Caitlin Rodriguez

Hi, I’m Caitlin! I’m 21, from El Paso, TX and I’m a senior journalism major, sociology minor. I’m taking this course to fulfill my degree requirement but I decided to take web pub instead of media design because I think that knowing the basics of coding would be beneficial to me as a journalist. With the future of journalism becoming much more electronically based, having the skill set to design a platform for my own work is very relevant.

In addition to understanding good storytelling techniques and having a strong writing background, being able to hand-code a website, whether it be for myself or a publication I might be working for will only add to my mass comm experience.

I’m hoping to learn not only basic coding skills but also design elements, that will help me create not only a functional website, but an aesthetically pleasing one as well.

One of my favorite websites to visit is called Everyday Feminism. They’re an online magazine that tackles many of the different intersections of feminism including gender, race, body, class, violence, sex, relationships, and parenting. The articles are usually lengthy but laid out in such a way with headings and paragraphs that break up the article into manageable chunks. The writing style is more casual than hard news as they are written in more of a blog format and dissect complicated issues in a way that makes it easily understandable. I usually read at least one article from them a day and  especially like how their writers keep up with current media trends to provide content that is constantly engaging, educational, and relevant.