My experience with online publishing through this course has been quite the adventure so far. As the semester wraps up, I am able to reflect on the work I’ve done and see how my online presence has developed. I remember when PUB 101 first started, it was overwhelming in a sense, as we were tasked with building a website from a clean slate. With no real structure and limited guidance, it was a completely different experience than any other course I’ve taken. It seemed impossible at first, it was challenging to even figure out a starting point.
I chose to develop my publication on the topic of cars. As you’ll learn when you read through my blog posts, I hold the topic of cars very close to my heart. Cars are more than just cars to me, they’re engineering marvels with individual characters. My goal with this blog was to try and express my take on why cars are more than just tools to transport you from point-a to point-b. I approached this in a style which aimed at being welcoming and interesting. I imagined my public to be those who don’t see cars the same way I do. If there’s one thing I learned throughout my years of being obsessed with cars, it’s that not everybody feels the same way. In fact, most people don’t understand the obsession at all. I understand this and see it as a fun challenge. I enjoy teaching people about cars and trying to convince them where I’m coming from.
I aim to provide entertainment through my blog, in hopes of creating a personal connection with the reader. One of my deeper goals when making this blog was to make the reader feel less alone. Cars are more than just machines, they can be methods of therapy. Throughout my life, cars have been there for me in my darkest times, and I hope that my stories open the eyes of my readers to the idea of this reality. The cover photo of my website, the picture of my car in Porteau Cove actually has a far deeper meaning than just the face value of the photo. That photo was taken at probably 7 or 8 in the morning of Tuesday, January 25th (the day of our first in-person PUB 101 class). Why was I in Porteau Cove? I was having an awful night and needed to get away for a little bit. I set out of my home in New Westminster at about 11 pm the night before. I ended up in Porteau Cove after driving around at about 3 am. I sat there in my car and watched the sunrise, before heading back to the mainland to attend class. My car was there for me and provided me with the automotive freedom to decompress and relieve some of the stress that I was undergoing. Without that escape, it would’ve been a far more challenging night.
What am I trying to get at here? My blog is more than just a face-value story-telling platform about cars. My underlying goal is to help my readers understand that there’s therapy in automotive freedom. When things aren’t going great, it’s therapeutic to get in your car and go for a drive. Cars make for excellent distractions through tough times.
In terms of what I’ve learned about my audience through analytics, I haven’t had a whole lot of web traffic to track, but my average reader tends to stay on my website for a decent amount of time. This is refreshing to see, as it appears that my audience is connecting with my automotive adventures. I haven’t received any direct website comments, but the comments about my website through the peer-reviews have been insightful.
Looking back, my thinking of publication has changed quite significantly. At first, I thought publishing had a solid structure, which would make it hard to set foot into the world of publication. I quickly learned that this is not the case, and there is lots of freedom in publishing. It’s been a fun process building my “online presence” and “cyber infrastructure.” I will admit that it was challenging to stay motivated at times. I related to what Gardner Campbell wrote in the 2009 paper entitled “A Personal Cyber Infrastructure.” There’s part of this work that states “sometimes progress is linear[,] sometimes progress is exponential.” I found this to be true within an online publishing context. Progress is challenging at times. However, when progress is made, I find the concept of “digital gardens” presented by Tanya Basu to be particularly applicable. With the development of my website, I’ve found that I’ve created my own “digital garden.”
References:
https://er.educause.edu/articles/2009/9/a-personal-cyberinfrastructure