This process has taught me a lot about using digital tools to conduct research and present the information in various other ways that I would not have considered before. With a science background, the majority of the information gathered is typically presented in a research paper with very few visual components. However, after creating this website, I realized that visual components are really useful for certain topics. Before this class I really did not know that some of the digital tools existed (such as timeline and map builders, etc.) and I definitely would not have felt comfortable utilizing them for any type of project. Now, I would be completely comfortable using these tools for other projects.

I also learned there are so many other aspects, to any conflict, that I would not have considered before. For example, our conflict of fracking seemed very much so like a scientific/environmental issue before we started our research. Halfway through this project, Jess and I realized that we would have to completely change our approach to the topic, as it was mainly a social issue. This was the complete opposite of what we thought, but we were pleasantly surprised rather than hindered by this realization. In fact, I think learning of the different aspects of our research gave us a new motivation to learn more about the topic. We started to contact people that we would not have considered contacting before (even though we sometimes did not receive answers from them), and we looked into any and all social aspects we could think of. We found so much information about how people reacted to fracking coming into the community, as well as how fracking is perceived, that we realized our interview section was that much more essential to telling our story. Having this background in interdisciplinary research will really allow me to succeed in other parts of my life in the future. Instead of viewing research in one specific light, from now on I will be able to appreciate the other aspects of any topic. This would be beneficial for me when I am forming an opinion on something, as I am now aware of how important it is to be educated on every aspect of a topic before forming my opinion. Also, it will allow me to be respectful and appreciative of other opinions that differ from mine.

I also really enjoyed learning about all the other projects that the rest of the students worked on. There are so many different things that I did not know about, as well as didn’t understand, before starting this course. I learned so much from their websites, and many of the other students also taught me tactics for presenting the research that were incredibly helpful. For example, I would never have thought to include more visual elements into the website. This is something that is not common in scientific research, so my brain is essentially wired to write in a very scientific- to the point- type of way. It was also a learning curve to alter my writing style so that it would be useful for both the general public as well as someone who understands science very well.

Although there were many difficult aspects to this course, I really did enjoy having the freedom to research a topic that meant something to me and was directly impacting my community. There are few things I would have changed, such as the amount of time spent outside of class to conduct the research (I felt that sometimes I really was running low on free time to do so), but overall I feel this course has increased my knowledge in a field that I was interested in, as well as in a field that I did not know I needed to learn more about- social aspects of any conflict and how to best convey information to people.