During my time at USC, I’ve been fortunate enough to take classes with students and professors from a large variety of cultural backgrounds. Through my coursework, I’ve benefitted from input and ideas from a diverse group of people, but it wasn’t until my beyond the classroom experience at Griffith College Dublin that I fully understood the impact diversity can have on work, particularly in my chosen field of study, journalism and public relations, and especially during the creative process.
My main source of diversity while I was abroad was my roommate, Ragnhild Skjeldnes—affectionately called “Ron”—from Lilyhammer, Norway. Ron (pictured on the far left) is also a journalism student, and I learned a lot by working with her on our course projects and getting her opinion on my work. There were many things that Ron knew from her university in Norway that USC didn’t cover, and vice versa. For example, her journalism courses had a much heavier focus on visual communications, whereas at USC we are only required to take an introductory course unless we are specifically seeking a degree in visual communication. I ended up taking visual communications while I was at Griffith, and it was very challenging for me, especially since I had no prior experience with the software we were using. I’m grateful that I was able to benefit from Ron’s input while working on my final project, a magazine spread. It was while I was working on this project that I realized how important diverse perspectives are in all fields, but especially applied to journalism. Below is a journal entry about the first time I met Ron, which better explains our relationship.
The Importance of Diversity in Collaboration
At USC, we are taught to use words sparingly and write with concision, particularly in public relations. My Public Relations Writing (JOUR 436) course taught me that quality is more important than quantity when it comes to journalism. Very simply put, the goal is to say as much as possible in as few words as possible. This is evidenced by some of my notes from the class, attached below. This style of writing has helped to curb my naturally flowery, sometimes even pedantic writing style, and I’m very appreciative of the education the journalism school has given me. My writing has come a very long way since I started college, and that is due to learning about concision, particularly in this course.
However, with such a strong focus on precision, I often find myself struggling to be creative. When it came time for me to take my visual communication class and let my creativity flow, I had a really difficult time. It wasn’t the formulaic journalism I was used to, and was especially challenging because I’d never done design work. Below is a portion of the brief I was assigned to make in preparation of our final project for visual communications, which was a magazine spread, including a cover and three pages of content. Part of my brief was to show the progression of my magazine cover. The first two pictures are where my magazine started. It’s pretty obvious that they’re a mess. The covers appear dull and lifeless. They don’t spark any interest in the content of the magazine, which is basically the job of a magazine cover.
With my academic background, I knew I wanted to keep my magazine cover on the simpler side, but I had a lot of trouble doing that in conjunction with making it interesting. It was only when I spent hours of time in the computer lab collaborating with other students, especially Ron, that I was able to represent my magazine’s style visually. I benefitted from the input of a diverse group. If I were to have done this project in another setting, I’m sure my magazine would look at least a little bit different. Below is the final draft of my magazine spread.
Fortunately, I was able to offer Ron some help too. While I struggled through visual communications, Ron had difficulty with creative writing. Ron’s first language was Norwegian, so an English-intensive course like creative writing challenged her. I was able to help her by editing her papers and talking through her ideas with her. This was where my experience with precision was able to benefit her. This give-and-take method of collaboration was the cornerstone of my academic experience at Griffith.
What my beyond the classroom experience at Griffith College Dublin showed me is how important this diversity is to collaboration and the exchange of ideas. What I brought to the table was very different from what Ron brought to the table. When we worked together and exchanged our knowledge and ideas, we both thrived and were able to create better products than if we had worked on our own. What was so special about this particular collaboration was that we were from vastly different environments. The beauty of study abroad is that a girl from a school in Columbia, South Carolina can work together in class with a girl rom Oslo, Norway, and both can benefit from the experience.