a onetime lesson on how to navigate and use technology proficiently and efficiently. And since each group member has different schedules and commitments it was really hard to find a time where all the group members could meet up and go to the retirement home. While we also just how small the effect of our DML project would be in a broader sense of a community or use of multiple mediums. We wanted to help a broader spectrum of people other than just a select few amount of people. So instead we switched to wanting to help students around campus. Since it is a Digital Media Learning project, we have to find a way to teach, or create the opportunity for someone to learn through multiple online mediums. Although it would have been nice to try to teach the elderly how to maneuver through newer forms a communication, we also realized that it would be more difficult to organize while also only cover one form of media, unfortunately falling short of “media rich”.

After unanimously deciding, that teaching students would be much more doable and more accessible for them. We ended up looking around our space, here on the Auraria campus, and found that many students would rather prefer to see a video online rather than take time out their day to visit a session. After we needed to decide or figure out what type of technology do most students have and what would ultimately help the majority of students. Then the group set out once again in order to find out what type of phones, laptops and accessories the student body has. After conducting the survey, we concluded that a vast majority had apple products and in specific iPhone and such. The survey results were 30 iPhones to 8 “others” including android and Samsung. So, the group decided to create a humorous video in order to make the video a little more bearable. So, during the recording we had many outtakes and funny jokes and props to include in the video for the memes and joke in order to try appeal to the media a little more. As a group, lines with planned scenarios were all thought of and acted out on the spot, so all ideas were fresh and creative. In the video we decided to cover neat tricks and tips that are geared more to parts of the phone that are used in everyday use. Such as camera, video, and also how to use the phone efficiently and effectively and not waste any battery on unnecessary apps or background running apps. Through the process of trying to make it funny but also helpful we had many ideas but ultimately did the one that most of the group agreed to. If any ideas didn’t record or voice as planned, we still kept them in order to show that we all like to have a good time.

All of this said, we wanted to show a little context into the thinking of our little film. It might not look like it, but we poured all of our time into this, hoping that it cannot only make someone smile, cringe, feel anything at all, but do the goal we sought out to do in the first place, was teach someone about their device that they have. While also throwing it out onto various platforms in order to increase the exposure and what they may learn from the video and share it with someone else. Even if this video is “cringey” and somewhat funny, we did receive some compliments and critiques that really show how content creating is getting much more difficult because more and more people are starting to develop unique tastes in anything and everything making it difficult to accommodate or please the masses. Slowly but surely creating a community of average to advanced iPhone users who are able to do more on their own or even teach others. Spreading the word of Zach and creating a community who like to be up to date on new features, uses and know the specs. of the devices they have in order make use of them to the fullest.

We are sorry for your eyes but we hope you learn lots.