In this week’s lecture, our guest speaker showed us the abilities of google analytics and ad settings. Through your google search results, Google is able to make correct assumptions regarding your interests as well as facts about you. I was surprised to find that they correctly guessed my age range, relationship status, and online habits. It’s both fascinating and frightening that my computer knows so much about who I am as a person.
Additionally, we learned about the capabilities of google analytics for industry experts who use the information to analyze website statistics (such as ad dollar per post, most frequently visited web pages, etc.) I doubt that I will ever use even half of the functions that google analytics offers, but I really enjoyed learning about how marketing analytics can be used to track website usage. If I decide to change my career path and pursue Marketing instead of Accounting, I will definitely look into the many certifications that google analytics offers. I think that it would also be helpful to gain certification in Hootsuite for those who are looking into pursuing Marketing.
Happy (almost) Halloween! Loved the festive decor at Black Mill Tea. When in Richmond, you’ll always find yourself stumbling upon new bubble tea places. Black Mill Tea recently opened in September and I finally made the courage to try something new. Are y’all still on that brown sugar hype? Because I am! Especially when I’m trying a new bubble tea place. In my opinion, it was quite average and was quite creamy with the milk compared to other brown sugar drinks I’ve had before. Most of the flavour came from the brown sugar and the pearls which made it just your standard brown sugar drink. The experience was overall average but I’m not opposed to coming back to try their other drinks!
Halloween is just around the corner and so is the start of a new month. Honestly the scariest thing that someone could tell me is that they are going to start the new month off with the same old thoughts. Take this Halloween as a fresh start, let go of the things that you have been holding on to this month and start again.
An absolute must-do in London is afternoon tea and there is a plethora of options at different budgets. After a bunch of research and saving up money, we decided on Claridge’s London, a five-star hotel in Mayfair. Mayfair is an upscale area to the east of Hyde Park full of high-end restaurants, shops, and hotels. It is within walking distance of Oxford Street, a boulevard lined with high-street shops.
Claridge’s is located on Brook Street and the nearest tube station is Bond Street which hosts the Central line so it is easily accessible to anyone taking the tube. The afternoon tea is in a restaurant called The Foyer and Reading Room which is in your direct line of sight as you walk into the lobby. We booked our time three months in advance, and if you’re looking to have afternoon tea here, I recommend that you do the same. The earliest you can make a reservation is 90-days but don’t delay. Two months before our trip I was checking the reservations and they were all booked.
There is no dress code being enforced unlike other luxury afternoon teas, but smart casual is recommended and that is what everyone will be wearing.
The Foyer had a white coffered ceiling and gold mirrors that lined the walls, reflecting light everywhere. Attached to the ceiling like a chandelier is a shining glass sculpture, immediately drawing your attention. A host greeted us at the entry-way and lead us to our table. There was live pianist and violinist playing dulcet melodies and the harmonic notes just floated through the room. The servers donned with sophisticated white jackets and bow ties.
The afternoon tea menu was presented to us as a dainty little hardcover book that included not just the food and tea selection, but interesting little backstories and facts about Claridge’s and afternoon tea. The menu also had adorable professional-looking doodles of their teacups and teapots. The tea selection had a variety of teas and described the history and the notes of each specific blend.
Our server was lovely and explained all of the options for drinks (other than tea, of course). The options included are a Laurent-Perrier La Cuvée Brut, Laurent-Perrier Rosé, and for anyone who doesn’t drink alcohol but classily drinking out a wine glass, jus de raisin pétillant. I went for the champagne and my mom went for the non-alcoholic grape juice.
The Foyer and Reading Room
The first tea I chose was Claridge’s Blend as it was recommended by our server. It was like an English Breakfast but malty-er. I tend to take black teas with milk because I think it rounds out all of the flavours. Even though it was suggested that I drink it black, I enjoyed it with a splash of milk. On the table, there was a small metal box that contained sugar cubes, sweetener, and brown sugar for the teas.
The first of the courses was the sandwiches which included: smoked salmon, coronation chicken, egg mayonnaise, cucumber, ham, and the chef’s seasonal’s savoury. Anything that you particularly enjoy you can get more of free of charge. We really liked the cucumber, the seasonal savoury, egg mayonaisse, and the smoked salmon so order an extra of each sandwich. It was delicious but a huge mistake because we were too full to finish our pastries. So think twice before ordering more sandwiches or scones.
Tea Sandwiches
Claridge's Blend
The next course was the scones and there were two flavours that were presented to us: raisin and plain. They were served with Cornish clotted cream and Marco Polo gelée. Marco Polo gelée is a jelly created by the gourmet french tea company Mariage Frères. This gelée is exquisite and unlike anything I’ve tasted. It is fruit pectin and a tea infusion sweetened with cane sugar, cooked over a bain-marie. It tastes of fragrant tea without the bitterness when paired with clotted cream, is heavenly. It is available to purchase in Selfridges London or Covent Garden OR if you are stopping in Paris, there are various stores spread across the city. You can find locations here.
Before we had our scones I decided to choose a different tea. This time I chose Rare Earl Grey. Earl grey is my favourite tea and this one had a strong bergamot flavour with a hint of citrus. I enjoyed this tea more than the Claridge’s Blend, probably because I’m biased to earl grey. The scones were served warm and were so buttery and fluffy. This was my favourite part of the afternoon tea as the scone, cream, and gelée worked together harmoniously to create bursts of rich and smooth flavour.
The last course was the most exciting one: the pastries. I’m going to be honest, I can’t remember all of the flavours but I’ll do my best to describe it. It featured four desserts: Hazelnut Paris-Brest, a chocolate-y hazelnut-y cake, a macaron (if I remember correctly, it was passion fruit), and a tartelette with meringue (I think it was of the citrus variety. The hazelnut Paris-brest stood out to me the most. The choux pastry had a lovely crunch in contrast to the creaminess of the praline. The sides were decorated with hazelnuts that added a different texture and an extra nutty flavour.
The chocolate-y cake thing was so smooth and the textures also worked really well together. However, it was a little sweet for my taste but it had an intense, chocolate flavour. It was indulgent and a good portion for something so rich.
At this point, we were way too full to finish the other two pastries so we actually got them packed to go. But the desserts themselves were also quite good. The macaron was like a classic French macaron, hard outer shell and gooey on the inside. It was as sweet as I expected it to be, much like a classic macaron. There was a tartness in the filling to offset the sweetness of the shell.
The tartelette had a crisp, thin, and buttery base with a citrus filling. It was topped with a torched meringue and a decorative piece. The colours were unified and worked well together. This was second pick for me because I have a soft spot for tartelettes and pies. The pastry base was delicious and it is something London in general does so well. The dessert was balanced, delightful, and an overall great end to the evening.
The scones were so good that we had to take some back to our flat. Our server brought us our leftover pastries and extra scones in an elegant box with a couple of chocolate mints.
This was an incredible experience that I would love to do again. The service was incredible and the food was high-quality. The atmosphere of the Foyer was grand and elegant. It made us feel like we were posh Londoners. Was it expensive? Yes. Would I do it again? Absolutely. This is my place of choice when it comes to a celebratory event or even just to spurge on something nice for yourself. This is probably the favourite thing I did in London and I hope you choose to experience it as well.
So for a few weeks, I’ve been on a Japanese music-spree and honestly I have no idea what they mean, they just sound nice and I like the melody and rhythm. But yeah here’s a music dump
“I may suggest making the font size of the text in the menu and side-bar slightly bigger”
After reading Moods & Mixtapes review of my design choices, I decided to implement some changes, Small but important changes. I increased the size of the font on the side-bar, I love this suggestion. Everything seems clearer, easy to read, easier to access
On day three, we got up bright and early to head to the St. Paul’s Cathedral. The cathedral was massive, and was even more grand than Westminster Abbey. The architecture is stunning and it is my favourite structure in London, maybe even Europe. The intricacies in the stone could make me stand there forever, memorizing every detail. Inside the cathedral makes you feel tiny, my heart felt like it was being pulled down into the black and white tile floor (But in a good way). The statues are beautiful and each tells you another story. When you look up at the dome you can see the stunning painting of columns stretching up to the top. The spandrels under the dome had mosaics of the prophets but they weren’t just any mosaics. They sparkled up they and highlighted the other monochrome paintings.
You could walk up a WHOLE LOT of stairs (my legs were still sore from the stairs of The Monument) to the three levels of the dome: The Whispering Gallery (257 steps), Stone Gallery (376 steps), and the Golden Gallery (528 steps). The Golden Gallery offered a panoramic view of London which was obviously stunning.
After our visit to St. Paul’s Cathedral, you walked across the Millennium bridge. From the bridge, you can get an excellent photograph of the Cathedral. The Millennium Bridge is a pedestrian bridge takes you across the River Thames from the Cathedral to the Tate Modern.
View of St. Paul’s Cathedral from Millennium Bridge
We returned to Borough Market for lunch and the delicious details are available in the London Food Guide here.
From the Millennium Bridge we found our way to London Bridge City. It is the area that has a lot of business skyscrapers and city hall. The City Hall is an interesting building that to me, looks like a cross between a rolled up armadillo and a wood bug. You can visit inside the building on weekdays but we decided not to. The reason we visited London Bridge City is the view of the Thames. In my opinion, this is where you can get the best photo of Tower Bridge
There is a walkway down the Thames and you can get pictures of different city views like the Walkie-Talkie building, the Gherkin, and of course the Tower Bridge. If you try to sit on the ledge, someone might tell you to get down so take your photo fast. We actually took the walkway to a stairway that takes you onto the bridge. My word, was it crowded. Many people pushing past each-other and an extremely long queue to go into the Tower Bridge museum (which we opted not to visit). On the other side of the bridge is the Tower of London a historical castle that doubles as a museum.
The Tower of London is one of my favourite museums because every aspect is interesting, from stories of executions, torture, and missing children. If you are interested in more morbid or medieval stuff, I think you would also have a good time there. My mom enjoyed the torture devices and the execution sites less than I did. If you are like my mom, fear not, there is till something in the Tower of London for you.
The Tower of London is also the home to the Crown Jewels, some of which are still in use by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in ceremonies. They are gorgeous pieces of art that are just mesmerizing to look at. The Crown Jewels include tiaras, spoons, plate, swords, orbs and a whole bunch of other sparkly items. There will definitely be a queue when you go because of security checks and the sheer number of people who visit this exhibit so plan around 45-60 minutes just for the Crown Jewels.
I would recommend that you plan 2-3 hours for the Tower of London, depending on how fast you walk and read.
The Tower Pier is near the Tower of London and you can take a number of Thames cruises to get some excellent photos of the riverside. We decided to take the Thames River Boat Cruise from Tower pier to Westminster pier and back again. There are four stops total for the cruise, Westminster pier, London Eye pier, Tower pier, and Greenwich pier. You have to option of going on the deck (if you want photos, I would recommend) but it is ridiculously cold out there so make sure you bundle up. For the majority of the cruise, it was a relaxing hour as we sat inside and ate our Bread Ahead Doughnuts (which are the best doughnuts ever. Full review available here.)
London Bridge City
Coca-Cola London Eye/London Eye Pier
As we disembarked the vessel we were starting to get hungry so our last stop of the day was dinner and Emilia’s Crafted Pasta who makes fresh pasta in-house and delicious sauces that match the noodle shape. Emilia’s Crafted Pasta is available in the London Food Guide here.
Mmm we love a good healthy bowl! It’s nice to eat foods that don’t make you feel super gross afterwards every so often to balance out all the bubble tea and dessert I’m usually getting. I really enjoy the mixture of greens and the sauces they added to it to make the bowl really flavourful so you don’t feel like you’re just eating grass or something. Wish we had this kind of stuff in Richmond though so I could be here all the time.
In the world of democracy freedom of speech is a prominent feature that gives people the right to express themselves and form an opinion, which many individuals exercise on a fast-growing platform – social media. Social media is not just being used as a means to communicate with one another but is a shift towards influencing individuals. It holds greater power when acted upon as it can unite diverse communities. Even though social media “provides citizens with opportunities to express themselves” there is still the concept of hierarchy of authority present regardless of living in a democratic society (De Zuniga et al., 2018). This paper will argue that regardless of freedom of speech, voices still get suppressed if they do not conform to certain standards set by social media. We will discuss the influence of social media in today’s world by looking at the involvement of social media platforms in international relations.
As the world continues to
grow economically, politically and socially the rapid adoption of technology
affects how we “access information from the news” and can further “demand
political change” (Ortiz-Ospina, 2019). The transition of receiving news on
paper to digital journalism has increased immensely over the years. According
to the Pew Research Center, approximately 91% of individuals living in 11
nations use a smartphone and social media in conjunction (Silver and Huang,
2019). These statistics indicate a sense of inclusivity within the
international community regardless of different views, however popular
platforms control who is allowed to project their voice and what they can say.
As social media acts as a mediator between individuals and their understanding
of international events. Twitter and Facebook determine who is permitted to
speak to the president of the United States of America and hold the right to suspend
an account if fails to conform to corporate beliefs.
For example, the revocation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir which provided the region with autonomy. Allowing Indian-occupied Kashmir with a separate constitution and flag except in the matter of “finance, defence, foreign affairs, and communications” (Aljazeera.com, 2019). The decision by Prime Minister Narendra Modi rattled situations in Pakistan and efforts to internationalize the situation became crucial. Henceforth, Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter were heavily used by people to propagandize the tense situation in India and Pakistan. For India, according to the company’s guidelines moderators were instructed to look closely for the slogan “Free Kashmir” (Leetaru, 2019). International media platforms like Aljazeera and BBC were accused of spreading ‘fake news’ such as unrelated protests videos to represent current situations in Kashmir. Foreign meddling and misinformation can result in a lack of transparency but has the potential to further corrupt a democracy which is evident in the case of India after the abrogation of Article 370.
In terms of hierarchy of authority, the relationship between elected officials and online platforms is evident in the case of the United States. Recently the general manager, Daryl Morey of Houston Rockets in NBA posted a tweet that supported the pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong. Soon after the NBA was seen kowtowing to China, which got American citizens furious. The backlash received by China resulted in the cancelation of events, taking down signage, two major Chinese retailers pulling off NBA merchandise from their website and no pre-season games to be broadcasted in China (Roy-Choudhury, 2019). It is important to notice that it is not just NBA but companies like Tiffany, Nike, Apple, Versace, and even Delta Airlines have apologized to the communist regime. These companies are not obligated however the power that China holds as the largest economy results in this behaviour by companies as it will incur a cost of one billion Chinese customers. As seen in this contentious example it is evident that China used their economic power over the United States, even though Daryl Morey was exercising his freedom of expression on an online platform it was a powerful incentive for the American citizens to act on American soil.
The impact of social media
on democracy is that it tends to amplify human intention which can be in terms
of the hierarchy in authority as seen in the example of NBA versus China. As a
community we are a democracy, however considering unlimited power of companies,
elected officials in conjunction with social media acts like any authoritarian
regime. The fact that voices are constantly suppressed on social media if they
fail to conform to corporate or majority belief makes it similar to Chinese
censorship laws. Dissemination of public information and freedom of speech are
just an outer layer but in reality, is a disguised version of autocracy.
I finally got to try Xing Fu Tang because they opened a Richmond location at T&T! Honestly I wasn’t going to go because I thought it was going to be super busy but it wasn’t too bad of a wait. (Waited about 20 mins) I really enjoyed their pearls since it was soft but still chewy and sweet but still flavourful! The Brown Sugar Pearl Milk has more of a thicker milk flavour while the Brown Sugar Pearl Milk Tea has more of a coffee taste to it. But between the both, we preferred the Pearl Milk more than the Milk Tea. I think it’s worth a try!
My most recent stranger encounter(s) have mostly been, oddly enough, on the skytrain to and from work. I’m not going to count the numerous times I’m out downtown on a weekend and my friends and I will somehow end up in a bizarre conversation with some of the less desirables of the city.
The most interesting one I had was a couple months ago, when I was just minding my own business playing a game on my phone. All of a sudden, a middle aged man leaned over and commented how the graphics were amazing. I have an iPhone XS Max, so in reality, anything on it would look good. I looked back at him and told him that it was the most current iPhone model, and that due to how expensive it was, I would expect it to look nice, as a joke of course. He then proceeded to show his phone, and it was the Samsung S10, which was a very good phone too. We had a little conversation about technology, specifically about Apple versus Android.
Once the technology conversation slowed down a bit, he asked where I was headed too. Assuming it was just harmless small talk, I continued the conversation, saying that I was headed to work. He said that he too was on his way to work, and all of a sudden, started to go on a rant about how hard it was to be a business owner. Being curious, I asked what his “business” was, in which he quite figuratively and literally, danced around the question like he was auditioning for Dancing with the stars. I commended him for his effort, and asked him for the name of his business. He told me it was “World Financial Group”.
The moment I heard the name of this company, I knew something was not right. He then proceeds to ask me what I do for a living. I reply by telling him that I work at CIBC under financial services, which is also a very broad answer seeing as I would obviously work in this department because it’s a bank. He tries to poach more details from me but I don’t say much. I reply with the typical Beedie kid reply of “Let’s just connect on Linkedin”, which we do.
When I get in to work, the first thing I look up is “World Financial Group Vancouver” on Google. Long behold, multiple reddit posts surface berating this company. Here is one in particular:
A reddit post warning us about “World Financial Group”
It seemed clear that the obvious answer was to ghost this individual. However, when he called me a couple days later to book an interview with me, I gave into the temptation and kindly told him to F*** off and that what he was doing was unethical. He started to question my intelligence saying that I rely solely on what people saying on the internet, which I found funny as he was trying so desperately to defend his pyramid scheme.
How it differed from online interactions:
Online interactions are never as real. As much as I hated this experience, it was still real. I always valued that more than online interactions as I genuinely dislike how everything is so centralized on the internet nowadays, even as a millennial. I feel as though a lot of online interactions are simply fake.
I’ve “slid into those DMs” before, and I’ve gotten to know someone very well via this method of communication countless times. But every time I meet them in person for the first time, they’re always a little different. I attribute this to the fact that the conversation(s) we’ve had were not real. Yes, we may be texting, but generally speaking it’s not the same. This is why I much rather meet someone in person first, get to know them, then continue to communicate on the online world.
I mean, nowadays, we have dating apps like Tinder and Bumble, which is crazy to think about sometimes because if these are “dating apps”, then why are we trying to manufacture something that is real with something that isn’t real.
With that being said, I believe that the way the world is going, online interactions will only continue to diminish the need for real, face to face, human contact and interactions.
Process Post Week #2
The installation and setup work was quite difficult for me. I had to go on YouTube to look up a tutorial on WordPress. I’ve never made a website before, so I was completely in the dark. After the first couple of videos I watched, I was able to find a theme I could work off of. I wanted a modern touch to my website, but also a simplistic one too. For my home page, I decided to put a video of Apex Legends, one of my favorite video games, in the backdrop because right away, people can distinguish what my website would be about, a video game centralized website, the theme I decided upon from my vision board. I’ve even put the “learn more” button under it so that if people are confused, they can be immediately redirected to my about page to learn what my vision board for the website is. As for the other pages, I’ve added some basic photos that are geared towards video games, such as an Xbox controller, to further add to the theme. In the coming weeks, I’ll add more to further enhance the theme on my website.
Process Post Week #3
After reading “How I Got My
Attention Back” by Craig Mod, I found that I resonated the most with Mod’s use
of his cellphone for gaming the most. I am an avid gamer, both at home and
outside, especially since I commute so much to work and school. Mod
specifically mentions Clash of Clans and how he was fully hooked and that he
had to put time and dedication in. This is the same for the games I play too,
such as Motorsport Manager, where I overlook a racing team as they progress
through the ranks. Similar to Clash of Clans, the game requires a lot of
dedication. This time could probably be better used, hence why I now opt to
read the daily newspaper on the sky train to work.
Personally, I have appeared offline
from social media in shorts stints already in the past few months. More
specifically, I don’t delete my accounts, but I simply delete the apps from my
phone. The reason I’ve done this from time to time is because I sometimes feel
insecure seeing the lifestyle of my peers and celebrities. I have a lot of
friends on social media, and so I see a lot of stories and posts. It’s often
things like travelling, partying or couples doing stuff together that I see.
Sometimes, seeing all of that just makes me feel like I’m not doing much with
my life. So, I just delete my social media and stay away from it for a while,
until I’m ready to come back. I’ve done fine without it, as usually my social
media purging stints will last about 2-3 weeks. I survive just fine because I
still watch Youtube videos and play video games. Additionally, real life
interactions help too because they feel more genuine. One thing I’m surprised
Mod didn’t mention was how a lot of people tend to put a front on their social
medias, pretending to portray themselves as someone they aren’t. This is
another detail that makes me appreciate social media less nowadays, as more and
more people do this, and it quite honestly is rather annoying. I recently just
deleted my social media apps again, maybe this time, I can push it to a month
of being offline.
The way I decided to map out my
website was to split the PUB 101 assignments up. One section will contain my weekly
work, which includes the process prompts and blogs. Another section will
include my assignments, both main and mini, such as my essays and the meme from
week 2. Lastly, I will have a section devoted to peer reviews so that my peers
can more easily access this area to see the constructive feedback I’ve given. Below,
I’ve posted a screenshot of the overlay of my website. I’ve decided to go with YouTube
as my main avenue of marketing my website because I have the biggest outreach
there. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are important, but I would utilize
Facebook as a page where I post whenever I have a new blog or video, Instagram
would be used for a personal basis and I would post a story whenever a new blog
or video was up, and Twitter would be the same but I would interact with fans
more on here via tweets. I have a YouTube channel set up already from a couple
of years back where I posted some gameplay commentary. In my ideal world, I would
have my YouTube channel be more of a general gaming channel, like “Drift0r”,
where I may focus on one game or two during its initial release but will also
broaden out to other topics in the gaming world. I would then put my website in
the description and promote it, mentioning that if my fans want to see my
blogs, they can feel free to do so in addition to watching my videos. Below is
a link to my YouTube channel.
www.youtube.com/Allboutzkovy
Process post Week #5 – Website& Mauve Page
The website I will talk about is
Reddit. I recently started to use Reddit a few months ago, and it has become
one of my most used sites.
What worked for me on this site is
the fact that the interface is very simple, especially on Mobile. This makes it
far easier to find sub Reddits to join and follow to have discussions, unlike Facebook
pages where there can be many of the same pages, especially buy and sell groups
or TV shows. Being very much into video games, I follow many sub reddits for
the games which I play, so it’s crucial to be able to easily find just one big
discussion group as opposed to seeing a few of the same groups clumped together
and figuring out which one to actually join. Secondly, I especially like how I
have my regular feed for the sub Reddits I follow, and can toggle to the
popular feed with a simple swipe to explore posts from other sub Reddits too. I
don’t use Reddit on the computer, because I feel that on the computer, Reddit
looks rather cluttered. I’ll touch more on this later. Lastly, I like the
anonymity aspect of Reddit. The design of the website makes you feel a lot
safer because you can be a lot more anonymous than on most other sites by not
having to put personal information up. For other sites like Facebook, you would
have to because it is a social media platform one uses to communicate with
others. Reddit almost sites on the forum of social media, because it can
browsed through just like Facebook, and is also a discussion forum, which I
feel compliments each other very well in terms of its design because it gives
the user the choice of being more open or anonymous, although most people are
anonymous.
The Reddit mobile feedThe Reddit messages feed, which looks a bit too plain and simple
What doesn’t work for me is Reddit
on the computer, as previously mentioned. It seems cluttered and I generally
don’t like the experience when browsing on a computer because everything seems
to be out of place and it’s easier for me to miss something, I may find
interesting. Additionally, the direct messaging feature isn’t that great
either. The interface feels a bit outdated and it’s generally a bit of a hassle
to access your inbox. It’s a minor tweak, but I feel that it could go a long
way. I feel it’s like this because Reddit is not a platform for direct
messaging, but this way, it takes quite a bit longer for me to share something
with a friend if I want to send them a link to a post, for example. Lastly,
they should add a tagging feature, just like on every other social media
platform out there. As for now, you can only do this by downloading an external
add on for your desktop. These are just some minor design details, but I feel the
implementation of them could help greatly boost the usability of Reddit in
general for its users.
Reddit on the computer, although not the worst, seems a little harder to navigate as opposed to browsing on mobile
As for my personal website design, our
guest speaker, Mauve Page, got me to really think about a few factors when
looking at my website. These include balance, rhythm, proportion, contrast and
unity. I’ve since went back to my own website to see if there is a good balance
going on, which I think there is as I haven’t cluttered my website. Rhythm is
an ongoing thing and I hope to maintain it throughout the semester. Proportions
are something I may need to touch up on, such as playing with my fonts, although
I like what I currently have. I think the contrast on my home page is the best
out of all my pages, because the way the font is and how the video in the
background is integrated highlights my website title really well. Lastly, as
for unity, I’m still trying to figure out how to make each page somewhat
identical to have an overall constant theme. As of now, my home page, about and
contact page are far superior because it has the best overall flow and themes
in my opinion.
Page also mentioned a website called
mattkersley.com/responsive to see how fast our blog loads and how it looks on different
devices. I found that on mobile, it tends to take longer to load my website
because my home page contains a video in the background. I’m going to keep it
this way still because I think it’s worth the tradeoff for my overall website
and blog theme.
Page then discussed what UX and UI
were. UX encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company,
its services, and its products. UI generally refers to the visual elements of a
product or experience, the look and feel, the presentation and interactivity of
the product. It’s crucial that not only the design of the website looks visually
appealing, but it also has to be practical. This got me thinking about the
tweaks I can make to allow my audience to better navigate my website.
I thoroughly enjoyed Page guest lecture today, and I will surely implement what she has taught us into my own website!
Process post Week #6 – My Audience
The audience I have been imagining thus far is those of avid gamers like myself, who like to read not only about video games, but also want to know about the business side of the gaming world. I already anticipate that most gamers, like myself, like to read about and watch videos about the games they’ve played, but when we talk about the business side of things, it sparks a whole different conversation. Therefore, my goal is to resonate with my audience by not only giving fair and objective reviews of the game, but also discussing the companies business models and give a final verdict on how I feel these two factors affect the overall game and company behind it. Hopefully, my audience will be able to relate to what I talk about it in my posts and can further add to the discussion.
For my layout, I’ve gone with a homepage with a video in the background of Apex Legends, what once was my favourite game, so that my audience will know right from the beginning, what my website is geared towards to. This is something rather uncommon, at least from what I’ve seen, so I feel as my home page is what separates me from your typical gaming blog. For my blog section, I added a photo of an Xbox One controller to father add to the details of my website. Within the blogs, I made sure to talk about numbers in some way shape or form to better illustrate the business side. As I’ve said, my audience shouldn’t just be gamers, but also gamers who are keen on seeing what big name companies are doing to their consumers. I don’t have excel spreadsheets, but rather, I will more than often input a picture illustrating the game’s online store for micro transactions so my audience is able to follow what I am trying to say. Apart from that, everything else is pretty standardized because those aren’t a part of my weekly discussion blogs. I have essentially tried to distinguish one half of my site as being my blog side, and the other side being for school.
Process post Week #7 – Responding to the Peer Reviews
After
having read Marissa’s review on my website, there were a couple of things that
stood out to me which I knew I had to change immediately.
Firstly, she mentioned that my home page had pulled her in, and she even watched the whole video in the background of my home page! I’m glad this was the case as I put a lot of thought to the home page as the first impression is always the most important. As for the other aspects of my home page, she mentioned that the “Learn More” tab I have on my home page should redirect her to the content itself as opposed to the “About” page, which I would kindly have to disagree, as my vision for the website is all there and I don’t think the reader would understand what my website was truly about if they went straight to my articles. She also mentioned that my home video was too short, as when it ended, it become a typical Youtube prompt suggesting other videos. This was a great catch, as I thought it was going to be playing in a loop. I have since fixed this issue by shortening the loops, so the video doesn’t get to the point where the recommended videos come up. Lastly, she said the quote on the bottom of the home page added no value, which I agree with, and have also removed. The original idea behind this was just to add a bit of spice and eeriness to my website, because this quote came from one of my favourite games, “Bioshock”, I thought it would be cool. These were the design elements that I changed for this week.
In terms of the blog page, she
suggested that I could edit the way the blocks were, such as removing the solid
colors. To me, I like it this way as it’s more organized, rather than having a
mix of different colors on the page. It would get fairly messy if I did this,
and I have tried this before. She also said that my blogs were a bit lengthy and
I could add some more photos to help better guide the reader when I talk about
the business models of these companies from a reader’s standpoint. I have since
gone back and shortened my blog posts a bit and added more photos. I know I do
sometimes tend to write on and on, but going forward, I will be more attentive
to ensuring my blog posts aren’t too long and will better illustrate the
business model. I even have had my friends read my articles on games they’ve
never played to see if they understand what I am talking about when discussing the
business model, and they’ve said that they do, but that it is a bit lengthy. The
general consensus is that my posts are too lengthy, so this is a thing I have
changed a bit now and will continually focus on over the semester.
Lastly, Marissa mentioned that my “Assignments” page and “Peer Reviews” page were different than the other pages in that, it was hard to read. I know this is this case, and I have more or less tweaked my assignments page. I’m not sure how this happened, but it seemed that the theme I am working might have had a glitch when I was trying to edit these two pages, causing them to be completely erased and making me have to start from scratch. At least now, for my assignments page, I have now formatted it a little better and have tried to make it easier to read. My intention here was to make these two pages very simple anyway, because since these pages are for school, I didn’t need it be following the “gaming” theme of my website. Marissa also briefly mentions my YouTube channel and that I should promote it on my “About” page as well. I’ve since done this because initially, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to have the two intercross, but after the Mini Assignment #3, where we had to create a story, I was inspired to revive my old YouTube gaming channel and will cross promote it with my website!
Process Post Week #9 – Data Analytics
In my opinion, I’m fine with having some data trails because
I enjoy having a personalized feeling whenever I browse my social media or the
internet in general. It does get annoying sometimes when I see the same ads
over and over again because I may have clicked on one item while browsing on
Amazon, but I think there are more benefits to having this feature as opposed
to not because I have sometimes discovered things I ended up buying to fulfill
both my needs and wants. I do think, however, that these companies who hold our
data and information should be under heavy control and moderation so that the
risk of it being hacked is diminished and so that the companies cannot use this
information for other purposes. In a way, I think it’s a modern and cheeky way
of sending us “spam mails”, but in the form of advertisements. These companies
bid against each other to pay Google so that they can have their “spam mails”
or “ads” displayed to us.
Personally, I wouldn’t say I have thrown in the towel because I’m pretty conscious with what I put online and what not. But I’ve accepted the fact that these big companies spend millions of dollars to acquire us as their customers, so it’s not surprise anymore that even if I do the slightest thing on the internet, that it’ll come back to me in some way shape or form. Most commonly the Amazon ads example I mentioned above. It’s just the way that these companies function now to yield every last bit of profits. However, for personal information on social media, companies like Facebook and Instagram should be held more accountable when they get “hacked” and personal information is taken. We instill our trust in them and although nothing may ever be perfect, I feel strongly that it should be highly regulated by the government, specifically when it comes to Facebook potentially selling this information to companies, not so much the hacking part because I feel that’s always a possibility. We should also just be more careful with what we put online nowadays too because anything we put on the internet is permanent nowadays.
Process post Week #11 – Transmedia
The channels I will focus on for my Transmedia strategy will be primarily between YouTube and my website. I feel that this is a perfect balance because while my YouTube channel can offer commentaries and gameplay videos, some of my audience may prefer to read my thoughts instead of watching a video. I follow a YouTuber named “Doug Demuro” who reviews cars on his YouTube channel, but also promotes his own website where he writes written reviews. This is more or less what I have been trying to do throughout the course, as my gaming channel is where I’ve posted some of assignments already.
I plan on utilizing social media
platforms too, but I don’t think I can use these other channels as effectively
as YouTube and my personal website. I would use Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram to promote my channel and blog whenever I had new content. I would do
this either through an actual post and through the story features of all
platforms.
All in all, I believe that in order to maximize my Transmedia strategy, I have to provide constant data on my YouTube channel and blog so that my social media outlets can be active too because I will then have a reason to post on those channels.
Process post Week #12 – Community Guidelines
Do’s
Report any harmful or any suspicious activity
Uphold respect amongst fellow blog readers when commenting
Enjoy my content!
Don’ts
No verbal abuse or hate speech
No unauthorized or unsolicited advertising or spam
No unlawful acts
No discussion about any unlawful acts (ie: Drugs)
No selling of items or scams
Don’t invade each other’s privacy
Violations
Removal of comments that have violated the guidelines and:
1st time ban of 1 day (24 hours)
2nd time ban of 1 week
3rd time ban of 1 month
4th time ban is a permanent ban on your account
These guidelines are very basic and I feel that they suit my website because I ultimately just want people to be able to engage with each other without any sort of harsh consequences. Hence, why it takes 4 bans in order to be banned from my website permanently too. I will reinforce these rules through my own moderation for the most part, but if I could, I would hire a moderator to check through everything once or twice a day to ensure my website looks fine.
I have tried to make my blog a certain way so it can be easily navigated by users. The menu consists of 4 categories:
Home
About
Blog
Posiel – with Mini Assignment and Process Post in the sub menu
Under my blog I will have submenus that will showcase my experience with different art forms. Also with upcoming assignments I will update the mapping of my website accordingly.
I must say your website is chic and simple, the perfect
combination especially for a food blog. Your page is an attention grabber as it
is nicely organized and I am able to familiarize myself with your page
instantly, kudos to you on that!
Even though it is a food blog you have managed to keep the
content easy to understand for foodies. Instagram as your choice of social
media platform to market your content is a perfect idea. Moreover, the pictures
along with your food reviews are beautiful (ps: go into photography girl!). Not
to mention the fact that you blog about best and affordable places, because of
your blog I went to try brunch at Earls and it was delicious, so thank you for introducing
me to this. I will be honest, when I checked out your Instagram page I was mesmerized
by the pictures, transitioning between the food places was amazing.
I was personally hoping your website would have more
pictures of the food in your home page to make your blog a little bit more
interactive. As a food blogger your biggest strength are pictures and incorporating
them on your homepage which will add that splash of color. The thing that caught
my eye was actually the similarity between the Instagram captions and your blog
posts, if you were to describe the taste of the food in depth using more
culinary terms, that would make it more personalized. Regarding your About Me
page, I actually like to hear more about what interested you to start a food
blog in the first place and your journey as a blogger.
I had an opinion regarding your blog posts, if you were to talk about the ambiance of the place and the audience it best caters to will provide the reader with an overall review of the place. Oh oh oh! an idea just came to my mind Anita, you could even provide a little history regarding your food, its origin point, this keeps the audience engaged and will further entice them to eat at your suggested food place. Just something I thought you could consider writing about?
Overall, the blog and social media content is awesome! I really
like that you are focused in the Richmond area as I have never explored the
city and would love to know some of the go-to places for food. This would expand
my palette in since I am a curry girl haha. Keep the great work going and good
luck on your blog.
Every year, a new Call of Duty (COD) title is released. Infinity Ward, Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games are the 3 studios that are responsible for the development of these games and they rotate yearly. Each studio is known for their own respective series, Infinity ward for Modern Warfare, Treyarch for Black Ops, and Sledgehammer for Advanced Warfare, all of which have continuously gone further and further into the future, with the exception of WWII which was also developed by Sledgehammer. Call of Duty Modern Warfare takes a step back from the futuristic and past wars, and lands right back where the franchise gained its popularity, which is present day Modern Warfare. After having played the titile, just how much does it separate itself from previous Call of Duty titles, both in terms of gameplay and the business model?
Game Review
Initial
Impression
I was fortunate enough to get the
game upon release, and being that I an avid Call of Duty fan who follows the
game on YouTube and Reddit, I have been able to experience every up and down of
the game thus far. Since the game is so new, keep in mind that this is only my
initial impression, and it’s not to say that Infinity Ward, the developers of
this year’s Call of Duty Modern Warfare, cannot fix it during the game’s life
span. I’ll first point out some of the general things that have impressed me
and will then list out a few more serious problems that definitely need to be
looked into as soon as possible should they want to keep their fan base
content.
Pros
Campaign
Before we get into multiplayer,
we are technically supposed to play the campaign first to familiarize ourselves
with the game and to delve into the immersive storyline. That was the yearly
cycle until last year, Treyarch decided to remove the campaign in Call of Duty
Black Ops 4 in favor of a Battle Royale Mode. Well, Infinity Ward decided that
a campaign was needed this year, and a gory, dark and eerie one at that.
Friendly fire, civilian
casualties and betrayals are all dark aspects of war that we as everyday
citizens rarely ever hear of or see. Through Infinity Ward’s immersive
campaign, we are educated about the true terrors of war. For once, we get to
experience everything that comes with war, which isn’t just running and gunning
down enemies. We have to always be conscious of our surroundings, even
civilians, because anyone could be the enemy.
There is a mission that I would
like to highlight. Spoiler alert ahead.
This mission takes place in a building where the player, along with the team,
have to make their way up a building to stop a bomb threat. However, there is
no lighting in the building, forcing the player to use the night vision goggles,
and there are also many civilians too. By pairing low visibility along with
civilians, the risk of killing civilians spikes up exponentially, and this is
the experience Infinity Ward wants to give us. As you traverse up the flights
of stairs and rooms, there are enemies waiting behind corners, cabinets and
even under beds. There are also female civilians too which are yelling and
crying for help, further adding onto the chaos. It’s so easy to accidentally
shoot a civilian, which even I did by accident, but the show must go on. That’s
just the reality of war. Eventually, towards the top floors, you enter a room
where a mother with her baby is right there as she’s trying to run away from
you but because everything is so fast paced and loud, she seems like a threat
for a split second so it’s very easy to pull the trigger on her. Not only are
you at risk of killing the mother, but you can also kill the baby. If you do
though, you will have to restart from the checkpoint though, so don’t worry,
Infinity Ward isn’t trying to get us to kill babies. At the top floor, where
the “bomb threat” supposedly is, you only see a woman, who is begging you to
help her, as she inches further back. This could be interpreted as her being
scared of you, a soldier carrying a gun, but you must quickly shoot her, as in
reality, she is reaching for the bomb detonator. This mission itself is very
hard to play because you have to be constantly on your feet and be aware of
your surroundings. One small error, and you just may lose your life or take the
life of a civilian. Everyone is an enemy.
Multiplayer – Gun
customization
This year, Call of
Duty introduced a completely new gun customization system. Previously, we had
become accustomed to being limited to one or two attachments on our gun and/or
sometimes a perk for said gun, depending on the title. This was done through
what is known as the “Pick 10 System”
in which the player gets 10 slots to load up on guns, attachments, grenades,
etc. However, you were still limited to at most two attachments, such as a
suppressor or extended magazine and one reticle sight attachment like a red dot
sight. This year, there is no “Pick 10 System” but rather, there is now the
“Gunsmith”. Players can now get 5 attachments on their guns, with one of them
being a perk if the player wishes to have that instead of a 5th
attachment. What I love about this system is that it gives the players true
freedom when it comes to gun customization. You can literally take an AK-47 and
then turn it into its SMG brother variant, known as the AK74-U by doing things
like having a “no stock” attachment and by adding a “short barrel”. There’s
endless possibilities and the players get to tailor their guns to their
playstyle.
Multiplayer – 2v2
Gunfight Mode
With every new Call of
Duty comes a new game mode. I mean, the developers have to at least try to be
somewhat innovative, right? This year, they added a new game mode called the
“2v2” Gunfight mode that is fast paced and fun. The title pretty much explains
the purpose of the game mode as the battle takes place in an extremely small
map where there are two teams of two and the first team to kill the other team
wins. Should no one die, then a flag will appear in the middle of the map where
one team will have to capture it in order to win. If the flag is no captured by
either team, then the team with the most health will win. If, for whatever
reason, no one does anything in terms of trying to kill the other team or
capturing the flag, while everyone is at full health, which never happens, will
there be an actual draw. What makes this game mode fun for me is that it’s not
your typical run and gun Call of Duty game mode. It requires a bit of strategy,
true gun skill and at times a bit of luck. The thing about this game mode is
that either one team dominates, or it’s an extremely close game that goes down
to the wire. The first team to 6 round wins will get the overall victory, so it
is a bit of a marathon, but it’s at a stop and go pace so it makes it extremely
bearable as games only last about 5-7 minutes. Due to the fact that there’s a
bigger skill gap required here, as you only have one teammate to rely on, my
friend whom I play with more often than not find great success. We’ve had games
where we’ve won 6-0, but also had some really good close games where it ended
up being 6-5 for either us or the other team. We can go up 3-0 from the get go
and the other team can still mount a comeback just as easily. It would be fair
to say that the unpredictability, intensity and skills required for this game
is more tailored towards experienced players, such as myself. It would be hard
to survive in this game mode if you’re a beginner. So my suggestion is that if
you’re new to this game, then hone your skills in regular game modes and then
find a friend who is around your skill level to play this game mode.
Cons
Multiplayer – Dead
Silence
The footsteps in this
game are far too loud at the moment and the problem with this is that players
with expensive headsets will be able to easily hear you out and prepare to
shoot you as you run around that corner or hallway. As of now, dead silence is
one of the many abilities known as “field upgrades” the player can get and use
a certain amount of times in a game. In essence, it is only a measly temporary
boost. If Dead Silence were to be a perk, at least players can have the option
to keep it on permanently and sacrifice the use of another perk in the same
category, balancing the meta. It is extremely annoying when you’re running
around on a small map and all of a sudden, an enemy hears you and already knows
where you are before you can even engage in a fair gunfight. So to reiterate,
to solve this problem, Infinity Ward needs to make this a perk, specifically
a tier 2 perk so players have to choose between Ghost (Players are
invisible to UAVs) and Dead Silence as everyone uses Ghost as of now, so
Infinity Ward needs to give the players an ultimatum. This would balance the
game a lot more.
Multiplayer – Spawns
The spawns in this game are fine
for the most part, but can get really atrocious from time, which has been an
issue since the beginning of Call of Duty. It’s weird how they haven’t fixed
this issue after all these years but it very much is still a problem. The
spawns become an issue when I spawn in and die within 5 seconds, which happens
fairly often and makes my deaths seem unjustifiable because I was already
placed in a bad position from the get go. I’m not entirely how they would solve
the issue, but they should really just emphasize not spawning us around enemies
to start off with. Additionally, in bigger maps, we are spawned all the way in
the back and have to run for 30 seconds just to get back into the action. To
solve this issue, Infinity Ward can just spawn us a little bit closer. In the
bigger maps, getting spawn killed isn’t really an issue because the map is so
huge and takes a long time to traverse across, so they don’t have to spawn us
all the way in the back of the map.
Multiplayer – Gun
balance
So far, there is only
one gun that is a huge issue in multiplayer, and that is the 725 shotgun. This
weapon is essentially a shotgun/sniper because of its extensive range. I feel
this is a nice vintage throwback to Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2’s Model 1887
shotgun, which was also a super powerful and long range one shot kill shotgun.
This gun has infuriated many players as it’s the most commonly used gun.
Everyone is essentially running around the map with this shotgun beaming people
from afar. There’s no doubt that this gun will be nerfed, but all in all, gun
balance is very important to the multiplayer experience because the point is to
have as even of a playing ground as possible. So, Infinity Ward has already
gotten off to a rocky start in this sector thanks to the overpowered 725
shotgun. They need to nerf this immediately and keep a closer eye on gun
balance, and the way to do this is through weapon testing before releasing them
because they may still be broken, as is the case with this gun in particular.
Business Model (Thus far)
As of 11/08/10, there are no real in
game micro-transactions for Call of Duty Modern Warfare. There is a single
cosmetic pack that is $15 CAD, but with this being the only item available in
store, it would seem that this isn’t Infinity Ward’s focus right now and
hopefully will never be.
The area of concern stems from this,
however, in that we are unsure if Infinity Ward will eventually flood the game
with micro-transactions. They’ve said that they wouldn’t add any, but we as a
fan base find that very hard to believe. It’s true Infinity Ward has taken
steps to bring back the vintage style of Call of Duty’s by setting the game in
a modern day as opposed to the future or past, amongst other small tweaks
they’ve done too to make us feel like we’re playing the original Call of
Duty’s. To also save us money, they promised to give us free DLC map packs
instead of making us purchase them individually or through the Season Pass. So,
it would make sense in hindsight that Infinity Ward would not further add micro
transactions because they are heavily catering to the fan base by both giving
us what we have been longing for and saving us money. However, it wouldn’t be a
surprise if they went back on their word and decided to squeeze every last
penny out of us, as that’s what Treyarch did with Call of Duty Black Ops 4 last
year anyway. They waited until December to do so and it only got worse and
worse as time went on. Although the main difference between Treyarch and
Infinity ward was that Treyarch never said they wouldn’t implement micro
transactions.
Final Verdict
Call of Duty Modern Warfare has the
opportunity to be the best COD in the past few years, but Infinity Ward must
fix the known issues as soon as possible and must be very careful with their
micro transactions should they introduce them later on in the game’s life
cycle. They’ve definitely taken steps to ease the situation up since the
controversial choices that were made during the life cycle of Call of Duty
Black Ops 4, which we as a fan base have very much appreciated. But the
question remains, is this only temporary as they’re prepping us for a classic
“bait and switch” trick as Treyarch did with Black Ops 4, or have they truly
realized that it’s about time to right their wrongs?
I love eating poke! I’ve been to Pokey Okey like once or twice before and I don’t know why I forgot about them. They’re actually quite good and at such a convenient location in Richmond (central Richmond)! After having them again, I know I’ll be coming here more regularly because their ingredients are super fresh and tasty. They have a wide variety of flavours and toppings so you can pick and choose what you enjoy the best! Btw portions are quite generous too here and I really like that I feel full after eating poke.
Loved the festive decor at Black Mill Tea. When in Richmond, you’ll always find yourself stumbling upon new bubble tea places. Black Mill Tea recently opened in September and I finally made the courage to try something new. Are y’all still on that brown sugar hype? Because I am! Especially when I’m trying a new bubble tea place. In my opinion, it was quite average and was quite creamy with the milk compared to other brown sugar drinks I’ve had before. Most of the flavour came from the brown sugar and the pearls which made it just your standard brown sugar drink. The experience was overall average but I’m not opposed to coming back to try their other drinks! – 
We got the Brown Sugar Dirty Milk. – 
Rating: 7/10 – 
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