Breaking up a block of text with images or videos is integral to maintain a readers’ interest in your blog post. As discussed in Kevin, Britteny and Lauren’s blog post on transmedia storytelling, using different mechanisms and platforms to communicate your ideas make your thoughts accessible to a broader network of people. In the listed example, authors discuss the broad range of media used by the Pokemon franchise, spanning collectible and playable cards, movies, TV shows, videogames, apps, and collectible merchandise. This range of means by which to participate in the public surrounding the Pokemon universe is one of the reasons why the franchise is so successful.
This can be integrated on a smaller scale to improve accessibility and boost retention on my website. It would be interesting to incorporate Emily’s idea to mirror the “Humans of New York” concept, and include photos of the people whose stories I am telling. However, this isn’t possible in terms of my residents as it goes against the company policy. I could interview people who aren’t my residents and listen to their stories, but I have a much more trusting relationship with the people I work with and see on a regular basis.
Instead of including photos of people I could include photos of the environment (the streets of the downtown eastside), the art in the community, and the buildings. The art of the downtown eastside is humanizing in and of itself – what is more human than creating art out of suffering?
Deaton Chris Anthony’s sophomore album, BO Y, is an eccentric, insanely creative masterpiece that caught my attention the very first time I heard it. He experiments with different genres from bedroom pop, “U Got Talent,” to trap, “Tony Hawk (ft. LA),” and even spoken word, “Deaton’s Meditation”. Some beats are simple, while others incorporate elaborate sonic freakouts that briefly interrupt and alter the song altogether, for example, “Coca Cola Cutie”. There are vapor-wave and dance-house influences, and it is clear that DCA is very forward-thinking in his production. Although there are so many different factors at play, DCA manages to achieve a seamless, cohesive project with flawless production.
Highlights include “RACECAR (ft. Clairo, Coco & Clair Clair)” which is DCA’s most-streamed song, as it went viral on TikTok about a year ago. Heavy bass kicks off the song with Clairo almost rapping, a side of her I have not yet seen much of. DCA lets the features really shine on this track, and all of their voices blend together beautifully. The production on this song is slick, and heavy synth-use adds a really fun texture. Another song popularized by TikTok is “1999 She”. This track is super catchy with an up-tempo beat, including lots of synths and keys. The beat switches around 1:00 and gets even faster. Another honorable mention goes to “Hello Honeybee, Goodbye Butterfly” which is undoubtedly the climax of the album. It is an eight-minute-long interlude that kind of shifts between genres. It is full of emotion and best conveys DCA’s talent.
My personal favorites include “Mr. Call You Back (ft. Triathalon)” which is characterized by its bouncy synth chords, funny adlibs, and a catchy bridge/chorus. Also, “Tony Hawk (ft. LA)” is more of a bass-heavy trap beat. Finally, “Late Night Lovin’” (ft. Jean Dawson,Korbin in Orbit & Omar Apollo)” which has an upbeat bedroom pop vibe. DCA often uses his voice as a vocal bridge between songs, resulting in an album that flows well, where each song develops ideas previously presented. This is impressive due to the sheer versatility in sound throughout his entire project.
Though generally unorthodox, BO Y’s bright, colorful production, goofy yet catchy lyrics, and silly songwriting are what make this album so special. Through these cryptic lyrics, DCA emphasizes themes like heartbreak, loss, and superficial happiness. He is vulnerable and expresses his optimism, obvious through his catchphrase “Have a great day.” Humor is also center on this album, DCA’s persona is funny and charming, it really comes through on tracks like “Deaton’s Meditation”. The synth use is reminiscent of 90s dance-house and though it pulls inspiration from a lot of older music, though BO Y is extremely modern sounding. It feels original, well-thought-out, and works through many genres successfully. In my opinion, BO Y is one of the most slept on albums I have encountered, it is full of charisma and creativity and leaves me inspired every time I listen.
Wave hands up and down, spin and blackout! And that’s a wrap on the mini assignments for the semester. This GIF represents fun and excitement, I would send it when discussing parties or concerts.
But I have more to say about the artist in this GIF.
This GIF is created from Lauv’s concert, which I attended back in 2018 at Fortune Sound Club. Lauv is a pop artist who is known for his hit song I Like Me Better. In this GIF he is performing that song. Although there is no sound in the GIF, through the lights and his actions you can see that it is a very upbeat and fun song. I think this GIF perfectly describes Lauv and his music.
However, Lauv’s songs range in variety. I Like Me Better is a fun and upbeat song but he also has songs like Sad Forever, which discusses depression and mental health. Through the lyrics in this song listeners can empathize with Lauv and understand what he is going through. Also in the song Lauv sings softly but fast and I think this fits perfectly with the message of the song, because mental illness can sometimes take away ones voice or make it super fast due to anxiety.
In this process post I will be discussing how I plan to integrate more transmedia into my website and what channels I will be focusing on. YouTube and Spotify will be the two channels I connect with the most. I know there is an argument around whether Spotify is considered a social media channel but for now I will count it as one. Through Spotify I have already created an account called Blue Bedroom Playlists, and I would like to continue to develop that account while getting more followers who enjoy the playlists I create. Through Spotify I would create a specific playlist for DKT MUSIC, so that users could find my website. As for the website users can find the playlists by clicking on the menu option that is titled Blue Bedroom Playlists, and this would connect them to Spotify. I have also linked out to Spotify and integrated the Spotify playlists into my posts.
YouTube would be another channel I would work with. I have also been linking out to YouTube and have integrated videos from the channel onto my site. I think through YouTube I could create playlists and a channel that reviews albums, just as I do on my site. In this way through YouTube I could link my website.
Instagram is another channel which I have been thinking about. I think if I create an account that incorporates the playlists and is an extension of my website that this would help to integrate more transmedia. Through Instagram I could gain followers with shorter posts and if they are interested, they could go to the website for more in-depth posts. Similar with the playlists this could introduce users to the playlists which could lead them to follow my account on Spotify.
The reason I would focus on these three platforms specifically is because I use them the most and they make sense with my website. Spotify and YouTube are both music platforms that I can use to further engage people in the music community. Instagram is a popular social media platform and I find that people like content that is short and quick, for example Instagram stories. So I could engage audiences in this way which could initially lead them to my website.
Tom Bleymaier’s article, On Advertising – Maria Popova, opened my eyes to the dangers of advertising in journalism. In the case of Maria Popova, she has made an immense amount of money by using affiliate links and generating even more by soliciting donations. All while claiming her site is “ad-free.” According to Bleymaier, the Affiliate form of advertising is more disruptive, as it interrupts the reader with a link, and encourages the writer to change their tone in order to encourage the purchase. Ultimately, Bleymaier argues that it is morally wrong to claim to be “ad-free” when benefitting from Affiliate links and donations. He underscores the importance of transparency when using programs such as Amazon’s Affiliate links.
In terms of my site, it may be difficult to incorporate Affiliate links as there is not much for me to advertise. Hopefully, I will be able to come up with something down the road!
Emily Sweeney reviewed my website this week and gave me some excellent feedback to think about. I in particular appreciated her feedback about the public I am creating and the audience I am trying to reach with my website. As Michael Warner writes in his essay Publics and Counterpublics, a public is different than the public. Through my website I was trying to address the entire public – the entire internet. Emily pointed out that it may be more effective to target a public, like women, previously homeless folks, or Vancouverites.
I do often have a tendency to “bite off more than I can chew”, trying to address all aspects and perspectives on an issue in an 800 word essay, or address the entire general public with a website. Even knowing this rationally, I am too stubborn to narrow down my population too much (to just women, or to just previously homeless folks). However, narrowing the scope of my blog to just Vancouver is a good compromise between me and the rest of the world.
To change the blog to make it more centred on Vancouver, I will make a few small tweaks in presentation and wording, and the majority of the photos I use will of Vancouver, covering the homeless epidemic locally instead of province- or nation-wide, or globally.
Old Tagline “Our aim is to humanize the dehumanized”Updated Tagline “Humanizing the Dehumanized in Vancouver, British Colombia”
I’ll also change the tags in each post to put more emphasis on Vancouver, instead of homelessness broadly speaking, and change the “About Me” section of my blog to establish the locale of the blog.
Many homeless and vulnerably housed folks do not have a GP, and instead bounce between walk in clinics and the emergency departments of various hospitals instead. This is particularly worrying for this population, who are vulnerable to a cornucopia of health problems due to a variety of factors. Unfortunately, empathy for people struggling with mental health problems and addictions is not built into our health care system.
Tonight, a resident in one of my buildings was suffering from a painful hernia, he could not stand up straight or walk on his own. Despite this, he refused to the go to the hospital without first doing laundry, taking a shower and combing his hair. A young Indigenous woman reports a similar narrative to the researchers and authors of In Plain Sight, stating “I am afraid to go to any hospital. When I do have to, I dress up like I’m going to church [in order to receive proper treatment]. It’s ridiculous.” To your or I, this seems absurd. When someone is in a crises of health, they should go to the hospital to receive emergency care.
However, that’s not how the hospital works for everyone. The experiences of Indigenous folks in the healthcare system is a whole post by itself – a whole blog by itself in fact. The colonial healthcare system has a long history of dismissing, disrespecting and abusing Indigenous Peoples, performing medical experiments on them without their consent and denying them proper standard care. Homeless folks and people who use drugs also regularly experience disrespect, neglect, and mistreatment at the hands of jaded and cynical healthcare workers in the emergency department. Their symptoms are regularly dismissed as psychosis or drug-induced, their mental health crises left untreated due to concurrent substance use, and they are often denied medication (particularly pain medication) due to perceptions that they are lying about their symptoms to obtain drugs.
The resident I mentioned above finally made it to the hospital around 3:00am after a painstaking 6 hours of laundering his clothes and showering while in unbearable pain. By 5:00am, he had returned from the hospital – discharged almost immediately, in the same condition as he had left in.
Through her education and life experience she is able to marry emotional and scientific views to drive her point home to the reader – there is no free lunch. She explains the laws of pharmacology and how the brain adapts to every drug by counteracting the drug’s effects. The opponent process theory (below) illustrates her point. On the right, we see the effects of a drug on a naive brain (in red), the response of the brain to the drug (in blue), and the experience of the user. On the left we see the same processes and experiences but in a seasoned drug user, where the brain has come to anticipate the stimulus and responds immediately and intensely when stimulated – making for a much worse high and much worse withdrawal.
Opponent – process theory
Grisel explains all the neural processes which indicate addiction; she is the perfect yin to Gabor Mate’s yang. She illustrates her points with diagrams, graphs, and personal anecdotes, making her points clear to understand for anyone, regardless of learning style. I can’t recommend her book highly enough, her perspectives on addiction are so unique and interesting, and her policy recommendations for addressing addiction are so pragmatic and understanding.
Taylor Swift is a very successful artist as many of us know. But why is she so successful?
Taylor Swift is not only a great musician and songwriter, but she is also a storyteller.
Taylor Swift started off as a country pop artist, she had released her debut album Taylor Swift in 2006 and quickly saw success. Then in 2008 with the release of her second album Fearless, she started to become a household name.
Her song You Belong With Me, is a story that I think many people can relate to. It’s a story about liking someone and believing that, that person should be with you and not who they are currently with. Here are some lyrics from the song that describe this, She wears high heels / I wear sneakers / She’s Cheer Captain, and I’m on the bleachers /Dreaming about the day when you wake up and find/That what you’re looking for has been here the whole time.
Skipping ahead to her album Speak Now which was released in 2010, it continued to follow the country pop sound but what made it successful was the stories she told throughout these songs. Taylor also has this very soft and whimsical voice that helps listeners feel the emotion in her songs. Taylor Swift has a light-lyric Soprano voice type. Her album Speak Now also had successful hits like Mean, and Sparks Fly. However, my personal favorite is Dear John.
This song is about the relationship she had with John Mayer. Dear John is a honest and vulnerable song, and this song demonstrates that Taylor Swift is not afraid to sing about the truth even when it’s sad and ugly. I think this is why listeners enjoy her music.
Here are some descriptive lyrics from the song where Taylor discusses this toxic relationship she was in, You are an expert at sorry /And keeping the lines blurry /Never impressed by me acing your tests /All the girls that you’ve run dry /Have tired, lifeless eyes / Cause you burned them out /But I took your matches before fire could catch me, /So don’t look now, I’m shining like fireworks over your sad, empty town.
Next is her album Red which was released in 2012. Taylor Swift slowly starts to move away from country to more pop music. Her sound changes, as her songs switch over to an allegro tempo (fast) and are more upbeat. Her voice also gets rough in this album. Songs like I Knew You Were Troubleand Red, were hits. With Red, I especially liked how she added colors to certain emotions, as this creates imagery in the listener’s mind.
Her next album wasReputationwhich came out in 2017. She changed her sound and style in this album but still continued to produce stories in her songs. Songs like Look What You Made MeDo, Delicateand Endgame, felt like storylines to movies. Then came her album Lover in 2019, which was the complete opposite of Reputation.
Her most current album releases wereFolkloreand Evermorewhich were both released in 2020. Folklore is an amazing album lyrically. Her soft voice and slower tempos return. Her song My Tears Ricochet demonstrated that Taylor is a talented songwriter and storyteller. The lyrics, You wear the same jewels that I gave you / As you bury me, are assumed to be referring to her songs (jewels) that her previous record label still owns and she discusses this pain. This is great song writing because she is able to disguise these problems in stories and tell them through songs. Songs like The 1, Cardigan,Illicit Affairs, Exile,Hoax, This Is Me Trying and Mad Woman, are all great songs lyrically. Her album Evermore is similar to Folklore and songs like Tolerate Itand No Body, No Crime are also great songs lyrically. The song No Body, No Crime feels like a murder mystery movie. Taylor Swift is a successful artist and as discussed through this progression I think she continues to be successful because she is a talented song-writer, and each album I discussed was a progression from the last lyrically.
This week I will discuss the feedback I had received from my classmate Alyssa. I really appreciate her comments on how I color coordinated my website because that is something I struggled with in the beginning of the semester, but I’m glad she liked these changes. As mentioned before I do hope to redesign this whole website after the semester is over, so I am also looking forward to that.
Alyssa also suggested to add more hyperlinks in my posts and I completely agree. I had received this feedback in tutorials and now in this peer review. I will be going through all my posts next week and adding hyperlinks.
I also appreciate her positive comments on my about me section, and the marketability of my site. I feel like there is still a lot I need to do to make my website more marketable, but Alyssa pointed out things I did not even notice. She mentioned how my song of the week makes my website feel “current” and adds to the marketability, so that is something I will definitely keep when redesigning my website.
I loved the suggestion she had made for my new artist’s section. Alyssa had mentioned that I should “showcase a new Vancouver-born artist every week” and that this will “increase marketability to local Vancouverites.” I love this idea and will definitely be looking into more Vancouver artists. I think that is a great way to showcase local talent and gain more attraction for my website. I also think that this would allow me to network with people in the music industry.
I have started to look at labels. Monstercat is a Canadian independent music label and it is based in Vancouver. Although all artists on this label may not be from Vancouver, I think it is a great place to start looking for new local artists. I have also searched on google for local Vancouver artists and many websites came up, so I will be looking further into those.
Lastly, I really liked that she had taken a look at my Blue Bedroom Playlists section, because this is separate content from the blog and process posts, and I’m glad that she not only took the time to view it but enjoyed it.
I thank Alyssa for her suggestions and great ideas as they were helpful.
Checkout Alyssa’s website Loafs by Lyss to learn how to make sourdough bread and more!
This week I will be reviewing Alyssa’s site, Loafs by Lyss. First, I will look at design and then content. Alyssa’s website is clear and the user immediately knows that this is a blog about making sourdough. I like that she has chosen to display her recent posts on her home page, because it gives the user more information about the website. I also think this is a good way to grab the user’s attention and interest.
I like that she has created customized images for her process posts. However, on her home page I would suggest to make the process posts smaller, but I also understand this could be different among users as some screens are more zoomed in than others. I would also recommend moving the Instagram icon she has on the top left side of her homepage, as it sits alone in the corner and might not be seen by users.
As I continued to scroll down the homepage, I liked that she had attached her Instagram page. Her Instagram page is also about sourdough and this is a great way to market as she links out to other platforms and also uses other platforms to share her baking. I noticed that Alyssa linked out to other sources in her post titled Painting my Sourdough, and this is great way to connect your website to other sources.
In terms of her content, I like how she discusses a variety of topics. She discusses recipes, health benefits, schedules and more. Her content is clear and organized. However, I was wondering if in some posts she could expand a bit more. For example, with Coping with Sourdough Fails, she discusses how making sourdough may not always go as planned, and discusses that she has learned from her experiences and how to improve. I was wondering if she could expand more on the specific things she has learned and list mistakes that she has made to help the user understand what not to do.
Looking back at an earlier reading in this semester titled, A Personal Cyberinfrastructure by Gardner Campbell. The article discusses that it is important for students to learn and create while using digital mediums because it gives them technical skills and allows them to engage in all sorts of works (Gardner Campbell, 2009, para.7). The article discusses that the students should be able to curate and share their own engagement and knowledge in learning environments and online (Gardner Campbell, 2009, para.7). I see this importance through Alyssa’s site and her work because she is able to share a passion of hers, while engaging online in a learning environment. In classes one does not get to share their passions and often assignments are disregarded after they are marked, but Alyssa’s website is a portfolio of both her assignments and passions that she can use for further engagement.
Overall I think her website is great, checkout Alyssa’s site to learn how to make sourdough bread!
This infographic explains through text and graphics what you will find on the DKT MUSIC site. I created this infographic in Canva, and the reason I did not match this infographic to the color scheme of my website is because I liked this color scheme better, as the blue color scheme in Canva did not look good with this template.
Through this infographic you learn that this site deals with different aspects of music.
This week’s prompt discusses how data helps inform and educate but it also asks at what cost. The prompt also asks what my personal feelings are towards data trails, along with how do I minimize my footprint?
I agree that data collection can be informing and educating to the receiver. Data collection like, how many users have visited a site and when, is helpful to the receiver as it helps them grow and expand their website. I think this information being collected is fair. However, more personal information does not need to be collected, but if it is mandatory then that data collected should stay within that website and should not follow the user to other sites. This is seen through advertisements.
In terms of my personal feelings and if I minimize my data footprint, I would have to say that I do not think of it. I would like my digital footprint to be minimized but I find it difficult to do so and I have accepted this reality. I think it’s hard to minimize my digital footprint when I use the internet for everything; I got off all social media platforms accept one but may have to return to them as they are needed in the fields I want to work in. I think over the years it has become harder to minimize one’s digital footprint.
After writing this prompt I started to look into why I should consider to minimize my footprint. This article by INSIDER titled, What is a digital footprint? How to protect yourself online, and keep your data from being used against you, was insightful and this article, along with others mentioned that with a bigger digital footprint you are more prone to identity theft, advertisements, and that employers may be watching what you are doing as well. These are great points in why I should limit my digital footprint, but I think whenever I am using the internet I already take this into consideration. Even though I take these points into consideration, my digital footprint is not minimized because I still use the internet as these points do not greatly impact my activity online.
This week I had also received feedback in tutorials for my website, I will be making these changes throughout the weeks and providing updates in the next process posts.
I decided to remix this album cover since Bruno Mars has recently blessed us with new music. Go listen to his new track with Anderson .Paak and Silk Sonic called Leave the Door Open, it is a sexy slow jam that everyone needs to listen to!
Here is a little bit more about Bruno Mars.
Bruno Mars was meant to be a performer, he can keep audiences on their feet. Literally I never sat down when I attended his concert, I also believe he did not take any long breaks but kept performing.
Bruno Mars is an artist that does a bit of everything in terms of genres. He has given us pop, R&B, soul and funk hits. With his dynamic voice and sound, Bruno can create songs that are mood boosters, like Perm, but he can also make listeners emotional with tracks like It Will Rain. Side note: It Will Rain is not on the 24K Magic album but Perm is.
His songs vary in tempos but his upbeat and lively songs are usually considered to be a allegro tempo, and this fast tempo accompanied by lyrics like “Throw some perm on your attitude” ,and “Matter of fact, band, show her how to lay it back!”(from his track Perm on the 24K Magic album), make listeners want to get up and move.
Doesn’t this GIF make you hungry? I know it made me hungry when I was making it. I decided to use this scene as a GIF because it shows perfectly what we all crave at 3am at night XD.
The blog pengsphotos.com is a blog aimed at photography hobbyists who are interested in learning more and engaging with the online photography community. The blog includes stories from my own experiences, lessons from those stories, basic information to improve photos, intermediate photography skills, and some opinion pieces regarding photography values. The imagined audience would be beginners who are interested in learning as much as they can from others to improve their photography skills. The real audience is small but is comprised of hobbyists who enjoy reading about other’s experiences for the entertainment rather than the lessons.
This imagined audience is addressed through the writing of mostly jargon-free blog posts and stories that are written from my experience, I then turn around and attempt at relaying the lessons I learned from those experiences. Photos taken by me are included in the blog posts to further explain concepts and enhance stories to give them meaning. In terms of design, the blog is made to be minimalistic yet easy to navigate. Drop down menus are made for the subcategories of the course assignments, and a static home page with an interesting photo and a short introduction are used to welcome new and returning readers.
In terms of value, the site is created to entertain readers as well as inform. This could be referred to as edutainment, which is “education meant to be educational” (Merriam Webster n.d.). However, this specific blog is meant to be read as entertainment first and education second. Playful learning is the term used by Mitchel Resnick (2004) in “Edutainment? No Thanks. I Prefer Playful Learning” in the Associazione Civita Report on Edutainment to describe an alternative approach to learning. Not through educating and entertainment, but through the active and willing participation of learners to learn through play. An example on the blog being the stories of failure having entertainment value with the secondary benefit being lessons that the readers can take away to use in their photography.
The use of stories engages the readers and teaches them a lesson through playful writing to emphasize the amusing mistakes that I make. This allows the reader to be engaged rather than knowingly consuming education that’s delivered as “a bitter medicine that needs the sugar-coating of entertainment to become palatable” (Resnick 2004).
This value would be provided to the main audience, who are readers that willingly read stories related to photography in order to gain entertainment value from it, though are interested in learning new skills and methods as well. What was learned from Google analytics was that not many people are interested in reading the lessons written on the blog, but they would rather read stories that are written with entertainment as a priority. Given this though, not many people visited the blog, so more valuable conclusions are not available to be made since google analytics were implemented too late in the semester to gather more data.
In the beginning of the term, the blog was thought of as being a purely educational blog with entertainment being secondary to education. Posts written had a stiff feeling as they truly embodied Resnick’s metaphor of the bitter pill. As posts were written throughout the semester, they became more playful as the writing got easier and flow of language along with my voice became clearer and established itself.
My thinking about writing blog has changed in that It has gotten more fluid. Syed Balkhi (n.d) wrote on the blog Constant Contact several tips to write more engaging content for online blogs. One that I had used to improve my writing is the “three sentence rule” which is keeping paragraphs short to allow the reader to process information more easily. In the beginning, I wrote posts quite long when I thought of the blog as education primary, and as I used this advice, my posts became shorter and more focused on entertainment. I became a lot more comfortable writing and it ended up being fun for me!
Looking forward, I would like to develop my blog further and possibly start integrating videos online to share stories and video content. My online self after this course will be more casual with less of an emphasis of communicating concepts to others, but rather to communicate feelings and ideas or opinions. I would also like to work on my writing skills as well. I would like to be able to more easily communicate feelings to give my readers more context for mistakes and situations. An example of this would be to cause them second-hand embarrassment.
Works cited:
Balkhi, S. (2020, November 11). How to Craft Epic Blog Posts That Engage Readers and Keep Them Coming Back. Retrieved from https://blogs.constantcontact.com/engage-readers/
Edutainment. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/edutainment
Resnick, M. (2004). Edutainment? No Thanks. I Prefer Playful Learning. Retrieved from https://llk.media.mit.edu/papers/edutainment.pdf
This term has been quite a wild ride. Although my blog wasn’t as complete as I would have wanted it to be, I’ve been proud of what I’ve produced. The idea of creating videos every week was much more difficult than I would have imagined. It took a large amount of time for each video: […]
I am, for the most part, a lurker on social media – sort of. You see, I have an Instagram account, which was originally meant to be my personal account, but it turned into my bunny’s account with a smidge of me. His content is way better than mine could ever be. I mean, just […]
Creating an online presence isn’t something that intrigues everyone, but it’s something that can be very helpful for those that want to express themselves in an open medium, or even just to have a personal journal. My experience through this term has given me a lot to think about. There were three key takeaways that […]
