Tag Archives: @learnpublishing

Comments, Questions and Concerns

The concept of a comment section on the Internet is generally a scary and overwhelming place and for good reason. The more that we have been allowed free rein of anonymity on the Internet, the more and more people start to feel free to express some of the more controversial and hateful opinions that they harbour with little empathy for others, as is seen particularly with articles and content created by women. Aubrey Hirsch in particular writes about her experiences in receiving online vitriol for content that she has created, and the ferocity that was in some of those comments was quite honestly horrifying. I knew in my brain that those types of things were being said on the internet, but to see the real screenshots of what people have to say when they are given the appropriate environment was jarring at best.

When I was designing Considering Cardamom, the template I picked out for my site had comments automatically built into the post formats. Initially, that was something of a turn-off for me. The last thing that I wanted was to have to potentially deal with disrespectful comments or people criticizing my content. Furthermore, reading more and more about the backlash that women experience when writing articles was overwhelming even just to think about. I’m not a professional journalist, I am not writing this blog intending to reach the masses and educate them about my opinion. The posts I write are for personal reasons, whether those are for internal reflection or just to have a record of some of the recipes that I’ve learned from my family.

Ultimately, I did decide to leave the comment sections open. Logically, it makes little sense that there would be a large amount of political debate or harassment within my comment sections given the content of my blog. I highly doubt that people are going to be sending me death threats or sexual harassment over my chai recipe. The context of a site is so important to consider, and it put my worries at ease to realize I wasn’t going to be linking my real full name to any highly controversial content. Additionally, while checking out other recipe blogs that I have used in the past, one thing I noted was that most of them had open comment sections. Most of them that had significant activity allowed users who made the recipes to offer suggestions and personal anecdotes that could facilitate new users’ experiences while cooking. I wanted to provide that possibility for a community and figured that I would handle any unrelated comments as they arose.

Works Cited

Becky Gardiner, Mahana Mansfield, Ian Anderson, Josh Holder, Daan Louter and Monica Ulmanu. 2016. “The dark side of Guardian comments“

Hirsch, Aubrey. 2022. “That’s How it Works When You’re a Woman on the Internet“

Mini Assignment #6: Create a gif

For this mini assignment, I struggled trying to figure out what to create a gif about. I debated whether or not to make one about a video game, but thought it would be super generic. I could do one about a superhero, but those exist everywhere online. I scoured my iPhone’s camera roll looking for a batch of photos I could make a gif out of, which led me to what you see below.

Thanks to the TikTok algorithm, I have recently developed an obsession with orange cats. Prior to my brainwashing I was a firm cat hater. Me and my girlfriend would playfully fight over whether dogs or cats were better. Around the peak of our bickering over this topic, we encountered this beautiful orange cat on a walk. I held the preconceived notion that cats were apprehensive or unfriendly towards strangers. But this cat was one of the most affectionate creatures I have ever met! They instantly approached me and my girlfriend and started letting us pet them.

Of course me and my girlfriend had to snap some pictures with our new friend. The gif you see below is from my little photo shoot with the adorable cat we named Rochester.

image of me with an orang cat

Peer Review #3: Karmen Suen

Link to Karmen’s site: http://bbtmonster.com/

The site that I will be reviewing is titled ‘Bubble Tea Monster’ by Karmen Suen.

Screenshot of Karmen’s blogsite (Homepage)

When I first entered Karmen’s site, I was greeted by large texts that read ‘Read my latest bubble tea adventures in Vancity’ and a list of recent posts underneath as pictured below within the screenshot. This helped me get right into the content right away without having to take a lot of initiative to search for posts which I appreciated.

While I did appreciate the fact that I could view content immediately after entering the site, it didn’t give me a chance to really get a sense of who Karmen is. I would have to read through multiple posts and the ‘About’ page to understand who she is and what she does. I would suggest having a one-sentence description that is quick, witty, and snappy; all while stating who you are and what your blog site will mainly revolve around. I believe this will help visitors understand who you are and have more of an incentive to continue viewing your posts.

From the process and public posts that Karmen has made, it seems the main targeted audience are those who are bubble tea aficionados as a lot of the public post content revolves around bubble teas from different chains (as shown within the image below). The titles themselves are witty and intriguing as they helped grabbed my attention, thereby incentivizing viewers to click and read the posts themselves.

Upon scrolling down, users are greeted with a list of recent posts that states the title as well as the month it was posted (as shown in the image directly below). As mentioned previously, this helped me jump right into any post that Karmen has made. However, I would have liked to see some indication as to what category each post belongs to (i.e., the mini-assignments, the process posts, etc.). The few posts that I immediately knew which category they belonged to are those that are titled ‘Peer Review’. The only way for me to know which category each post belongs to is by using the dropdown menu and viewing the available posts within each page. Maybe consider having the category of the post within some other part of the list of recent posts or have it within the title itself. However, this is from the perspective of someone who is taking the same PUB class and has an understanding of what each category alludes to whereas the average viewer wouldn’t know so feel free to not implement that idea in that case.

The typeface chosen and used for the title elements utilizes more rounded edges instead of sharper edges. This conveys a more welcoming feeling to those who are first entering the site. I think this typeface is a great choice for your title elements, however, I think the typeface used within paragraphs could be changed. I think the serif font used is a bit jarring when used in conjunction with the sans-serif. I would suggest using the same sans-serif typeface as you used for your title elements for your paragraph but in a thinner stroke.

The nav bar is simple and intuitive, allowing me to easily find whatever type of post or page within the site. Each category within the dropdown menu is clearly labeled.

Overall, Karmen did an excellent job creating their blog site. There were a few minor nitpicky things here and there but generally, I enjoyed reading through all of your posts. They were all written in a witty way allowing me to gain a sense of who you are and allowing for a more enjoyable read. Hopefully, my comments were helpful in some way! Good luck with the rest of the semester and any final projects! Hang in there, we are almost free!

Essay: Social Media & Democracy

In a perfect world, social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are meant to connect us, and create a safe space where individuals from across the globe can come together to share their thoughts, opinions, or little pieces of their lives with one another. Ideally, this concept of having a digital space creates a perfect garden where democracy can flourish, and allows for the cultivation of diverse and widespread online communities. As a creator and artist who publishes work into the digital space, I utilize these social media platforms to display and promote my own creative projects. Why is this important? What is it about modern online social platforms that is so appealing to artists like myself? 

The content that circulates throughout social media is generally “unregulated except by the collective hands of the people” (Nezam); therefore, its inherent democratic nature creates a unique space for small and indie artists to launch their work. For example, let’s imagine that I just posted one of my short films publicly onto Youtube, and then one of my good friends wants to support me so they copy the link to my video and share it on Twitter to their couple of hundred followers. Now, let’s say a handful of their followers clicked the link to watch my video and liked it so much that they went on to retweet the link to their even larger followings. This chain reaction might continue on and on for a while, exponentially generating more views and publicity with every share, and the next thing you know we have a viral video. Perhaps a large group of social media users get really inspired by the short film that I put out and they start a trend of tagging @WarnerBros in the comment section, eventually gaining the attention of the CEO. The following week I begin my new job directing Warner Brother’s newest upcoming blockbuster, which I wind up winning an Academy Award for, and then I live happily ever after… Okay, maybe I got a little carried away there, but I think you get the point! It may sound a little silly, but this is an example of how the structure of social media spaces can function in a democratic way; a large chunk of the public collectively decided to make the video popular and got me a fake job at a big movie studio.

On a more serious and meaningful note, a self-governing model of social media can be and is often used to spread and develop political ideas and social activism campaigns. In a similar way to how our viral video got around the web, democratic digital platforms can create safe and accessible spaces where marginalized groups can “collectively organize, offer support, and increase visibility online for [community members] and issues that matter to them” (Auxier). It is evident that social campaigning through platforms such as Twitter or Instagram is an effective way of reaching out to expand your group’s following and gain support from a broader audience. For example, the Black Lives Matter anti-racism movement gained some serious attention in 2020 following a series of murders stemming from police brutality towards black Americans. With the use of hashtags such as #blacklivesmatter, the movement “has been able to organize countless rallies and events with large turnouts primarily using social media” (Olson), proving just how powerful the democratic online space can be. 

It is important to note, however, that the idea that all social media spaces are equally democratic is flawed and unrealistic, considering that they are owned, monitored, and regulated by companies such as Meta. A newly developed threat to maintaining a fair democracy within the digital sphere is Elon Musk’s newly acquired role as the owner and CEO of Twitter. Since claiming that title, Musk has failed to protect and regulate hateful and violent speech, and he has also gone on to remove bans from problematic and hateful celebrities’ accounts, such as Kanye West and Donald Trump. Trump, who was removed from Twitter following the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol, has consistently been proven to spread misinformation and incite violent and hateful ideologies into the public domain. In order to protect the social media platform’s democratic structure and “ensure all people can participate in the public conversation freely and safely… [Twitter must] remain committed to not providing a safe haven for users who seek to spread misinformation, incite political violence, fuel hate, and undermine democracy” (Bookbinder).

The freedom of social media which allows for a self-governing and democratic atmosphere is one of the single greatest strengths of modern technology. We just need to ensure that the line is walked carefully enough to maintain a safe space so that all respectful voices can be heard.

Review: YVRchives

Hello again my lovely, lovely readers! On this semester’s final episode of peer reviews, I welcome you to the cozy little gallery known as YVRchives, a local photography blog with an aim to “celebrate different photographers’ take on beautiful B.C.’s Vancouver.” YVRchives.ca is run by my fellow Vancouverite Shania Bakhtiani, who is an aspiring photographer themself, and is using their blog space to explore and showcase the work of some local artists.

Photography sample by Jaume Creus. A shadowed person stands outside in front of a storefront at nighttime. The storefront has a glowing sign that reads "Tirelli" and has five large boarded up windows. A puddle on the cement ground reflects the light from the glowing "Tirelli" sign.
Photo by Jaume Creus – https://jaumecreus.com/

Right off the bat, the witty name YVRchives drew me in, and it didn’t take long after exploring the site for me to fall in love with the blog. Shania’s passion for photography is extremely evident in every post that they publish to the archive gallery; the way they write about each week’s featured artist is so appreciatively critical of the art. It’s beautiful to feel through their writing just how inspired the author is, and they make it easy to share that excitement with them as you follow Shania on their journey through their blog. Perhaps I’m a bit biased as a film student, but I think that the photography showcased on YVRchives is truly captivating, and it’s awesome to get to see some small and local artists get their work shown off in such a positive environment.

As for the website’s aesthetic designs and layout, YVRchives does a wonderful job of staying clean and simple in order to draw the appropriate attention to the photographs being displayed throughout the site. The dark, nighttime work of Vancouver film photographer Jaume Creus really stood out on the blog’s light, neutral background, and successfully pulled me right in to reading my first YVRticle (see what I did there?). Additionally, I found the website’s dark green accents reminiscent of Vancouver’s lush landscapes, which is a perfect allusion to what inspired the blog in the first place. From a more technical standpoint, the design of the site’s homepage is quite intuitive (in reference to Victor Kaptelinin’s “Affordances”), with large coloured buttons obviously leading to go somewhere interesting, and a functioning search-bar that can help viewers navigate using keywords.

If I could add anything to this already well-established website, I would really love to see more of Shania Bakhtiani’s own work out on display somewhere on YVRchives.ca! Maybe the author could add a new section to the navigation bar titled “portfolio,” where they could add some of their personal photography projects. The addition of a portfolio would be a great way to help the author of the blog further connect with their readers, and also just to get their work out there because self-promoting is totally important for small and indie artists! Speaking of, I should really post some of MY art on here… maybe Shania and I can make a little agreement, I post some art, they post some art, and YOU readers at home go on and give us local artists some love. Anyways, it’s always a pleasure getting to review my peers’ blogs, and YVRchives did not disappoint, so make sure to stop by the archive gallery and tell Shania I said hi!

Victor Kaptelinin. “Affordances.” The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction, Chapter 44. Interaction Design Foundation.

Shoutout for Music for Saving Me

This month is the most hectic and mentally demanding month I have ever felt this year. I wasn’t able to rest a single day because of school and a new relationship I am in. This month is a real war battle for me in testing how strong and valuable I could be in addition to my hard and soft skills in design. Everyday just feels like another day in the battle field, in testing my hard and soft skills in design, and what I could be as a friend, teammate, a girlfriend, a sister, and a daughter. The one thing that makes me go through everyday is music. So, shout out to music!

With that, I will attached my autumn season playlist at the bottom. Feel free to leave your current favourite songs in the comments! I would love to hear them all! (I cannot add the link to my profile on here, so just click on my name that is displayed with the playlist!)

We are too Stunned to Speak

For this week, we are meant to make a gif. The only way I know how to make it from a video. Of course, the first thing that comes into my mind is my videos. I would say I’m expressive in general, both with my body language and the style of my videos. I found the clip I chose quite funny, so here’s a quick back story.

This clip is a part of my Montreal trip video earlier this year (in May). One of the days there, my best friend and I were just talking about the plan of the day. There were seagulls that screamed very loud to the point that we needed to stop and look. I think the reactions were funny already, but with my edit, it made it funnier. I have attached the full video down below as well if you want to see the whole context with audio.

PS. Rip your earsss

Multiple Channels

Like many people in our class, I have not connected my website with other social media platforms. However, this is due to the fact that I don’t think I will be continuing my site after this course. Furthermore, I did not want to connect my personal social media accounts to my website. Therefore, I would have to create new accounts for the purpose of my website.

Nonetheless, if I do have the intention of continuing my website, and wanting to reach out to audiences on different platforms, I do have in mind some platforms where I would want to connect with the users.

The First would be Reddit. As a frequent user of Reddit, and a part of the Genshin Impact subreddit, I find that Reddit would be an excellent choice for me to further expand my audience for my website. As the subreddit already has posts asking for help on the game to guides for how to build a certain character, I find it a perfect place for me to post my content on Reddit. As similar content already exists, I believe that If I share my content on Reddit, I will be able to gain a large number of users looking through my website.

The next platform would be Twitter. I notice that there are a few guides that already exist on Twitter. However, the guides are usually an image or simple guides on finding certain things in the game. Although the content of the guides is different, I find that If I do use Twitter to expand my audiences, I will be able to experiment with different types of guides, for the game, to gain a wider range of audiences.

Lastly, I would consider using Instagram to post guides on Genshin Impact. As mentioned earlier where some posts on Twitter use images to provide a guide for the game, I can do the same with Instagram. These posts are usually guides that show what resources I need to collect to build a character or different weapons and artifact options for a certain character. For Instagram, I believe that if the guide can be contained within an image, it would be an excellent way to bring more people onto my website.

With all things considered there are many platforms where I can connect my website in order to bring more audiences looking at my website. It is unfortunate that I don’t have any plans of continuing my website further after this course but, it is good to know that there exist many platforms I can use to create guides.

Transmedia Marketability

Creating Considering Cardamom has been a learning curve on just about every front imaginable. I always used to think of blogging as something easy to do, that you could just sit down and write whatever came to mind and people would give you money for it. I never really understood how someone could make a full living off of something as simple as that, and I will be honest, I definitely thought that bloggers were a little bit ridiculous when they complained about how much work they had to do. However, being on the opposite end of things now, I can see that there is a whole lot more to blogging than just writing.

One thing that I know I’ve definitely taken for granted is the presence of an audience just waiting for content to be distributed to them. On most social media platforms that I’ve participated in with a public account, it has not taken long for me to develop a relatively large audience with very minimal effort. One funny Tiktok using a trending sound could get me over 16K views. Running a blog is very different, as I’ve noticed from looking at my analytics. The last time I checked, the high point of traffic on my site was a grand total of 11 people. Judging from the fact that they logged in on a Monday and the class for which I am developing this blog had an assignment due on Tuesday, it was no great surprise to me that my fellow students might want to see what I had done to gain inspiration for their own assignments.

I think that in the future if I choose to continue this blog, I would want to incorporate social media into my blog to help grow my audience. When it comes to recipe sites, I rarely seek specific blogs out on Google. More often than not, I end up finding a delicious-looking recipe by scrolling through Tiktok or Instagram and getting a link back to the site where the recipe is hosted. This idea of transmedia storytelling is something that I know I have experienced several times from a consumer perspective, but was not aware of the name or intention behind it. The use of different mediums to appeal to different audiences all contributing to the same overall brand is something that’s seen in social media, entertainment, fashion and more. From a back-end point of view, this is a brilliant strategy and one that I myself would love to give a shot when I have the time available to film and edit social media videos.

Peer Review #3

This week I had the opportunity to look over yet another website of one of my peers. Caffeinated Tammy is a personal and lifestyle blog run by Tamanna about her daily life, the things she enjoys, and her experience as a first generation Indian immigrant. As a child of immigrants, it was wonderful to read through her blog and see someone who had such similar and still opposite experiences to myself. There is a refreshing overlap between our content, with both of our blogs being dedicated towards remaining in touch with our culture.

In terms of marketability, I think that Tammy has done an excellent job in ensuring that her site can be discovered by her intended audience. She has links to several different social media platforms indicated clearly at the bottom of her site. One thing that I would recommend in terms of social media links is to have the social media links and icons also listed at the top of the site as well. The lists of pages on the menu are on the right side of the header, leaving space for social media links on the left side. In general, it is generally unlikely that readers will read anything that is “below the fold” unless they are given sufficient motivation or are looking for something in specific. Following this logic, we can assume that they will not be scrolling all the way to the bottom of the page and therefore it is likely that the social media links will be missed.

The social media platforms themselves are as well quite well chosen in regards to Tammy’s intended audience. Her choice in uploading posts to Tiktok, Instagram and Twitter make logical sense given that the user demographics of each of those sites are generally younger audiences. Based on how the algorithm on Tiktok in particular works, those who interact with content that is similar to Tammy’s will be more likely to see her posts. The title of her website is also both distinct and inoffensive enough that a Google search will lead to the intended blog, and there is little overlap with other platforms. Furthermore, Tammy’s use of social media operates in the same fashion as the transmedia storytelling, in that each platform linked can be consumed almost entirely on its own, however they all contribute to the same overall story. Overall I have little to suggest, and can’t wait to do more stalking into her site!

Peer Review #3: Knitting After Hours

Knitting After Hours is a fantastic blog by Lily that is centered around the creator’s interests such as cooking and knitting. The About Me page eloquently captures the tone and subject matter of the titular blog. However, one aspect I would like to pay great attention to is the personal anecdotes Lily articulates. These personal details are a great touch that effectively conveys the personality behind the Knitting After Hours blog to the audience. Additionally, this personal approach lends credence to the assertions of Tom Critchlow in regard to digital gardening. For example, as cited in our Tanya Basu course reading: “with blogging, you’re talking to a large audience,” he says. “With digital gardening, you’re talking to yourself. You focus on what you want to cultivate over time” (Basu, 2020). Knitting After Hours captures the sense of a digital garden that Lily is fostering for both them and their larger audience. This is exemplified on the About Me page when Lily outlines how cooking and knitting helps them stay focused when conducting their academic responsibilities. It can be inferred that Lily wants to strive to achieve a better schoolwork ethic since it is mentioned on their About Me page that they “put off” assignments and readings. Thus cooking and knitting are great outlets to promote a better work ethic. This instance showcases how these interests help instill balance in their life. Therefore, Knitting After Hours serves as a digital garden that Lily can use to help cultivate better improvements in their life.

Basu, T. (2020). Digital gardens let you cultivate your own little bit of the internet. MIT Technology Review. Retrieved from https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/09/03/1007716/digital-gardens-let-you-cultivate-your-own-little-bit-of-the-internet/

Search Engine Optimization

In this week’s lecture, we’ve learned about search engine optimization and how it can help bring audiences to your website. Although talking about this concept this week, utilizing SEO to attract an audience had been always around to configure on Word Press. Moreover, utilizing the tags option to allow my website to show up at the top of Google searches is now one of my key goals in order to expand my website to a larger audience.

Before this week’s lecture, I didn’t realize the importance of using tags. I only added a few tags just for completion as I thought it was a requirement for the class. However, this is not true and can help my website to further grow.

As Genshin Impact is a popular game, I do not see that any of my posts show up in the search results. For example, if I try to search for a build for the character “Raiden Shogun” you will see multiple websites that are not mine but all with similar content. In fact, it does not show up even if I type “raiden shogun abysmal guide”. When searching for my website it only shows up at the bottom on the second search page. Discouraging, but this means that my website has a lot of room for improvement to reach out to a bigger audience.

An interesting result I got from one of my searches was when I searched for “absymal guides raiden” on Google. Instead of seeing my website show up in the search result, I found that the Posiel site was in the result.

search result on google of "absymal guides raiden"

This search result makes me wonder why my website does not show up first before Posiel. However, I will work towards changing this result so that I can have my website show up before Posiel.

With all things considered, having my website show up as one of the top search results on Google is something I’d want to achieve. However, considering the popularity of the game, I do understand that there will be a challenge. Nonetheless, it will not prevent me from working towards this goal.

Peer Review # 3

For the last peer review, I had the opportunity to review Kobe Sam’s website. At first glance, I really like the website. Simple, yet informative to a degree where you understand what the website is trying to achieve. Even before reading the “About Me” page, the theme of the website is easy to understand that it’s about Kobe’s lifestyle and personal blog.

I assume that rather than having an audience to speak to for the website’s content, I see it more as a personal blog where the content is for Kobe to reflect on his journey through school and the skills he has obtained. In other words, rather than writing content for a set audience, he is writing the content for himself. Where people can learn from Kobe’s own life experiences. One thing that I have noticed is that the amount of content uploaded for lifestyle and entrepreneurship is rather low. For a website on a personal blog, I expect that I’d find more content related to those topics rather than it all on academics. To improve user interactions and have more users looking at your website, I’d recommend trying to post more content related to those categories. Since your life experiences are unique it can potentially pull the attention of a niche user group to expand your audience.

Something I have noticed on your website is that it was hard to navigate. Since your content is grouped by: “Entrepreneurship”, “Lifestyle”, “Academia”, and “About Me”. When I try to go look for a set of content like the mini-assignments, it is rather hard to find all the mini-assignments. Therefore, I do recommend creating sub-categories under your current ones so that it allows your users to easily navigate through your website. Furthermore, I have noticed that some of the titles on your blog are bolded while some are not. To keep it consistent, I recommend sticking to one style. Whether you decide to keep the title of your posts bolded or not making sure what you post is consistent is important for your website. Also, I do see that some posts still have the “Uncategorized” category set on the post. I believe this is by mistake, but make sure to confirm everything is correct before you make the post public.

Everything considered I find that Kobe’s website is really good. There are a few minor flaws but they are all easy to fix. As I believe the content for Kobe’s website is a personal blog based on self-improvement I do not find the means to push Kobe to write content based on what the audience likes. However, if attracting an audience is the goal, using tools such as Google Analytics will help to understand your audience better and to know what content they enjoy seeing. As writing a blog about your own experiences is unique and something someone else cannot write, I believe that Kobe’s website has a lot of potential for growth and to further expand his content to a wider audience.

Week 10: Process Post

Within the prompt of this week’s process post, I will evaluate it from the standpoint of a creator and a user.

Analytics have proved to be very useful for many to strategically develop engaging content to share. Back when I was active on my fan Instagram account I would use the analytics to discern that 12pm was the best time to post. Additionally, I was able to garner from engagement data that 6 images in a collage worked best for my theme. However, when I was working my co-op jobs as a digital marketing assistant — analytics rarely factored into any actionable strategies. What usually happened was that analytics were just to be reported to the bosses. Personally, I find analytics to be an insightful tool, however it should not inform everything a content creator does.

On the other hand, when it comes to my experience as an end user — analytics about me cause anxiety. It is a modern dilemma amid the digital age — that everything we do is trackable and is providing data to various companies. I find myself outraged when I come across toxic social media posts in my feeds. I ask myself: why is the algorithm showing me this? I subsequently block these accounts, however I fear that going threw that extra step to block toxic social media accounts is actually feeding the algorithms to show me more of these types of content. Additionally, I am a very private person, so it is always stressful visiting sites and handing out my personal information. I recognize that this is the digital world we live in, but it is definitely tiresome and even worrisome.

Mini Assignment #5: Online Self Infographic

Within the prompt of this mini assignment, I have created this infographic to illustrate my online self.

It was very easy to discern that YouTube takes up most of my online usage. Even when I am doing something I always have a YouTube video on in the background.

Social media was also very easy to identify as a major time consumer when online. Platforms like Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram are always being checked. Whenever I bored the first thing I do is check social media. Worse then that, the first thing I do when I wake up is go on social media.

Next was gaming. I am an avid gamer so this was a no-brainer. In my free time I will usually be playing a multiplayer game like Destiny 2, League of Legends, Valorant, etc.

Penultimately, movie and television streaming services come up next. Admittedly, this use to be much higher; but in recent years my usage of streaming services like Netflix have dwindled. I mostly just use them to watch new episodes of shows. I rarely binge watch anymore.

Finally, web browsing is an all encompassing umbrella for general internet usage. Whether this be online shopping, researching something, etc.

Putting Yourself Out There

Aside from the astronomical amount of homework I seem to have collected in the past two weeks, I’ve really been enjoying running this blog over the past few months. It’s a really nice creative outlet that allows me to reflect on my own experiences as well as a reason to kick myself in the butt a little bit in terms of leaving my room and learning to cook with my mom. I’ve really enjoyed the experience, and having the opportunity to share that through this platform is actually a lot less nerve wracking than I thought it might be. Furthermore, as I’ve been applying for co-op jobs, this site has been an invaluable resource and incredibly helpful in demonstrating my experience and skills with website design and copywriting to potential future employers.

Something that hasn’t really crossed my mind in the past little while is the concept of SEO. In my past job when I worked for WIFTV, the site I was running had a built in SEO plugin. It would scan each page of the site and provide suggestions in order to make the site more SEO friendly and easier to find for the general audience. It was a super useful tool, and something I’ve been considering downloading for my own site. While for me, my site has been wonderfully easy to run, I have not really done much to make it easily discoverable. As Sam Hollingworth outlines in his article “15 Reasons Why Your Business Absolutely Needs SEO“, there are numerous benefits to using SEO for your site.

Some of the reasons outlined in Hollingworth’s article I already knew, such as the idea that SEO can help make your site more discoverable through organic searches by an audience. What I was not necessarily aware of was how SEO can provide information on audience preferences, which is something that I believe would be well worth knowing if I want to keep this blog going in the future.

Works Cited

Hollingsworth, Sam. April 13, 2018. “12 Reasons Why You Business Absolutely Needs SEO.” https://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-seo-is-important-for-business/248101/#close

Mini Assignment #4: Remix something

Hi everyone,

Here is my Mini Assignment 4 – Remix Something.

Please enjoy this video of League of Legends gameplay that I remixed into an epic gameplay montage. I found some cool free music and decided to add that in too.

I really like the last clip where I rekt my girlfriend in a 1v1:)