Reflections on Weeks 2–4 of Digital Media and Data Society
This week, I learned about the basic components of websites, including the structure and function of HTML and CSS. I gained an understanding of how websites are built and accessed through client–server architecture. By completing the Codecademy course, I developed a foundational grasp of HTML tags, web structures, and CSS styling. Although CSS selectors and cascading rules were initially confusing, I now appreciate how they shape the look and feel of a website. Working with Phoenix Code helped me see the combination of logic and creativity in web design. I look forward to learning more about responsive layouts and interactive design in the future.
This week, we explored web scraping and learned that web pages are structured data that can be extracted and analyzed. By targeting specific HTML components, I understood how data can be collected from online sources and transformed into useful information. In practice, I experimented with collecting news headlines and classifying them in a group project. I learned that while web scraping is a powerful research tool, it also raises important questions about data accuracy, permissions, and ethics. This activity helped me connect coding practices with critical thinking about data in digital environments.
This week focused on the theme of “Data, Power, and Classification.” Through the readings by Crawford (2021) and D’Ignazio & Klein (2020), I learned that data is not merely objective information but is embedded with power dynamics and value systems. Reflecting on my own experience with social media, I realized how much data I consent to share without fully understanding how it is used. Algorithms classify and shape what I see online, influencing my perception and participation. This week encouraged me to think critically about data—not as neutral facts, but as products of social, political, and ethical contexts.