Monthly Archives: November 2019

Guidelines

Community guidelines are crucial for maintaining the quality and image of that community. Without guidelines, anarchy can occur, and at that point the creator has lost all control. Community guidelines for my blog are not super strict and are also not explicitly mentioned. I have implemented my guidelines by showing rather than telling. Through my writing style, I hope to have influenced others who want to engage with my blog what kind of thoughts and ideas are relevant. As well, I have steered clear of using profane and vulgar language in hopes of showing everyone else that respect and humility are most important. Besides this, any thoughts and opinions on music are welcomed. People are open to give their feedback or engage in dialogue through the comments and I believe this has led to a good environment for my blog to welcome such things.

The Iceberg

Oddisee is a refreshing, unique artists in the hip hop game. The Iceberg is Oddisee’s 11t studio album. The album features exciting instrumentals and acoustics that add to the overall quality of the project. With his previous live album Beneath the Surface in 2017, Oddisee’s experience with acoustics and live music show through vividly. Some tracks such as “Digging Deep” are heavily acoustic based whereas tracks like “Things” are more modernly produced. It’s a nice change to hear a rapper, especially a lesser known rapper, exhibit their skills in live and acoustic skills on top of their modern production skills. The overall sound of the album is well supplemented by the production. Oddisee has calming but exciting flows and displays his ability to rap over more jazzy beats like in “Built by Pictures” as well as more rock beats like in “This Girl I Know”. Oddisee’s influence from A Tribe Called Quest in this regard is quite apparent and the Sudanese-influenced rapper adds his own personal twist as well. All these qualities of this project and Oddisee’s overall career are incredible and deserve more recognition, but the most impressive quality of his music is his lyrics. Oddisee offers incredibly insightful and conscious bars that are provoke deep thought from the listener. Tracks like “Like Really” and “You Grew Up” exhibit this in an exceptional manner. “Like Really” is a personal tale that talks about the problems with discrimination against African Americans and the disconnect between their society and the Caucasian society within America. He touches on issues with the legal system and how the relationship is between white and black communities. “You Grew Up” is a beautiful song that talks about how different upbringings can lead to certain ways of life. He talks about how he was friends with a white boy as a child, but as they grew up in the “cult” that America is, their natural roles in society spread them apart. His friend became a police officer and years later shot a black man in a park. This is the crux of the separation that started from the father of the white friend prohibiting their friendship by racist merits. The song also talks about a kid who was bullied for being Muslim. The kid was approached in a mosque after graduation by a man who showed him that “life is a weapon” and turned him radical. This track brings new perspective to the listener and shows that just because you raise a child in a house full of love, doesn’t mean they’ll do well in this world full of hate. Overall, I would rate this album a strong 4.4/5.

Notable Tracks: “Like Really”, “You Grew Up”, “Rights & Wrongs”, and “Want to Be”     

Rihanna’s ANTI

Going to do a little #tbt in my part. I remember when Rihanna came out with ANTI in 2016 and she gifted the first 1-million copies of the album to the fans. I flipped out. In my opinion, ANTI is Rihanna’s best and most cohesive work.

To go along with this fabulous album, Rihanna commissioned renowned photographer, Paolo Roversi, to photograph for her 2016 album, ANTI. These images can be seen as the single artworks for songs like Bitch Better Have My Money, Kiss It Better, and Needed Me.

So obsessed with these images till today. Combining the elegance, surrealistic and evocative style of Roversi’s photography, Rihanna’s confidence and sensuality, and Alastair McKimm’s high-end street fashion. Unfortunately, I cannot find the make-up artist and hair stylist for this photoshoot. Which is a shame, because the work is superb. Once I find them, I will be sure to update this post.

Until then, please enjoy more of the images from the album shoot:

Photography by Paolo Roversi // Fashion Styled by Alastair McKimm, i-D Magazine’s Fashion Director.

Essay #2: A Reflection on the Trials and Tribulations of Web-Development

Web development is constantly evolving and no longer requires one to be an expert coder or even familiar with computer science. Presently, there are a wide variety of services and applications that make creating a website notably more accessible. Through much trial and error my blog “Lore of the World” or LOTW was made. It is a blog that aims to build upon all sorts of stories from literature and cultural beliefs. The demographic is fairly open but skews towards an audience between the ages of sixteen and older. As I chose to keep it within the classroom for now, the current public are primarily those in their twenties. I imagine my public; as mentioned by Matthew Stadler in “Finding Your Audience in the 21st Century”, to be people who have similar interests already and those who have yet to discover topics like folklore. Stadler explains that a “publication is the creation of a public…created by deliberate acts”. Even for websites that prevent users from commenting, creating, or interacting in a noticeable way, that is very much an act which creates a specific public. While users for LOTW cannot make their own posts, they have the option to comment and add to the discussion. Ideally, feedback and a distinct relationship will be created as it continues to grow and evolve. That said, it is difficult to create something that you enjoy creating for yourself while also capturing public attention. Too easily can one fall into either a project for self-satisfaction and frustrate their audience, or have their persona change entirely which may potentially alienate the original audience.

Upon reflection, there is an apparent difference when comparing my original expectations to the current status of my blog. Genevieve Gignac’s peer review is an excellent representation of both the positives and faults of my blog that I am aware of. I have found her input to be very helpful. Likely due to the minimal content outside of course material, Google Analytics revealed that there was not a considerable amount of traffic. Understandably, users currently spend the majority of their time on both the Home and Introduction pages respectively because these pages have the most content. Additionally, I kept my articles and advertisements about my blog to this class which also accounts for the low numbers. I am continuing to work on many of the suggestions she has made such as removing some widgets. Another example is creating a site logo and integrating more of my own art. While I have found many difficulties passing on the ideas for my blog from my head unto the screen, I have confidence in my artistic abilities. As the semester continued, I questioned why I chose not to pursue an art blog instead. Ultimately, I came to understand that my attention was split between a subject I find interesting to discuss casually, and one that is more appropriate for a traditional publication such as a book considering the scope of what I originally tried to accomplish. As I will have much more time coming this spring, I am aiming to completely restructure my blog. The darker theme will be similar, but I hope to improve the user interface and experience. In order to increase traffic to the blog, it is a must to create a more active social media presence. For the current iteration of LOTW, however, I prefer to keep it as a hobby rather than concern myself with popularity. This course allows us to also focus on future endeavors. For instance, I plan to convert it into an art blog. 

Initially I felt that publication was primarily content focused. Although I still believe this to be true, online presence goes beyond merely posting regularly and having basic social media links. I chose to forgo additional social links for several reasons. The first was a lack of confidence towards constantly updating pages like an Instagram. This is something I would change once there is more content. The second of which is my lack of experience with web design. As it is my first attempt, the smaller audience within the class allows me additional freedom to change and experiment. Most importantly, anonymity helps to create a more mysterious atmosphere that compliments my blog theme. Contemporary publication require content creators to “carefully craft the way we appear…behave, and…the way we are perceived by others” (Max). This is a key idea for those who intend to monetize their content, services, or their persona. Even a silent or relatively removed persona affects the entire atmosphere. The less a content creator interjects, the more users can build an identity for the website themselves. An example of such includes forums such as Reddit, Tumblr, and 4chan. Even if the moderators are present, their interactions with users are generally minimal. As a result, the content is unanimously user generated despite content control remaining with the moderators. This in itself is a method to draw users. Just as “our identities are constructions that we tinker with as we go” websites also evolve over time based on their user base (Max). Gignac mentions how LOTW “is not meant to create an online persona but more like an “online world” that other users can engage with and learn from”. She is correct with her assumption, and a “fascinating fantasy land” is what I had hoped to create for individuals such as herself who have no initial interest in folklore or fantastical literature. Anonymity is important to me for both logistical reasons and as a way to allow LOTW to develop alongside its public.

It is this contemporary online space which allows one to connect with a wide variety of people and who all express their own opinions or ideas. Ideally, a blog allows for the author to express their viewpoints, opinions, or creative works. It is crucial to consider who one’s audience is. Depending on the preferences of the creator, they may or may not decide outsider attention is important. As technology evolves and becomes more accessible to people of every type of background, competency, and expertise. Whether it is solely through my own incompetency or something else, it is clear there is a large deficit between my ability to create a certain aesthetic on paper and actually implementing that aesthetics in a functional manner for a website. Developing a user-friendly cyber infrastructure demands a lot of time. Even with the many tutorials and services available, it is a daunting task to someone like myself. Despite this, I did manage to create an outline and learn some of the basics. While disappointing, it allows me to reflect on where these deficits come from and critically think about what can be done in the future. While I am uncertain about continuing my blog as it currently is, I do intend to take the skills I have learned and implement them for future projects.

References

  1. Stadler, Matthew. “What Is Publication? A Talk by Matthew Stadler.” Publication Studio, 11 Sept. 2010, https://vimeo.com/14888791.
  2. Max, J. 2015. “The Publication of Self.”
  3. Gignac, Genevieve. “Peer Review #1.” Genevieve-Gignac, 28 Sept. 2019, http://genevieve-gignac.com/posiel/peer-review-1/.
  4. Dijck, José van. “‘You have one identity’: performing the self on Facebook and LinkedIn.” (2013).

How Pub 101 Has Redefined My Public Image

A public image is a versatile matter. One can choose to build their own public image, or have it be determined by the public. Whether one chooses to paint their own self through their media and online activity or lay dormant and allow the public to build this image, one thing is for sure: A public image is not optional. Once a user has posted, commented, or participated in online activity in any way, their image is public. What one decides to do with their image is by their discretion.

My public image before this class was not very exciting. I do have Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and LinkedIn, but I’ve never been super outgoing on these. I’ve never seen value in sharing online. My public image was solemn. I’ve always considered myself a “lurker”: someone who views content online, but who doesn’t engage with it. This is part due to my background and how I have been raised. The less information you share, the better off you will be is one of the principles that has been ingrained in me since childhood that has led to me to be more reserved online and keep to myself. Making re-inscribes familiar values. (Chachra, 2015) In my case, the absence of making and creating exhibited my own values. This heavily contrasts the present norm where many teens use social media abundantly to network and be recognized. They are like online flaneurs: “individuals who came to the streets not to go anywhere in particular but in order to see and be seen.” (Boyd, 2014) Starting a blog this semester has given me new perspective as, prior to this, I had never shared much online. The blog forced me to step out of my comfort zone and write about what I am passionate about. I had a new public image that was separate from what I had previously established. A fresh start online with a new purpose allowed me to build a whole new public image. Instead of being reserved, I was open. I was open about my thoughts on music, what appealed to me, and even the emotions that music provoked from me. In some sense, it felt like this was part due to dissociative imagination. Nobody knew who I was, what my past was, or even my other public image. John Suler uses the analogy that “It’s Just a Game” (Suler, 2015), and, to me, that’s what it felt like. It felt like a game in the sense that the stakes were low, and I could do anything I wanted with little repercussions. It allowed me to find comfort in sharing my online self.

Going into this class, I wasn’t sure what to expect. As a business major, my experience in publications was quite minimal. Being thrown into the fire was a bit intimidating at first. Trying to figure out what I should post about, how to run a blog, and how I wanted to present myself was all very challenging. I conquered the steep learning curve simply by writing. Once I decided on a topic, I would start writing. I wrote music reviews and had no idea what I was doing, so I just wrote. I wrote about the background of the albums, how they sounded, and how they made me feel. I felt like I could offer value to a broader audience if I provided different aspects of a review. I imagined my audience to be quite like me in the sense that we both share a passion for music. The music itself is not enough and we crave an experience beyond it. Reading and writing reviews helps satisfy our craving for more. My focus was on underground music with a few exceptions, and I wanted to bring light to lesser-known artists who I believe make incredible music. I think they are underappreciated and underrecognized, and I wanted to contribute to spreading their work to a broader audience however I can.

Overall, I have found a new appreciation for publications. Without this class, I would have never gained perspective into what it takes to create a public image. I have been exposed to the value of publishing and sharing one’s views, and over the course of this semester, I have found that I have become more engaged in my other online communities. Through an increased participation, I have felt more satisfied and discovered a more rewarding experience online. This has changed my online presence, and I have begun developing a new self. Becoming more comfortable and confident in publishing myself online has transferred over to my other media platforms outside this class. I believe if others like me are exposed to an experience such as this one, they may also find the value and satisfaction that comes with engaging in and contributing to their own online communities.      

References

(n.d.).

Boyd, D. (2014). Searching for a publc of their own. In D. Boyd, It’s Comlicated (pp. 213-227). New Haven: Yale University Press.

Chachra, D. (2015). Wny I Am Not a Maker. The Atlantic , 1-2.

Suler, J. (2015). The Online Disinhibition Effect. In J. Suler, Psychology of the Digital Age (pp. 321-326). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Liz Cafe

Liz Café is my favourite place to have breakfast in London. It located in Shepherd’s Bush, which was near where we were staying in White City. If you end up visiting Westfield London, it is only at 10 minute walk away.

It is a quaint little rustic shop with a few tables and very friendly service. Much like many café, you order at the counter and the server will bring it to your seat. The breakfasts are relatively inexpensive as far as London food goes so it is great if you are travelling on a budget. Liz Café features salads, pastries, breads, sandwiches, and full breakfasts to choose from.

 

We decided to get an eggs benedict and a full english (with a cup of tea of course). The eggs benedict was incredible. The eggs were perfectly poached so it had this gorgeous runny yolk. The was salty and smokey, adding another layer of flavour to the dish as it sat on a crispy english muffin. And finally, the star of the show: the hollandaise. It had a beautiful consistency and glossy finish like how all hollandaise should be. The flavours were beautifully balanced and the acidity cut through the richness of the eggs and butter. The eggs benedict was topped off with with pepper though I do wish it had some chives to add an “oomph”. Vegetarians, fear not! They also have eggs florentine which substitutes the ham for spinach. Both of these options are £7.25. 8/10

A full english is my choice breakfast for most mornings. It’s delicious and you only really need two pans to make. Overall, the full english was lovely and delicious. The baked beans had great flavour though it was a little runny for me. Something that wasn’t runny were the eggs. Unfortunately, they were over (I like mine sunny side) but I wasn’t about to waste food. I’ll tell you what, they were actually tasty though I still prefer a gorgeous runny yolk. I’m not a fan of bacon so I got an extra sausage which were juicy and packed with flavour. The bread was nicely toasted and I will never complain about mushrooms. The full english is priced at £7.95. 7/10

 

Ultimate Bingsoo Battle: Midam Cafe Vs Sulbing Vs Sulmida Vs Snowy Village Vs Passion 8

It’s been a sweet and eventful journey blogging about dessert and cafes for the past few months. Since this review should be my last blog post assignment and I promised from the beginning of the term that I’d be posting blog posts to receive my flexible five, I decided to combine all the Korean shaved ice that I’ve had and write an ultimate bingsoo review of not 2, not 3, but 5 different Korean dessert shops in Lougheed.

Midam Cafe

Cr. Penny and Rusty

Hidden in the corner of the North Road Centre in Lougheed, Midam Cafe is a NBA themed Korean restaurant that serves mouth watering-food and bingsoo. Surrounded by basketballs, figures, Jordans and jerseys, you might question yourself if you’ve walked into a NBA museum instead of a restaurant. There is even a basketball hoop placed in the middle of the tables that would make you feel like you’re sitting in the front row of an NBA game instead of a Korean restaurant. Having such unique themed designs and decorations, you can tell that the dessert Midam has would be just as special.

All-time-favourite: Black Sesame Soy Milk Bingsoo

Tiramisu Bingsoo

Sulmida

Sulbing

Snowy Village

A Love Letter to You 4

fourth mixtape by rapper Trippie Redd

A heartbreak mixtape released by Trippie Redd, this is the November singles playlist for those who haven’t gotten a date for cuffing season. November marks the start of social activities like seeing festivals of lights or Santa pictures. As December draws near, no doubt the feeling of single hits, but like the song says, who needs love?

To be honest, I have mixed feelings about this playlist. I don’t believe it’s a healthy thing to deny yourself of positivism and happiness, and this album seems to celebrate that feeling of loneliness and isolation. But at the same time, the beats and rhythm is sick and it features such talented artists like XXXTentacion (RIP), Juice WRLD, etc.

Overall, I don’t think it’s a bad album, I think it’s very mixed. However, the theme itself is contradictory to the album title, which may be the artistic intent. It’s most definitely not a love letter, because it talks about denying that love, but also wanting it. Rather, maybe it’s an expressive work talking about an unfulfillment in these artists lives?

Essay 2

The Beginning

At the beginning, the notion of theplutoblog.com emerged as a secondary source to my photography account on Instagram. However, as I developed the vision board for the site, I refuted the idea and so I began to conjure something that would be separate from my professional life. By separating work, I could create a blog that was not only for myself to enjoy, but for an audience to admire and connect.

PLUTO as a Platform for Creatives

In addition, the blog offered an opportunity for me to “frame, curate, share, and direct [my] own engagement” in a “learning environment” (Campbell, 2009, para. 10). It would imply that creating PLUTO allowed me to educate myself on how to establish a stronger online presence. By sharing this knowledge, the public that I aimed to have with PLUTO was creators who wanted to discover other creative people. On a worldwide web scale, I would hope to become a one-stop-shop for inspiration. As well as a destination to view beautiful photographs to invigorate one’s creativity. To do this, the website’s design had to become image focused.

PLUTO to Address Audience

To start, PLUTO was then created to be a platform for myself to share and talk about creators in the fashion photography industry who I have high admiration for. As well as at times, showcasing editorials that enticed me. Partly, the blog was named PLUTO is based on the idea of being acknowledged, but at the same time, being not fully there. Like John Suler’s (2015), “The Online Disinhibition” stated, the “disinhibition effect” was to be “physically invisible” (para. 7). The quote would further play a role in the creation of the ‘about’ page. In the ‘about’ page, I would proclaim PLUTO to be the place “where creators hide in plain sight.” Quite literally, creators of the images we see in magazines cannot be seen in the image. However, their work is visible to the public.

In PLUTO, I wanted to change that concept a bit: putting the creators upfront and have their work be the supplementary material that drew the audience in. To do so, I utilized visuals as the basis of the site attractive. By replicating the format of Instagram and their focus on imagery, I would hope to “achieve success” (Gertz, 2015, para. 20). Further stated by Gertz (2015), whenever a “company achieves success,” others would “investigate what they did right and apply that to our own organizations” (para. 20). Taking on the format of Instagram, by highlighting the imagery presented on the blog, it would attract an audience to look and discover different creators that are behind the scenes. This would eventually play into the value that I hope is rendered into something people would continue to do: giving credit to people’s work.

PLUTO’s Value

Countless times I have witnessed people online—Instagram—where there are these gorgeous images that are clearly not their own are posted, but seemed to disregard the proper crediting of the images. It is not entirely difficult in contemporary technology, like Google Images, to ‘backwards search’ to find the origins of a photograph. Especially ones of great reverence and recognisability. In the end, providing proper credentials to others’ work shows deep appreciation to the creators and, it is a nice gesture.

Analytics & Comments

Regarding the analytics, I have noticed that the website attracts more users on desktops and laptops. I found this rather strange, presuming people would visit using their mobile devices. Then, I found a possible reason for this was that PLUTO was not mobile device friendly. Considering the WordPress template chosen, it would not give an overview of the site, but would fill the smartphone screen with one image at a time if one were to continue scrolling. However, I did find a spike on desktop viewership when there’s a spike on mobile devices—particularly from social media. This told me that people were finding PLUTO through Instagram and then head over to their desktop and laptops to see the overview of the blog.

As for comments, I have only received one comment and that stemmed from a fellow classmate who commented on the peer review page. The student simply asked for help on the website design and how to change certain things. It did not influence me in anyway. However, knowing the website is still in its infantry stage, I would not expect any comments on the blog.

Reflection

Reflecting on the idea I had on publication at the beginning of the semester is not entirely different, but it has been expanded. Initially, I had a basic dictionary understanding of publishing: “The act of printing a book, a magazine, etc. and making it available to the public” (Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, 2019). Throughout the weeks, I came to build a thorough comprehension on the ‘public’ aspect of publishing. Particularly, one aspect was the act of self-marketing. PLUTO became an “important medium” to “learn about” the relationship I had with others through an online platform (Chittenden, 2010, p. 517). Part of it was understanding how to gain and maintain an engaged audience through the content I publish and the overall aesthetic of my brand.

Looking forward, I would continue to blog. However, between school work, freelance jobs, and maintaining a social life (ha-ha), it is difficult to successfully maintain an frequently updated blog. Considering the blog that PLUTO is inherently about, a lot of research goes into it. Thus, becoming disabled in the efforts to continue a regular basis. Except, I would be maintaining the Instagram account. While PLUTO rummages through its infant stage, Instagram was a platform where I could engage more with the creators I shared on the site. Continuing Instagram, it would help elaborate my online presence as it would give me a chance to directly thank the creators for their work. “When you find someone whose work you like, tell them” (Thorn, 2012, para. 71). This is vital to my online presence, because I just want those who worked hard know that people genuinely enjoy their work. By using Instagram, it has allowed me to do so. Even if the comment gets lost within countless others.

Concluding Thought

The Internet—especially social media—can be a nasty place. But, it is in these moments where I can find joy in social media and think of the difference I can make when I comment, “Hey! Love this!” on someone’s post. Like the Chittenden (2010) article state, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”

Positive vibes everyone. Positive vibes.

References

Campbell, W. G. (2009, September 4). A personal cyberinfrastructure. Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/articles/2009/9/a-personal-cyberinfrastructure

Chittenden, T. (2010). Digital dressing up: modelling female teen identity in the discursive spaces of the fashion blogosphere. Journal of Youth Studies13(4), 505-520. doi:10.1080/13676260903520902

Gertz, T. (2015, July 10). Design machines. Retrieved from https://louderthanten.com/coax/design-machines

Publication [Def. 1]. (n.d.). In Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, Retrieved November 25, 2019, from https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/publication

Suler, J. (2016). Psychology of cyberspace the online disinhibition effect. Retrieved from http://truecenterpublishing.com/psycyber/disinhibit.html

Thorn, J. (2012, April 11). Jesse thorn. Retrieved from https://transom.org/2012/jesse-thorn-make-your-thing/

Featured image is by Jackie Nickerson for AnOther Magazine (2018).

goodbye blog

Essay #2

“A Lazy Girls Guide to Self-Care” is a blog dedicated to holding myself accountable for being kind. The blog content can be split into two categories, Self-Care Tips and Stories. Self-Care tips include various bits of advices that I am either giving myself in that moment in time or pieces of advice that have been given to me that I felt the need to share. The Story posts are more personal journal like entries about time I felt I was successful in being kind to myself by doing simple tasks and am able to share with my audience. The blog is similar to a journal for me and as the about section says, it’s dedicated to holding myself accountable for self-care this semester.

This blog wasn’t written with the intent of an audience, more just a personal reflection. I feel if anyone where to read the publication, it would be those in similar positions as myself; a female, in their twenties, in university. Realistically the audience of my blog is students of Publishing in Everyday Life in addition to the professor and teaching assistant. Since my audience most closely resembles myself the design and content of the blog reflect my personal style. The site design and layout are minimal, providing a personal journal atmosphere. The colouring, yellow, is there to provide warmth, and the floral pattern to add a feminine aspect to the design. The design of my blog is in line with my personal preferences, which is fitting since those similar to me are the intended audience. The content of “A Lazy Girls Guide to Self-Care”, is written informally, in first person and in a way that doesn’t take itself to seriously. As I have no formal training or professional knowledge in the realm of self-care, I am only really qualified to give advice that is from my own experience; Because of this it is fitting that my writing style is not formal or academic. In addition to this the content present on “A Lazy Girls Guide to Self-Care”, is very anecdotal in an attempt to resonate with multiple people rather than only those who know me personally, I tend to stay with topics that would allow others to relate to, regardless of whether they knew me or not. The value I am providing through “A Lazy Girls Guide to Self-Care”, is relatability. I want someone who reads my post to be able to fit the advice into their life or feel less alone.

That being said I think this marks the end of my blogging. I think the tricky thing with producing content is that you need to produce content that you actively consume. A book author wouldn’t be able to write a book never having read one, the same goes for blogging. I do not enjoy reading blogs, I very rarely consume media in that for which made it even harder for me to produce media for this platform. In addition, I recall on the first day we were instructed to write our blog about something that we are passionate about, I did not take this advice. I don’t think there is something I am so passionate about that I would choose to spend my time writing about it, if I’m being honest I hate writing, I have never had a way with words or the want to write down my thoughts.

In regard to social media I am of the opinion that whatever you put online is up to you as long as you can acknowledge that it is there forever and will always be linked back to you. This class has made me realize I do not want my name attached to my blog, I don’t want someone to stumble upon a story I shared and be able to link it to my name. I admire those in this class who have boldly put themselves out there and will continue to do so with their content, but I would rather have my online presence kept to the minimal.

always believe in magic

Location: Universal Studios, Orlando / Florida, USA Couple of years ago I had a chance to visit the Universal Studios in Orlando. For a movie freak like me this was something incredible. Seeing places, characters and items from your favourite movies in real life is such an extraordinary experience. There were a lot of activities […]

Process Post #11: Community Guidelines

I am not a fan of the wishy-washy. Grey areas are not for me, my friends. I know, very Dawn à la Waitress of me. 

And while I get that we’re all big kids here, I think that it might be time for some rules. In saying so, I present to you: Moods & Mixtapes’ Community Guidelines.

THE SNIPPET

Moods & Mixtapes is a safe, creative space where we can share our go-to songs and reoccurring feels. We love jamming with you, so please help us to maintain the quality of the blog! Let’s work together and remember to be a little kinder to one another (and avoid any noise complaints). 

THE FULL ALBUM

  • We get it, we all have different tastes. But if you must disagree, do it intelligently. 
    • Having differing opinions does not justify offensive comments. If you wouldn’t say it face-to-face, don’t say it online. 
  • Absolutely no hate speech. 
    • Any comments attacking groups or other users will not be tolerated and will be removed immediately. Moods & Mixtapes is a space that welcomes anyone and everyone. 
  • If you feel offended by another user’s contribution or have noticed any distasteful comments, please report them to erica@moodsandmixtapes.com 
  • Listen to Aretha, show some RESPECT. 
  • If reposting or making mention to any of the cover art, blog posts, or playlists, this website, moodsandmixtapes.com, or @moodsandmixtapes on Spotify must be tagged. 
  • In need of a certain mix or want to see a certain track featured? Feel free to email requests to erica@moodsandmixtapes.com!

BUT, WHY?

Short, sweet, and hopefully manageable. I chose these guidelines because this blog is a way for me to express myself and give a bit of a sneak peek into who I am. At the end of the day, I want visitors to have the same experience. Although, for this to happen, we need to be aware of the users (virtually) around us. After all, a spoonful of respect and kindness helps the comment section go down smoothly. That’s how it goes, right? 

BUT, HOW?

When it comes to finding these rules a home, I’m planning on either adding them onto the About page or creating a new section of its own in the menubar. Either way, we’re in the clear and out of the grey. 

Now that this business is taken care of, let’s get to listening!

Play when…you’re feeling yourself

mmHMM, I see you! Smiling, sassy, living your best life. 

Maybe you’ve got your favourite feel-good outfit on, are having the greatest good hair day of all good hair days, (and/) or have just caught a glimpse of yourself in the hallway mirror and let me tell you—you’ve got it so flaunt it!

Ain’t there no shame in any of it. That’s right, so go ahead and check yourself out again because this is the type of energy that you deserve to feel every day. 

Sound on & strut. 

Process Post #10 | Community Guidelines

Our Community Guidelines

1. Mutual Respect in the Comments: Comments are welcomed, but please do not attack one another with hateful comments. I encourage all honest, and insightful comments from everyone, but please remember think twice before posting ate hate speech. 

2. Do not post unwarranted personal information of business owners: Please share your own experiences with the businesses that I mention in the posts, but unrelated hateful or discriminatory comments directed at business owners, and personal information of business owners will not be tolerated. Personal information including address, and contact information will be deleted

3. Blogs are opinions: Please remember that my recommendations are based on my own experiences, preferences, and opinions, what I may view as positive may be different from what you view as positive. Please explore my recommendations with that in mind. 
 
4. Information provided are subject to changes: All information I post, including facts about promotional deals, product information, prices, and business offerings, are correct to the best of my knowledge at the time I make the posting. That being said, this information may have been changed right after I posted, so please do further research on businesses you are curious about. 

For Our Community

I wanted to make these guidelines to promote a judge-free, discriminate-free place for everyone to communicate. I want to open the comments section up so a dialogue within our community can exist. I encourage everyone to share their thoughts and contribute to the conversation. That being said, I highly advise against hateful comments. I will promote free and open conversation so I will not delete many comments, but lets please try to keep our community honest. That being said, the only comments that WILL be deleted, are comments that state any personal information of business owners, employees of businesses, or any instances that may put someone in danger. All other discussions, whether postive or negative, I believe will contribute to the open discussion, and I will not delete. 

Please also keep in mind that I am an independent, amateur blogger, and my blog posts are based on my own opinions and any information I provide is subject to change. While I highly encourage you all to go out and experience my recommendations, I recommend a wide range of businesses, so some may not be for you. Similarly, if you go out to experience my recommendations, please remember that any information I give off product/service offering, prices, or any information of any kind is based on my own knowledge at the time of the blog’s posting date. That means that information may not be up to date, and may have changed. 

These guidelines are necessary for this blog because I want to encourage an open and honest conversation within our community. I also want to be upfront and authentic about my recommendations.

Implementation

I posted my community guidelines directly on my home page, and in my “About Me” page so people can easily find and read it. I also monitor my comments section, a notification is sent each time someone comments, so I can quickly identify when comments do not follow the guidelines. 

Essay #2 | The Journey of Navigating Vancouver

With Nix Navigates Vancouver, my goal was to create a community of people within Vancouver to share interesting finds around the city. Initially, I knew I wanted to highlight local businesses and entrepreneurs, but I didn’t know which route my blog would go in. While creating a roadmap for my website, I saw that most of my recommendations fits into three broad categories that summarized by overall interests; experiences, food, and shopping. With the theme of spending differently, and buying locally, I wanted to share unique local businesses that others might not know about. Before I move on, I want to quickly highlight some posts that features very cool local businesses. “2 Places to Shop That isn’t an Ordinary Supermarket” is a blog where I talk about two small independent grocery stores that are sustainable and promotes waste-free shopping. In the post “Unique Private Dinners with Independent Chefs,” I recommend two amazing chefs here in Vancouver that will actually come to your house and cook for you.

I aim for my website to appear more personal compared to other Vancouver related news outlets, so every post is written in my voice based on my own interests. The goal is that my audience can recognize I was the sole writer of my website, rather than a team of marketers in the city. This would hopefully translate into the content being more authentic and valuable for readers. Being authentic and connecting with people I like are two points that works to achieve success (Thorn, 2012). Since this blog, first and foremost, is a blog made for a class, the audience I’ve been envisioning from the start has been my classmates. Through the weeks, I began to view my website as an actual publication rather than a semester-long assignment and perceived my audience to be something bigger than just our publication class.

I picture my audience to be other young individuals in Vancouver who were also curious about what our city has to offer. Specifically, I wrote for counter publics of people who are interested in sustainability, promotes health and fitness, enjoys exploring, likes travelling, and loves to eat. I value I hope to provide are insightful and relevant recommendations that people are interested in. My mission is that people go out and tries my recommendations, and genuinely enjoys it. On the other hand, I also hope to bring value to local businesses by promoting and increasing awareness of their offerings on my platform. Though my personal experiences with these businesses, I hope I can bring insight into my website’s community.

To address my audience, I incorporate a lot of visual and design elements into my blog posts. I try to lay out my blogs in an engaging way that retains reader’s interest. For every business that I recommend, I try to include pictures and links to their social media. At the start of the semester, my blog posts were very minimal because I just used the standard format that WordPress provided for posts. After a couple weeks, I became more comfortable experimenting with WordPress plug-in’s and made my blogs more creative.

I found Google Analytics to be a great tool in viewing who my readers are, when they visit my website, and which types of posts gets the most visit. Since I want to make meaningful recommendations that my readers actually care about, the fact I consider to be most useful in Google Analytics would be seeing what pages my viewers visit. From this information, I can see that my posts “3 Vacations You Do Not Have to Fly to” and “2 Places to Shop That isn’t an Ordinary Supermarket” are the most popular. I can shift future posts towards topics that are similar to what is currently popular on my page.

I previously mentioned that with this website, I wanted to create a place where a community of like-minded people can come, engage with one another, share ideas, and communicate. For this reason, I provide and comments section in every post’s, and on my home page. I want this blog to be bigger than just myself, where others can share their recommendations or provide their own experiences to places that I recommend. Either at the beginning or the end of every blog post, I ensure to encourage readers to join the conversation in the comment sections. Allowing comments also motivates me to share real recommendations, because it would hurt my entire blog if I recommend something that everyone else has a negative experience with. With comments, there may be the occasional unexpected negative interactions that occur. Although it is an extra step to monitor my very quiet comment section for anything offensive, misleading, or hateful, I find keeping a comment section if more beneficial than hurtful. Writings and posts are actually enriched by the responses so I never did I consider disabling my comment section just to avoid the very small group of trolls and haters (Gardiner et al., 2016).

At the beginning of the term, I thought publications done in blog form on a website was only made by professional teams of educated writers. For ordinary amateur writers like me, I thought the only place I could create on online presence and share my ideas was through social media platforms. I now understand that, making a website is accessible to everyone. In a time where everything is becoming digital, I found it useful to learn tools and software such as WordPress, and Google Analytics.

Through this publication course, I learned a lot about how to establish an online presence. My experience writing the blog has been enjoyable, as I was able to write on topics I am genuinely interested in. However, regarding the future of this blog, I think this week will be the last week that Nix Navigates Vancouver will be updated. Through the semester, I learned that maintaining a blog, with weekly insightful posts, is very time consuming. I will still use everything I learned in this class and translate it into all of my future endeavours. I am active on my social media accounts, and this is where I will use the skills I developed on speaking to an audience. Social media is a stage for self-expression, communication, and self-promotion and is essentially where we create and display an online identity of our actual self (Dijck, 2013). This class will help me establish a presence on my social media platforms. Further, I am a student in marketing and entrepreneurship so I definitely see myself using the online skills that I developed while creating this website. That being said, thank you to the few of you who have been coming back to my website every week to see what I have to recommend and share. Thank you for being a part of this community. Let’s continue to explore the city and support small local businesses!

References

Gardiner, B., Mansfield, M., Anderson I., Holder, J., Louter, D., & Ulmanu, M. The dark side of Guardian comments. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/12/the-dark-side-of-guardian-comments

Thorn, J. (2012, November 4). Make Your Thing. Transom. Retrieved from https://transom.org/2012/jesse-thorn-make-your-thing/

Van Dijck, J. (2013, March 14). ‘You have one identity’: performing the self on Facebook and LinkedIn. Media, Culture & Society, 35(2). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443712468605

The Wendigo: A Man-eater

a supernatural being belonging to the spiritual traditions of Algonquian-speaking First Nations in North America. 

Names:
Depending on the many First Nations that speak an Algonquian language, including the AbenakiSiksikaMi’kmaqAlgonquinOjibwe and Innu, the spelling and pronunciation of the word “windigo” differs. Wendigo, wheetigo, windikouk, wi’ntsigo, wi’tigo and wittikka are all alternative versions of the same term. Other names, such as atchen, chenoo and kewok, are also commonly used to refer to the windigo.

In Legend:
According to most Algonquian oral traditions, a wendigo is a cannibalistic monster that preys on the weak and socially disconnected. In most versions of the legend, a human becomes a wendigo after his or her spirit is corrupted by greed or extreme conditions such as hunger and cold. In others, humans become wendigos when possessed by a prowling spirit during a moment of mental or emotional weakness.

Origin and History:
The wendigo legend existed in Algonquian oral history for many centuries, long before Europeans arrived in North America.  Stories have circulated on the Western frontier in the 1800s, among Plains First Nations peoples and employees of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC). Some HBC traders’ records describe encounters with Indigenous spiritual leaders claiming to descend into “fits” of religious passion. Indigenous peoples often accused these people of being wendigos; HBC traders sometimes described them as mad. In some cases, community members or relatives of the accused killed the suspected wendigo as a precaution. In one example, three men killed Cree spiritual leader Abishabis after he became greedy and killed a First Nations family — which led others to believe that he was a wendigo.

Symbolism:
1. Legends of the wendigo coinside with the beliefs, social structures, and traditions of the people who tell these stories. For some, it serve as a reminder about what can happen when individuals are left outside of the community.
Extreme hunger, cold, and isolation were ever-present and threatening facts of life for many First Nations people living in the northern boreal forests. In fact, most wendigo stories begin with an individual or small group trapped in the cold wilderness without food for an extended period. Wendigos were said to kill lonely travelers or a transform into a member of a group before eventually killing other humans it encountered.

2. Greed and resource sharing.
Human survival often depended on communal cooperation. Any individual who refused to share local resources, especially in times of great deprivation, would be a social pariah.

3. The injustices that Indigenous peoples have faced in Canada.
A more contemporary symbol which encompasses the historical pain from residential schools, the restriction of rights in the Indian Act, the Sixties Scoop and similar policies. Armand Ruffo’s film, A Windigo Tale (2010), for example, uses the monster to tell a story about the inter-generational trauma of residential schools. For some Indigenous persons, the wendigo represents the forces of colonization.

Essay 2 – Creating My Blog

The following is my final essay for PUB101. The essay highlights my experience creating this blog and the decisions and changes I made throughout the process. You can read the essay below or download the PDF above for a more legible read.

The blog I created this semester is entitled “Melissa Hudson”. The website is a professional portfolio that showcases my work as a stylist and content creator. My website is divided into three sections “Editorial”, “Styling”, and “Posiel”. The Editorial section displays my work in graphic design and artistic directing. The Styling section shows my work in fashion styling and the inspiration behind my work. The Posiel section holds all of my work for PUB101 that is not directly related to the other themes of my blog. I created this blog to be used as a professional portfolio in my career outside of school. Thus, the posts I create are all portfolio pieces or pieces that allow viewers insight into who I am as an artist. The content is all directed to my desired field of interest and presents the blog as a representation of my brand (myself as an artist). Through the creation of this blog, I have been branding myself as a professional and therefore, my blog is intended for potential employers and admirers of my work.

My imagined audience is potential employers who are working in the fashion and art industries as well as young creatives who enjoy viewing the work of other young artists. This can be seen through my artist statement on the opening page which informs reader who I am an as artist and as a person and what my personal niche is in the industry. I have created my website so that my audience can easily navigate my work and sift through my content based on what appeals to them. This can also be seen in the design of my website as I have designed it to be very minimalistic so that the work stands out. In addition, the colour scheme (black, white, and a low opacity pink) is reflective of myself and my brand. The colour scheme is chic, fashionable, and simplistic yet bold.

My audience is also addressed through my content as the majority of my posts are accompanied by a work statement where I state the purpose of the piece, what it was created for, what my inspirations were, and why I took the direction that I did. This information is important for potential employers in understanding the work I have done and for what reasons. Other young artists are being addressed as the featured images I use as transmedia representations of my work are very artistic and true to my brand. Thus, I am catching their artistic eye through the use of this creative imagery.

I believe that I provide value to the fashion/art community as I am my own individual, with unique experiences, tastes, and interests. Therefore, nothing I do will be identical to the work of another artist. My websites value is not monetary, but it is valuable in networking. Not only can I use it to promote myself as an artist, but my audience can use my work as inspiration. They can use my Styling section as fashion inspiration/ advice, and they can contact me to collaborate or to hire me for a job. Thus, the value in my website derives from its ability to act as a driver for connections or inspiration.

My website is a portfolio intended to help with employment after I graduate in my field of interest. Since I am still a student, I have not yet been employed in my field, therefore, I do not have any professional work to showcase. In order to overcome this, I did quite a bit of research on things to include in portfolio’s when entering the workforce after graduation. An article on The Muse website argued  that “Having something to show off—even if it wasn’t for an actual company or client—will still be powerful in representing your abilities” (Frost, N.d). Frost’s argument suggests that creating ‘mock’ pieces based on the type of work you want to do strengthens your portfolio. Thus, in my portfolio I have created and will continue to create ‘mock’ pieces of the type of work I hope to do. In addition, building up my online presence shows potential employers dedication to my intended line of work. This is suggested by John DiScala in the following quote about having a professional online presence; “By having one, you’re differentiating yourself and showing colleagues and potential employers that you’re dedicated to what you do. Don’t feel like you have to limit yourself either. […]Use the tools you have available to be the most engaging” (DiScala, 2019).  DiScala’s quote highlights the importance in distringuishing yourself within your industry in order to stand out. He suggests that by creating a digital portfolio you are one step above the competition who do not have one.

When I first created a blog at the beginning of the semester, I had a completely different theme (Sustainable Design). However, after a few weeks I realized that this was not a good topic for me to choose for a blog. Even though I was very interested and passionate about the topic, I felt as though I had nothing to contribute to the current sphere of information regarding the topic. As I am a full-time student who is not currently working in a creative field, discovering anything new to contribute to the field was too time consuming and I did not feel motivated to do so. After much consideration I decided to change my website to a professional portfolio and fashion/design blog. As soon as I did so I found that I was much more motivated to create content and develop my website as it could potentially benefit me in my future career.

Due to this change, I found myself thinking more critically about my tone of voice and language in my content as I want to present myself as professional but still youthful and creative. I found myself critically thinking about who my intended audience was (primarily potential employers) and how I would want them to perceive me. This altered the kind of content I posted. Originally, I had intended to only post my work and nothing about myself besides a short artist description. However, after doing some research on e-portfolios I realized that allowing employers to get to know myself a little bit is extremely beneficial. This can be seen in Frost’s article as she states “While your past work is a critical aspect when someone’s thinking about working with you, it’s important to remember that said person isn’t looking to hire your work, but the person who made it” (Frost, N.d). Erin Greenawald also comments on a digital portfolios ability to help you brand and market yourself in the following quote; “As anyone who has contemplated shifting career gears knows, your resume is a great way to show off your past experiences, but it doesn’t always portray the future self you want hiring managers to see. On a personal website, however, the brand you put out to the world is totally up to you. You can use it to show who you are, not just what you’ve done” (Greenawald, N.d). Therefore, I will continue to create content that expresses who I am as an individual, outside of my work as an artist.

Going forward I would like to continue maintaining my site as a professional portfolio. However, I think I will remove the ‘weekly blog’ aspect and manage the site as solely a digital resume with posts only containing portfolio pieces.  However, based on my research I can see that it is beneficial to create blog posts once in a while that are focused on who I am and my individual perspectives. This will help my ‘brand’ myself as an artist to employers and distinguish myself from other artists in the industry. I also plan to move my website to a different website builder (Wix) so that I can personalize and customize the site more thoroughly. Overall, I know that maintaining this website and continuing to develop my ‘brand’ and style through design, editorial, content, and tone will benefit me in my professional career.

Works Cited

DiScala, J. (2019, February 21). 5 Ways to Create a Professional Online Presence. Retrieved November 24, 2019, from https://www.inc.com/john-discala/5-ways-to-create-a-professional-online-presence.html.

Frost, A. (2015, July 6). How to Build a Portfolio That’ll Make Everyone Want to Hire You. Retrieved November 24, 2019, from https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-secrets-to-building-a-portfolio-thatll-make-everyone-want-to-hire-you.

Greenawald, E. (2014, July 23). How My Personal Website Helped Me Land My Dream Job. Retrieved November 24, 2019, from https://www.themuse.com/advice/how-my-personal-website-helped-me-land-my-dream-job.

Assorted Mini Melon Pan Box? YES! @ef and be Bakehouse

Melon Pan メロンパン is a classic type of sweet bun originated from Japan. I grew up eating quite a lot of melon buns back in Hong Kong but I never had some that were as fine as those from “ef and be Bakehouse”. Maybe it’s because the buns from this shop are produced by an authentic Japanese!

The Japanese sweet bread actually has nothing to do with melon, they are named “melon-pans” because they’re made to look like melons; with the iconic cookie crust topping.

The bakehouse runs mainly on a pick up/delivery basis, they also do pop-ups in cafes during weekends, eaters can easily order their pans (which means bread in Japanese!) from their website.

Since I really wanted to try more flavors with my very limited quota for calories, I ordered their assorted mini melon pan box that includes a mini size of 6 small buns, all with different tastes. And I absolutely loved all of them, the bread was so fresh, the crusts were crispy and rich in each of its respective flavors. My top favorites are the Matcha Pan (the green one) and Kinako Pan (the golden tanned one), as I’m originally a huge fan of matcha and kinako hahaha).

The shop currently only delivers to Vancouver, Burnaby, New West, Port Moody & Coquitlam, with a delivery fee of $5. But for orders more than $50, they would offer free delivery!

This box of sweet treat had definitely made my day and I’m sure that every person with slightly a sweet tooth or favoritism towards baking goods would love them.

Assorted Mini Melon Pan Box - 6 pcs

CAD $14.00

Matcha x 1- Original x 1- Kinako x 1- Chocolate x 1- Lemon Poppy Seed x 1- Black Sesame x 1

Ratings: 9.5/10

Website: https://www.efnbe.com/

Pick-Up Location: A6 – 5279 Still Creek Ave, Burnaby, BC, V5C 5V1, Canada

Community Guidelines

My blog posts are mostly based on my own experiences, so I’m interested in hearing how others’ experiences may differ from mine. Comments are automatically open on posts to create a more enjoyable experience and for more people to engage with the topic (Konnikova, 2013).To facilitate these discussion on the topics of my blogs, my community guidelines are:

  1. All comments are welcome and encouraged. Commenter’s first and last names will appear for easier identification and follow-up on threads.
  2. Keep comments relevant and read what others have said before posting the same thing.
  3. Commenters must be thoughtful and respectful of others’ opinions even though they are different from their own.
  4. Comments are moderated and will be closed if they violate any of these guidelines.



Sources:

Konnikova, M. (2013, October 23). The Psychology of Online Comments. The New Yorker. Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-psychology-of-online-comments.