Author Archives: Let's talk about Art History

Essay 2

As the internet keeps on evolving, it has been easier for people to create an online persona. It is becoming a new trend to have an online presence. In PUB101 I have built an online presences related to my interest about art history. Throughout my experience as an online publisher I have learned much more about how to build an online presence and the challenges one will face.

I created my blog called “Let’s talk about Art History” because during highschool I took a course called Art History 12 AP. I really enjoyed this course because I had a very artistic youth, being a photographer, being a son of a photographer and being dragged into many museums on family vacations. One concern I had about my highschool course was, it didn’t go into much detail of artworks I was curious about. So I decided to blog about Art History, to answer my questions I had about interesting historic artworks. Many photos that are on my website are some of my favourite art works and that is what made it so easy and enjoyable to write about. Knowing most of my information about art history really helped me create a blog that was personal to me.

One important lesson about publishing is tailoring your writing for your audience. According to University of Maryland, “Knowing your audience helps you to make decisions about what information you should include, how you should arrange that information, and what kind of supporting details will be necessary for the reader to understand what you are presenting”. This was something that I had to focus on when I was writing my blog posts. Before any post would go up on my website I always had to have an idea of who would be reading it. My audience was visual people aged between 25-55 years. Due to my audiences age, my writing was very sophisticated and straight to the point, providing the reader with proven facts. When creating my website layout I made sure to have more visuals than words on my homepage because my topic was very visual. Once users hovered over the images with their mouse, a small snippet of my article appeared and if they were interested, they could click to see the entire article.

Compared to the beginning and end of PUB101 my idea of publication has changed. Before enrolling in PUB101 I really didn’t know much about publishing. All I knew was that it was going to be a challenge creating an online persona that actually resembles who I am. However, after a few weeks of my website being up, I began to find it easier to build an online presence. I was able to make everything look how I wanted it to be and made everything personalized. Eventually, since my website’s design started to fit my personality, so did my writing. I started to go into deeper thoughts of my feelings, through my process posts and even my blogs. I even gave my opinion on history and what I would have done differently compared to pharaohs and kings. I probably won’t be interested in posting my articles on my wordpress once the course is done. Moreover, I will be taking into fact when posting to social media, that I can be fairly personal with my online presence. Online websites gave me tricks on how to better personalize my online writing. For example, writing as I speak, use personal language and tell personal stories. All of these tricks helps the readers understand me more. When comparing my first blog posts to my last blog posts, I can see the difference in how I became a more personal writer and I plan on continuing this with my social media accounts.

There are currently 75 million blogger websites, so many people will have similar challenges as I did when creating their blog. Many people planning when creating a blog will have to face trying to make their website more personal, appropriate for their audience and will have to know their information, in order them to have a successful blog.

 

References:

  1. Rowse, D. (2011, March 23). How to Write in a More Personal and Engaging Tone. Retrieved November 27, 2018, from https://problogger.com/how-to-write-in-a-more-personal-and-engaging-tone/
  2. Writing for an Audience. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.umuc.edu/current-students/learning-resources/writing-center/writing-resources/getting-started-writing/writing-for-an-audience.cfm
  3. How Many Websites and Blogs are on the Internet? (2018, September 27). Retrieved November 27, 2018, from https://blogging.org/blog/how-many-websites-and-blogs-are-on-the-internet/

 

Peer Review 3

For the last peer review, I have been given the opportunity to review Cherie Lau’s website. Cherie has a wide variety of content about women’s beauty. Ranging from makeup to skincare. When I open her website there is a large header with aesthetically pleasing cursive writing saying Cherie Lau. Underneath, there is a subheading “Share my small obsession with all things beauty”. From this I am quickly able to understand that this is a website about women’s beauty.

 

(Cherie’s menu bar and header)

Something that I find when scrolling through Cherie’s website, is the  wide variety of topics. This isn’t ideal when finding a focussed audience. One criticism I have about Cherie’s website is her menu bar. Currently there is: Makeup, Skincare, Travel and PUB 101. What I don’t understand is why there is a travel button. This confuses the audience because above she tells us her website is about beauty; however, travelling has no correlation with women’s beauty. Also, when I click on the travel menu I am directed to a blank page. I suggest scratching the travelling part from your website and focus on women’s beauty. Having a wide variety of topics to discuss does decrease the marketability of your website. Reading through Cherie’s articles I find that there is a very broad range in topics. For example, in her skincare menu some of the topics Cherie writes about are: Would I Repurchase, Is your skincare working and Skincare Products I’m enjoying. I believe it would be easier for the audience to navigate through her website and be able to find what they want to learn if she added menus like, product reviews, how to apply products and my routine.

As I read some of Cherie’s posts I see that she has built a strong online persona. She has done this by telling her audience her personal opinions and some of her personal stories. My impression of Cherie is the she is someone that is passionate about beauty and knows her stuff. If I was into makeup I would like to read her interesting blog posts. This is a very effective way in getting an audience to come back to her website. Cherie has also shared her Email, Youtube and Instagram accounts that appear on every page. This is a great way to connect with her audience even more. Both social medias allow Cherie to better market herself.

 

(Cherie connecting with her audience)

Let's talk about Art History 2018-11-13 05:02:09

My name is Ryan Sangha, an eighteen year old boy studying at Simon Fraser University. I am currently enrolled in PUB101 and Let’s talk about Art History is about all about historical art works. Ranging from the year 2000 and back in time. I created this website because in high school I took Art History 12 AP, which i found very interesting. I have always had an artistic background being a photographer and posting my photos on instagram (@westcoastshoots). Recently, I haven’t been creating much art and felt detached from one of my hobbies. This is why I decided to create a blog about art history. In my blog you will find artworks that fascinate me.

The Colosseum

The colosseum located in the center of Rome, just east of the roman forum, took about 10 years to construct. Construction started in 70 A.D. Its dimensions are fairly large standing 157 feet high and its perimeter is 1788 ft. During the Colosseum games the maximum seating capacity was 50,000. Larger than any arena built for its time. It was possible to fit a modern day football field within its towering walls. Unfortunately the Colosseum has been through its fair share of earthquakes, having the entire south walls collapse.

The Colosseum was built for the roman entertainment. Animals and people would fight to the death as thousands of citizens watched. During the course of the Colosseum games over 1,000,000 animals and 400,000 people have died for the people’s entertainment. This truly was a horrific way of seeking entertainment. Some events held at the Colosseum even lasted as long as 100 days. Something that is totally different from today’s events is that during the ancient times Romans were given free admission. The last Colosseum game was recorded in the 6th century.

Today the Colosseum is Rome’s number 1 tourist attraction and expects 3.9 million visitors every year. From today’s weather and pollution the Colosseum has lost 2/3rds of its original landscape. Restoration efforts have started since 1990 and continue to do so.

Discussion Question: What’s a present day Colosseum for where citizens come for entertainment?

 

Sources:

(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/colosseum

 

Colosseum Facts. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.softschools.com/facts/wonders_of_the_world/colosseum_facts/88/

Palace of Versailles

The enormous and elegant Palace of Versailles was built for King Louis XIV and was completed in 1682, after 21 years of construction. The purpose of building this palace was to move the french court out of Paris. The palace emphasizes King Louis XIV’s importance. King Louis XIV believed that he was very powerful and decided to call himself The Sun King.

This palace is an example of how the french were so extraordinary during the French Revolution. Currently the 67,000 square meter floor space property has 700 rooms with 2,153 windows. To put that into perspective that’s 12 American football fields. Not only is it gigantic, but also very beautiful inside. The design team was: Louis le Vau, Charles Le Brun and Andre le Notre. All who were famous architects and landscapers at the time.

One of the most notable rooms in the palace is the Hall of Mirrors. Many parties and agreements have occured in this room. For example, the treaty of versailles that ended World War I officially. One of the walls in the room has an entire wall covered in mirrors overlooking the 2,000 acre gardens. On the other side of the hall is 357 mirrors that catch the rising sun rays in the morning. This hall is to remind everyone about the Sun King, Louis XIV. In the morning, Louis XIV would walk through the Hall of Mirrors to go to his private chapel. This is quite a luxurious way to wake up in the morning for a king.

(This is how the Hall of Mirrors looks in the morning)

King Louis XIV wanted to leave a statement of his importance to the world by building the Palace of Versailles. Not only for himself but also to glorify the French monarchy and show their classism and power.

Discussion Question: What other artworks do you know were built for a respected person like a king?

Sources:

Château de Versailles. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/early-europe-and-colonial-americas/reformation-counter-reformation/a/chteau-de-versailles

Process Post 8

After reading my last peer review done by Cherie, I realized I have to make my website more marketable. Since I wanted to build a following with my photography account on Instagram. I have decided to share a link to it on every blog post. Asking my readers to spread the word about Let’s talk about Art History. I have chosen to use my Instagram account to spread the word about my blogging site because between 2017 to 2018, Instagram gained 200 million more users. This app is growing ever so fast and is very visual based, similar to my art blog.  Also, I have left my personal email if anyone has any questions about me.

This is the links that show at the end of every blog post. I intentionally put it at the bottom of the page after the reader has finished reading so it is not much of a distraction.

King Khafre’s Burial Site

Staying on the same topic as last week, once Khufu’s son died Egyptians, built him a pyramids and The Great Sphinx. The second great pyramid of Giza was called Pyramid of Khafre. Khafre was king Khufu’s second son. Upper parts of Khafre’s pyramid still have some of its outer casing. It is believed that all 3 of the pyramids of Giza, had the similar outer casing. The interior of Khafre’s pyramid is much simpler than Khufu’s. There are two passageways, one single burial chamber and one less significant chamber.

(Upper casing is visible at the top point of the pyramid)

Once Khafre died, not only was he made a pyramid for his burial site, but also a Great Sphinx. This Sphinx was the first enormous sculpture in Egyptian history. The close association between Khafre’s face and the lions head intends that the Sphinx was built for him. The lion is a very important Egyptian animal and references the sun as a symbol of the horizon. The combination of the kings head with such a powerful animal’s body was very important to Egyptian history. The Sphinx has appeared in many ancient Egyptian stories. Something that is very impressive for the when The Great Sphinx was built (2494 BC) is the proper proportion between the animal’s body and the human head. The Egyptians were able to construct the head so that it would last for a long time without being weathered away by sand or falling off the body.

 

Question: What other great leaders have had such a large burial site similar to king Khafre?

 

Sources:

Pyramid of Khafre and the Great Sphinx. (n.d.). Retrieved November 4, 2018, from https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/ancient-mediterranean-ap/ancient-egypt-ap/a/old-kingdom-pyramid-of-khafre-and-the-great-sphinx

Social Media Lacks Democracy (Essay 1)

Democracy first appeared in ancient Greek political beliefs, in the popular city of Athens. The first time anyone used democracy was around 508-507 BC. Now we can see it almost all around the world. Some people believe that democracy is even starting to appear on social media; however, I think the opposite. Democracy is not present online because the way social media works, isn’t the same as how a democracy works. Democracy is supposed to be for the common people and with minimum government interaction, while online users are being censored for what they post. Also, the way people act online isn’t the same as a democracy.

 

Democracy is about treating every citizen equally, on the internet some people get a bigger voice than others. Social media filters out who gets a voice and who doesn’t get a voice according to their power. Alex Jones is an American Radio show host and conspiracy theorist whose information was censored on social media. He had four pages on Facebook that were shut down for ‘using dehumanizing language to describe people’ (Hern, A 2018). A few hours after the Facebook ban, Youtube proceeded to terminate his account as well. The power of facebook shutting down and terminating accounts, is an example of social media controlling people’s voices and not letting them be heard, which is the opposite of how democracy works. On the other hand, American President Donald Trump is able to embarrass a senator over twitter saying “lightweight senator _@RandPaul should focus on trying to get elected in kentucky— a great state which is embarrassed by him.” (7. Lightweight (n.d.). Because Trump’s twitter is viewed as a platform for the general public’s interest, twitter excused his inappropriate tweet. Allowing Donald Trump to be able to get away with saying similar statements as Alex Jones is an example of abusing freedom of speech. Faust Rossi, an attorney from the United States Department of Justice Honors Program, also states “Freedom of speech is said to be the most cherished of our constitutional rights.” (Gold, L n.d.). Not limiting the power of government and censoring people’s voices and uncensoring some, contrasts what democracy represents.

 

Fake news has always been an issue throughout all news sources. Now that majority of the people (67 percent of American adults) get their news through social media, fake news has started to become a popular trend. Weather it is someone’s strong belief or just a joke, the internet has been trying to diminish the presence of fake news. Facebook has started to hire fact checkers to scan many articles. This doesn’t represent democracy because whoever published a fake news article isn’t being treated equally, compared to someone who hasn’t. Although the fake news is incorrect it is still someone’s voice that is being deprecated. Similarly if a parliament member isn’t having an equal voice compared to others, then it’s tainted the democratic system.

 

The internet is becoming increasingly popular with adults. A study conducted by The Pew Research Center showed that, 67 percent of adults get their news from social media. This is problematic because people are tailoring only what they want to see online. David Robson said, “Although millions of people are using the internet to expand their horizons, many people are doing the opposite, creating a daily me that is specifically tailored to their own interests and prejudices.” This is creating something called an ‘echo chamber’. An echo chamber is designed to segregate people from other political views. Ideally this is not a trait that a parliament member in a democratic system would want to have. In a democratic parliament, members are allowed to have different opinions; however, each member is encouraged to be open to hearing other people’s beliefs, to have a strong committee. Democracy is about hearing everyone’s opinions and settling with what is best and what majority agrees upon.  

 

Social media has never played such a big role in society before. The way that social media works doesn’t run in a democratic way. People aren’t being treated equally online and is controlled by large firms that act likes governments. Furthermore, people are being trapped in ‘echo chambers’ that are separating everyone apart and not keeping in mind of the majority. Social media is separated into two parts, one the people who have a big enough following to have a say and two the people who have little followings with not much say. Social media does not create democratic spaces for people to have a voice.

Sources:

Pew Research Center. (2017, November 08). Retrieved October 22, 2018, from https://marketingland.com/pew-research-center-says-45-americans-get-news-facebook-228001

7. Lightweight. (n.d.). Retrieved October 22, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/pictures/flji45elmm/7-lightweight/#536045ae1624

Hern, A. (2018, August 06). Facebook, Apple, YouTube and Spotify ban Infowars’ Alex Jones. Retrieved October 22, 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/aug/06/apple-removes-podcasts-infowars-alex-jones

Gold, L. (n.d.). Cornell Chronicle. Retrieved October 22, 2018, from http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2011/03/free-speech-central-democracy-rossi-says

Process Post 7

After reading Krystal’s peer review about my website design layout, I found that I need to make some changes. Firstly, when clicking my PUB101 link I have changed it to go to (http://posiel.com/) instead of going to a dead page. Krystal has told me that when she hovers over the menus she doesn’t like the baby blue colour because it doesn’t go with the theme. I agree with her about this; however, I am unable to change this with my theme. Personally I like my design layout how it is right now because it is easy to use and is aesthetically pleasing to me.