Tag Archives: Process Posts

Process Post 8 – …

For this week’s Process Post, there is not a definite prompt; however, there is certainly work to be done and reflect upon on this blog. I am still incorporating images into the weekly blog posts through determining their best placement, as well as which ones are most-suited to the topic, while also adhering to the theme of change. This has proven to be more difficult than anticipated, as the original images I selected just didn’t maintain the integrity of the site or what I wished for it to evoke in readers – now viewers.

This change, from reader to viewer is what I am looking for. I want people to engage with the language, but I also want people to browse. I tend to write a lot – I have a lot to share, but I am aware that not everyone wishes to flow in my streams of consciousness and may not wish to delve into everything I have to say. My blog is about me, but the content has to be open to interpretation as well as manageable to read, understand, agree with and at times, rebut. Publishing is putting something out there for everyone to see, with everyone being those who read, don’t read, like and dislike what you have to share. Images then, support, drive home, bolster and conjure ideas, feelings, opinions and of course, criticisms. An image beholds an image, one in which I have tried to build through the aesthetic and content of this blog. We market ourselves through this content, and in looking at the consumer, it is important to envision their own perceptions; how does my image market me and what I write? Take a look at the American Marketing Associations beliefs here on how a picture really is worth a thousand words.

Another component of this blog that I am trying to build is the usability and consistency. People tend to purchase the same magazines and newspapers, as well as visit the same YouTube Channels and Blogs not just for the content, but also because they feel like home or an every morning cup of coffee. This always makes me think, is it the taste or the routine that is comforting? When someone becomes accustomed to what they view, they appreciate the familiarity. There can be subtle changes in color or placement of things, but the crux of these media is that there is a recipe, and those who indulge, know exactly what, how much, where and when to eat.

In following the rabbit hole of the Internet (read this for some somewhat eerily fascinating stories of Internet stumble-upons), which started on the Posiel site in this week’s readings, I came across Byline, a crowdfunded newspaper magazine where people fund the content of various writers. I truly appreciate the idea and think it is novel and timely in its development; however, there are two things I don’t appreciate it. First, which connects to my previous paragraph, it’s very inconsistent. It reminds me of shopping online at a store like ASOS where there are so many different styles and types of fashion, that you end up overwhelmed, dazed and confused. Second, there are no advertisements. I know what you’re thinking… But I personally enjoy advertisements because I like evaluating them and dissecting how they, if at all (and they usually do), reflect who I am. I am intrigued by the psychology of marketing and I also like the break; why must I read an entire article about starvation in North Korea without a saunter into the sidebars of new Nikes? Sure, I get the irony of this and I am being somewhat facetious, but I like the contrast as much as the relevance. Since the beginning of print, advertisements have driven publication, so should we eliminate them, or view them as part of the publication process? This brings us back to blogging; successful blogs, which for argument here is measured by visitorship, is are ones that have advertisements. One may argue that books, in their traditional sense, do not include ads, but phrases like, “try these other great reads from Harper Collins” refute this…

Speaking of rabbit holes, you can see that this Process Post has dug deep in a field in which it didn’t start, but in reflecting on how to build my blog to appeal to others, it’s important to know that what one likes is not necessarily liked by the other, and in creating design, it’s valuable to make it comfortable. I am a fan of Hygge [hoo-gah] design, which you can read about straight from it’s Danish source here, and in knowing it, I like how it’s predictable (like I hope my site is), but comforting with a pop of flair, color and juxtaposition. So, in evaluating, reevaluating and of course, publishing, it’s my hope that ReRouted is a place where people stop, stay a while and return.

Week 8 Process Post: Brand Backlashing

This week in class, we were given a group activity where we were to look at different case studies regarding brands who have experienced backlash on social media for some of the ways they market their products. Some examples of backlash that have been on the news include: Gucci’s black face sweater, Katy Perry’s blackface shoes, and H&M’s monkey sweatshirt.

For the group I was in, the case study we were given was Forever 21. They were given backlash after sharing a photo on twitter of a white model wearing a sweater saying “Wakanda Forever.” What was interesting and amusing to see from some of the backlash was that some people weren’t offended by the fact that a white male model was wearing the sweater, but more so at the fact that Forever 21 couldn’t choose a better colour scheme for the sweater which made it look hideous.

Process Post 7 – Feedback

Peer reviews are daunting. Completing a review for someone else is difficult, especially when you’re not necessarily an expert on the content (blogging), or when you, yourself have a blog that will receive a review in return… in exchange for a grade. They are also challenging to read when you’re under scrutiny; will they like what I have to say? What will they think about my photos? Will the content of my writing be clear, offensive, engaging or just plainly boring? I feel this is one of the issues we face as bloggers (I’m calling myself a blogger now, apparently); personalizing a space to reflect yourself and your interests, then publishing it for the universe to troll, critique and destroy. Blogging is simple, but it is not easy. What you post, share or reveal is vulnerable to what others think, and what others think can be as destructive, like Cyberhate, which you can read about here,  as it is liberating, enjoyable and of course, democratic (see a variety of #Posiel posts debating this). I argue for.

For the latest review I received, I was delighted to attain significant positive feedback from Jill’s Book Blog, which you can access here, but also some constructive feedback that will greatly benefit ReRouted. In being transparent, of course I take delight in reading her humbling feedback, but I truly value her primary suggestion that images/photos within the posts would better serve the overall layout and theme of the blog, as well as make the reading more approachable and intriguing. With this in mind, the process in which I encountered this week was incorporating photos directly into the blog and process posts, which involved consideration of suitability for the post and aesthetics.

Because much of the photography on my blog is of myself, I wanted to balance the images with ones that are less personalized, but still reflective of the content and overall theme of my experience of change. I feel that my blog is very personal, so in seeking greater balance, I am enhancing relatability and hopefully broadening the appeal of my content by doing this. I have done a lot of thinking about how my writing is interpreted by others, but have neglected the idea for how images can or haven’t been doing the same. Brown University has a fascinating presentation on why people perceive text differently, which made me think, perhaps my text isn’t what I think, and if so, or even if it is, how do photos support either conclusion?

In consideration of images, I wanted to be cognizant of colour, size and focusing on finding relatively simple images that support the writing as opposed to detracting from it. Likewise, I wanted the images to be a part of the writing itself, so as the image itself can offer some greater context or meaning of the conversation. I want the image to be an anchor in the post that organically reveals some of the content. I feel this is important because for many readers, busy ones especially, as well as keyboard warriors on the prowl, photos provide a quick glimpse into what’s new, relevant and a part of my thoughts and life. I also took some of Jill’s advice in having the layout of images reflect that of the landing page; like an advent calendar, which is what I was kind of going for from the conception of this blog. Notorious blogger, Neil Patel has some great insights on selecting images which you can read here. Additionally, Shout Me Loud outlines several reasons why including images on your blog is valuable, which you can also see here.

There is still some general tidying-up that needs to be done to enhance upload speeds, function and layout. I have been working on paper to come up with something a bit more user-friendly and hope to make these changes soon. I’m hoping to implement some more major edits soon, as I would like the blog to be a little more polished. That said, Jill’s comments regarding her appreciation for the content and the theme or feel of the blog is reassuring that I’m on the right track… for some people at least. For others, they can go here for entertainment value.

I want to extend a kind thanks to Jill for providing such a positive and helpful review; I only hope that I offered her even half the same in return. As many people as blogs reach, the act of blogging can actually be quite lonely. You are trying to build a community, but the vacuum in which you do so is a cyclone within yourself and your own interests. Your reach is far in terms of potential, but you’re in isolation, behind a screen, sharing what it is that you find shareable. This in and of itself is intimidating – here you are, in front of the world, one in which can judge you without repercussion, offering your thoughts, feelings and fears. The blogosphere is yuge, but like the universe, there are many constellations and systems to discover, view and get lost in.

Week 8: Remixing and Choosing

So for the mini assignment this week was about remixing something. At first I was very interested in the smartphone trends. For example, Tik Tok is gaining popularity over here in North America where you can post a video of yourself acting or lipsyncing to a song and someone can add onto yours or remix it. I thought that would be a great idea to do a remix, but it would just be copying someone else.

But just a few days ago, my girlfriend was in an elevator when these 2 dogs were interacting with each other. The Shiba Inu in the picture was very affectionate to the other dog, and the dog was quite hesitant. We exchanged a few edits back and forth then that gave me the inspiration to make my own.

While it was focused primarily on what I feel in studying, I guess I should give some background too. The courses that I’m taking in my last semester are heavily involved in technology. Sending in assignments, writing emails, and writing blogs. Mixed in with what I have to check for things I bought, my work schedule, updates on graduation, etc. it becomes exhausting. The Shiba Inu is representative of that. And I, kind of just taking it. I’m not claiming my remix to be deep, but a better context to how it fits overall!

Essay 2

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

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

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

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

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

 

References:

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

 

PROCESS POST: Community guidelines (week 12)

Street Stories’ Community Guidelines

Street Stories is a place where the stories of vulnerable people living in Surrey and people involved with NightShift can be shared. In consideration of this, I will not tolerate any comments that are not respectful towards NightShift and those that they serve. Disrespectful comments that contain racism, sexism, or any explicit hatefulness will be deleted. In addition, these rules will be put in place to uphold the standard of respect desired on Street Stories. People who comment the following will be banned from commenting:

  • Name-calling, insulting, or attacking someone mentioned in a blog post, NightShift, or another site user
  • Posting inappropriate or abusive comments
  • Posting comments that question or devalue the voices of vulnerable people

These guidelines were inspired by Book Riot’s guidelines.

PROCESS POST: Class response (week 11)

This process post will be a response to the guest speaker we had in class named Darren Barefoot, who works with Capulet Communications. This was my favourite guest speaker we had this semester. Darren’s work reflects a lot of what I want to do in the future, which is marketing and communications for non-profit organizations. What compelled me most about Darren’s talk was when he spoke about Heartbeats and Remarkables. Heartbeats can be defined by the core operations of marketing within an organization. For example, every year NightShift does a fundraising gala and that is a Heartbeat of who they are and how they draw attention to their organizations. Another thing Darren talked about was Remarkables. Remarkables are campaigns that are out of the ordinary. They can look like PR stunts, gimmicks, pop-up events, or unique fundraising mechanisms.

For a good portion of the class we talked about Remarkables and different ones that Capulet has been involved with over the years. My favourite type of Remarkable campaigns Darren spoke about were volunteer activations. These types of campaigns generally call for high threshold volunteerism. An example he gave was when a cancer agency worked with a hair salon to create a new haircut that inspired people to cut their hair for cancer. Although it is a big ask for people to cut their hair, it is a remarkable marketing tactic that people will remember.

I am so grateful that Darren spoke with our class! I learned a lot from him and I will definitely be looking at Capulet’s website to learn from the way they do things and check out their featured Remarkables.

Week 12: Online Shaming

In our second to the last week, we got to watch Jon Ronson’s TED talk When online shaming goes too far. He gave plenty examples of people who got affected by people who take the original post’s context or message out of proportion. The talk was compelling because it’s telling of how mob mentality can be dangerous in social media. I’ve seen many examples where even sharing from one account to another already leads to problems. It can ruin people’s lives. This is the world we live in. Information feels infinite and we take these small, consumable tidbits of information and blow it out. Jon Ronson did a great job presenting the helplessness that these people feel. Justine Sacco intended to mimic Americans who were ignorant of Africa as a whole and tweeted this:

In context, it makes sense. It makes sense to her friends and the people who know her but once it was shared by strangers, she was part of a social media crucifixion. They were ready to see what happens to her when she gets off the plane. She received the most unbelievable hate speech despite not knowing who she is. Her life has changed because people held on to this small piece of the Internet and created their own narrative. Online shaming reveals the human nature of being a part of something, but for the wrong reasons.

Week 12: Community Guidelines

This blog was created to discuss films critically, and while different perspectives are welcome, certain comments will not be permitted on this website. Please consider the following before leaving a comment on this website:

  • Comments that contribute to discussions around the work under review are welcome (including respectful disagreements), but irrelevant comments, personal attacks (against the writer or other users), and recurring trolling will not be tolerated.
    This website was created with the intention of providing reviews for movies and television shows. The content is supposed to be fun and informative, not vicious or disrespectful.
  • Racism, sexism, homophobia, and other hate speech is not tolerated under any circumstances.
    If a film deals with sensitive subject matter, the conversation that follows should still be considerate and respectful. Some films may focus on a variety of different characters. This should be celebrated, not attacked. Comments should be respectful towards writers, users, and anyone featured in the film.
  • Spam and advertisements will be removed.
    If you wish to share a link for your own movie review blog, go ahead! Post it in the comments and start more discussion. Want people to buy something from your website? Sorry, this isn’t the place for you. Advertisements and general spam will be removed because it does not contribute to the purpose of this blog.
  • Content will be removed if it can put me in legal jeopardy.
    No explicit content, defamatory postings, libelous comments (to name a few). Think about what you are posting.

Generally, comments that are relevant and respectful will be permitted without any problems. Comments that conflict with our guidelines will be removed, but the user may be asked for clarification prior to removal if there is potential for confusion. Be mature, be considerate, and be kind to one another.

Week 11: Remarkables

Darren  Barefoot from Capulet Communications accompanied by Sarah came into our class and talked about remarkables. For those who are unaware like I was, Capulet explains it well: Remarkables are high impact digital marketing campaigns meant to attract attention. These are the campaigns you remember even if you are not the target audience. These are the campaigns that stand out because they can easily take a simple idea and turn its head to be memorable. What I appreciate most about this presentation was that it gave context to how impactful it can be. Despite it being rooted in capital and business, the messages and content can easily transcend that.

For example, the Canuck Place Children’s Hospice provides pediatric palliative care to families across British Columbia. This can be a stressful and depressing place for everyone because it’s taking care of very sick children and making their end a bit easier. Capulet did a fantastic remarkable where they created a blanket fort with a complete library and toys for the kids to play just for the afternoon. This gave such a positive environment for everyone involved. For a grim place, they turned it to a place where they can be happy in.

It’s a great example in how it reaches multiple channels and then getting their messages across through these. The local news channels started covering it. They were posting in social media. It is posted on different blogs. Different people and networks are talking about and that’s powerful. They don’t have to be vested in the hospice or the people who are involved, but a remarkable can transcend the oversaturation of media content felt by many online users. There’s enough “feel good” on the internet but there’s also too many depressing topics and articles. Remarkables can leave an impact and be spoken above these.

SITE COMMUNITY GUIDELINES – Process Post #12

My penultimate Process Post will be what I formulated for my site’s community guidelines. Ryan Holmes calls attention to the pervasiveness of isolation in the technological age and the ways online community discourses and thus, people, are affected by this in this article. We are isolated enough to not have to see the ways we can harm other Internet users and connected enough to be able to enact harm like rapid fire. Interestingly, Maria Konnikova identifies anonymity as having attributes that seem at odds; though Internet users are more likely to speak violently without thinking of the consequences of their behaviour, anonymity is also acknowledged as a helpful tool with respect to “participation”, “creative thinking” and “risk taking”. Mark Shrayber points to the real distinction that we must make in these times: the difference between ‘trolling’ and a hate crime.

Online interactions are a new form of discourse and because human beings are the ones behind them, they must be moderated. Here are the community guidelines for Memoir is a Mirror.

I moderate all comments and will consult the following guidelines when doing so.

While I welcome critique and challenge of my writing, I will not tolerate hateful, threatening or violent language towards me or any other users.

I will not tolerate racism, sexism, homophobia or other forms of hate-speech, or contributions that could be interpreted as such.*

I will remove any posts that contain spam-like content.

In short, be pleasant and caring to the fellow readers of this site.

*I appropriated this guideline from The Guardian.

I’ve added this list to my “Hello” page under the Instagram feed so that users can read the guidelines when they are familiarizing themselves with my site.

MORE CHANGES AND CALL OUT CULTURE – Process Post #11

A big focus for me this week was to bring together a few missing pieces of my site in time for the end of the term. I needed to: finally decide on fonts for my site title and tagline; make email subscription possible; respond to feedback from my last peer review by making a few changes; and review course readings and incorporate them into my process posts retroactively. I am also trying to read more extensively what makes a book review or reading response successful and incorporate that into my material.

I did some research on Youtube to make email subscription possible and I found this video helpful for that. Now, I have an option to subscribe in my bio at the bottom there:

I received feedback from a classmate that because of the nature of the material on my site, it isn’t necessarily easy to digest for an online passerby, and recommended to have some sort of visual aid for readers. To break up the large chunks of text, I decided to add a featured image to each post with a photo of the author of the work I was reviewing. Previously, I was dissatisfied with the way the “Recent Posts” presented on my page with grey squares in the place of pictures, so I thought this would be a good way to remedy the effect of think chunks of text as well as the emptiness on the sidebar. Now, I hope that my site will be visually easier to digest.

 

I also created genres of work in my “Reflective Review” menu, responding to another classmate’s feedback that my menu will likely become too long and overwhelming. Readers can search according to genre rather than be presented with a long list of authors whose genre isn’t immediately decipherable based on the name of the book.

I’m hoping this is the last time I change the appearance of my site title and tagline, but who I am kidding, maybe I will find my way back onto Google Fonts this week. I had a friend who is a coder help me, and now I know how to change it myself, which I’m very happy about. Here is what I have at this point, changed from the site default font:

If you were to tell me that I would be happy with my site at the beginning of the course, I don’t know if I would have believed you! I’m really enjoying having a writing schedule and reading so many good books.

I was so struck by Jon Ronson’s Ted Talk, in which he outlines compassionately the utter senselessness involved in the world of online public shaming. He clearly identifies something that we all know, but are unwilling to acknowledge when we are angry or participating in mob-mentality like behaviour: we cannot know what is going on inside of a person – the degree of remorse or repentance someone is feeling, or their intentions in the first place. He discusses the ways in which those who participate in public shaming – or, when callout culture goes too far – seek to dehumanize those who they are shaming. He says “it’s because we want to destroy people but not feel bad about it” (Ronson). While I tend to use the internet to weep while watching heartfelt videos of kids with colourblindness see the world in full colour for the first time, I couldn’t help but feel called out, if you will, by Ronson. It made me reflect on the ways I dehumanize people in my own head in order to treat them poorly or disregard them. The problem with what online anonymity affords us as a public is becoming a concept that increasingly worries me. This will be in the forefront of my thought process as I create my community guidelines and how I implement them.

 

 

Process Post – 9 (Developing Community Guidelines)

Online trolls are an inevitable subsection of a content creator’s audience as the content gains more attention. This is why all social medias and platforms for content creators have community guidelines, to control the toxicity nature of the comment section.

In my blog’s niche, a community guideline is prominent, because the gaming community is full of kids and teenagers who don’t think that they’ll have to be held accountable for what they say. However, as a gamer myself, I dont believe that there should be a profanity filter because being censored takes some fun out of engaging with the community. That being said, I strive to build a harmonious community where everyone is welcome to engage in.

(tentative) Community Guidelines:

  1. No pornography (links, videos, comments)
  2. No discriminatory comments towards and not limiting to – Race, Gender, Sexual Orientation
  3. No spam advertisements
  4. No exchanging personal information (emails, phone numbers)

I feel that the above tentative community guidelines are a good starting point to creating a safe and harmonious environment for my audience.

Process Post Week #12 – Community Guidelines

In my process post for week two, I outlined three specific goals for my blog. Essentially, I wanted to create a platform encouraging hockey fans to express their views and openly discuss and debate opposing opinions on relevant subjects. As I strive to achieve these goals, I intend to establish community guidelines to set boundaries that will ensure a positive environment on my blog. I, The Hockey Singh will moderate all comments before they are published onto my blog using the criteria outlined below.

1) Discussing and debating opinions is encouraged, however, it must occur in a civil manner where views are criticized and not users. Any form of discrimination or hate speech will not be tolerated. So, treat others how you would like to be treated.

2) Post relevant comments. Conversations can veer-off into many directions, however, comments that are deemed to be off-topic are not allowed. Additionally, comments that are advertising in nature or spam-like are not allowed.

3) If abusive or irrelevant comments are posted in error, they will be taken down as soon as they come to light. Lastly, the opinions expressed in the comments are not necessarily those of the blogger.

The guidelines mentioned above will promote a positive environment, and they will assist in attaining the goals outlined in my week two process post. I plan to implement my community guidelines as part of my about section so that they are readily accessible to readers.

Some of my community guidelines were inspired by CapFriendly.

Week 11: The Merciless Internet and Human Empathy

The readings this week reaffirmed that I made the right decision in deleting Twitter. I have deleted Twitter twice already. The first time I deleted my account was in grade ten, but I made a new account in grade twelve when my basketball coach entered the Twitterverse (everyone wanted to follow him because he had hilarious posts). About a year ago, I deleted my account again and no one seemed to notice. It was peaceful. I just disappeared. I deleted Twitter because I hated the negativity that flooded my newsfeed. Negative posts came from celebrities, family, friends, everyone. One of my last tweets addressed pessimism on the internet: “If you’re looking for optimism, go offline. Negativity is everywhere.” This was posted with an emoji of a waxing moon.

I was never shamed on Twitter, I never directly experienced the type of abuse Justine Sacco faced, but I hated the constant personal attacks going viral and starting aggressive reply chains. The first time I made a Twitter account I wanted to see the thoughts and ramblings of celebrities and authors that interested me. The second time I made an account was to follow people I found funny, such as my basketball coach. But as I followed other people I knew out of the social obligation to maintain friendships, I discovered I didn’t like the thoughts of many of my own friends. Their outlook on the world and mankind was so nihilistic. I felt like my newsfeed was begging me, day after day, to hate mankind and accept life is meaningless. Twitter became a bitter poison for my mental health.

Jon Ronson’s TedTalk connected deeply with me when he began discussing empathy. Ronson looked deeper into Justine Sacco tweet and the problem with the extent of the harassment that followed: “She was got because she was perceived to have misused her privilege. And of course, that’s a much better thing to get people for than the things we used to get people for, like having children out of wedlock. But the phrase ‘misuse of privilege’ is becoming a free pass to tear apart just about anybody we choose to. It’s becoming a devalued term, and it’s making us lose our capacity for empathy and for distinguishing between serious and unserious transgressions” (Ronson). After Sacco tweeted a joke that landed poorly, the internet begged her employers to fire her, the internet begged for her to get raped and get AIDS (Ronson). Nobody punished the people who called for such serious threats. Nobody gave Justine the opportunity to explain herself. One of the biggest problems with the internet is that I think it is destroying our ability to accept that people make mistakes and can be sorry. I think the internet is destroying our ability to believe that people can change. We see their words in black and white text on a screen, devoid of human emotion, and immediately assume this one horrible thought (or poor joke) defines them.

I am not an overly optimistic person, but I believe that people can better themselves. I understand that younger people sometimes have ignorant thoughts because they are still learning. People continue to grow and change over the course of their entire life. By all means, point out bigotry, privilege, racism, sexism, and more. Point out the inconsiderate and inappropriate things people say and beg for better behaviour. But after you identify ignorant or harmful behaviour, ask yourself why you are doing this. Are you identifying this behaviour because you want to see a change or improvement? If so, you also need to believe that people can change. We need to the internet to become more democratic but, above anything else, we need the internet to become more human.

 

Work Cited

 

Process Post #7 Google Analytics

Google Analytics is the plugin that I installed in order to understand the aspect of the visitors who visit my website. I was quite impressed with the statistics by Google Analytics. I easily observed the number of visitors every day on the dashboard of the WordPress. 

I found the interesting fact that the most top visitor number was on November 1st when I published my website address on the Instagram account. I realized that displaying the website address on my social network actually increased the number of visitors.

Although I have such a small number of followers, it definitely affected on my website by simply displaying the website address.

The Google Analytic web provides more detail information on my website.

The most audience is from Canada, but I was surprised that I even had audiences from Germany and Ukraine.

Almost 70% of visitors have accessed my website from a desktop, and the percentage of mobile visitors are 30% which is higher than my expectation. The busiest time is from 10 am to 6 pm.

I really impressed with the page views, and it was funny that I made page value which is $0.20.

Google Analytics is so detail which it tells me where the audiences are accessing my website from.

The most audiences are directly from the website address, and rest of audiences are from Instagram, posiel, and even other student’s websites who were my peer review partners.

Generally, I found that Google Analytics is extremely useful especially if I would like to know about my audience. According to the audience’s favor, I might need to fix some components on my website.

 

Process Post #7 Analytics

Yes. The Analytic such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter is one of the most important valuable tools for building the audience. If I know where my audiences are coming from, I could develop the website based on the visitor’s taste. I think my website is especially dependent on the audience since it is an artist’s website. The audience has own artistic taste, and it would be beneficial to know what artistic color the audiences have.

I added my website address on my Instagram account a few weeks ago. It definitely increased the visitor numbers, and it gives me an idea that I could make some kind of connection between my website and the social network. I upload my artworks on Instagram, and I only provide small pieces of information such as the title and the date. Since most of my artworks are conceptual works, it is challenging to understand the idea behind the work. The audiences have to know an artist’s cultural background and personal interests.

The Instagram platform has a limitation on the explanation, and I think I could provide the full information through my website. Therefore, those Instagram audience who are willing to know my artwork is my expected audience.

I don’t worry about privacy. Although the website is connected to my personal social network, I do not post any personal information on my Instagram account. My Instagram account does not reflect my identity, but it only represents my artworks.

Understanding the audience, it is much clear to develop the direction of the website. It allows me to create much creative posts on my website, and the expected audience would be much pleased with the selected posts.

Week 10: Internet For All

I remember seeing the Internet.org advertisements on the bus stops. They were everywhere. It was a call to have internet for all. I remember the ad wanted to give voice to areas that didn’t have internet. It wanted to connect the great minds and make it an equal field for the passionate ones. Until I read Mike Elgan’s The surprising truth about Facebook’s Internet.org for the class this week that I was reminded of that advertisement and, knowing Facebook’s reputation, I’m not surprised to find out the truth.

Internet.org, instead of connecting people with harder access of the internet, is actually just bringing in more people to sign up to their platform. They’re not interested in connecting people. They’re interested in the data that’s being surrendered. Now called Free Basics, Facebook targets countries that charge internet by the minute. They also take these users away and put them in Facebook’s own servers as a way to ‘save data usage’. They keep the users in Facebook in disguise of connecting them because they want to take complete control of their internet use and box them in using Facebook services. I like the metaphor that Elgan uses. It’s like giving a poor person a free sesame seed and claiming credit for giving them a free Big Mac.

This is important to speak about because these are multi billion dollar companies playing with user information. There’s no reason to fully trust these companies because they’re in for the business. If they claim some altruistic interest, it’s probably going to earn them money. Social networks have been controlled by capital and it will continue to take advantage of our use if we don’t question it. When I read this article, I consciously forgot the good and hope I felt when I saw the advertisement. I needed to be critical and realize that the ad played on my emotions and feel goodness. It just wanted to take my information. And by being critical and aware, I remember the ad for what it is, not what it was selling to me.

GOOGLE ANALYTICS – Process Post #10

Acquisition

I am encouraged by the fact that 33.3% of visitors are returning readers. That makes me think that it is becoming routine for some readers. In the location section of Google Analytics, I was informed that most of my users are in the US and Canada, which is not surprising – save for one user in Malaysia, which could be a bot.

 

Behaviour

Something that has become quite clear to me in looking further into analytics is that I need to be posting something more than once a week to keep my views up. Or, as an alternative, do a midweek post on my Instagram to call attention to the reviews for people who have the intention of reading, but haven’t. I have had a few interactions recently in which I have a face to face conversation with someone about my site and they say something along the lines of: “Oh, I keep forgetting to look at your site! I’ve been meaning to read the reviews.” So, a reminder in some form would be helpful. At this point, there is a spike of views on the day that I post and then a steady decline throughout the week when I am less active on the site.

Last week, I posted my review on Men Explain Things to Me on the November 5th, and page views were double what they became five days later.

Conversion

Regarding conversion, because I don’t have a product that I’m selling, I need to think of ways to get readers involved without necessarily buying anything. I am thinking that an email sign-up option would be a good way to facilitate conversion on my site. It is possible also that users will be more likely to revisit site content if it is in their inboxes, rather than having to revisit the site altogether. This week I will be exploring ways to do that.

Process Post – 8

As we integrate our everyday lives with technology, there are undeniably limitless marketing/business opportunities. Creation, curation, and dissemination of free content comes with advertising opportunities, and as we’ve learnt, there are multiple channels to do so. I think that this is another fantastic way to engage with my audience, to establish my brand as a publisher. Furthermore it offers me an opportunity to think about putting advertisements on my blog to monetize this process. In my opinion, one of the channels with the most potential would be social media, especially Snapchat and Instagram. These two apps are perfect for my blog because of the target audience it can reach. According to Statista, Snapchat is a social media with one of the most pre-teens/ teenage users, with 23% of users being between the ages of 13-17 years old. This is perfect for my blog because my target audience would be gamers, and most teens/pre-teens game.

With the knowledge that social media is a profitable channel for my blog, I think my next course of action would be to create a Snapchat, and create more content on social media that would attract more users to my blog.

Links:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/326452/snapchat-age-group-usa/

Process Post Week #11 – Transmedia Integration

I have narrowed the media channels for my blog down to three, specifically, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Currently, I am using Twitter and Instagram to share new posts that are on my blog. I have also started to experiment with tweeting during hockey games in hopes of viewers engaging with my tweets and viewing my profile which promotes my blog.

Recently during a Canucks game, I tweeted about a goal that Elias Pettersson scored and how it was reminiscent of Daniel Sedin. In a matter of minutes, this tweet garnered a lot of interest. However, the 5000+ impressions and 50+ likes only translated into a few viewers checking out my profile but I did engage in a brief conversation with a few people regarding my tweet. Through this experiment, I realized that I should tweet more often during hockey games to lift my Twitter profile to get more interest from hockey fans. After all many teams and fans are on Twitter.

Similarly, on Instagram, I am contemplating “going live” and doing reaction videos to hockey games and certain plays. While this can be done on both Instagram and YouTube, I have a larger following on Instagram compared to both Twitter and YouTube, so it would be more efficient in reaching my imagined audience which is active on all three of my current media channels. However, I do not want to neglect my YouTube channel. I am considering transitioning to more video posts than written content as it will enable me to increase the output of my content in less time as I find video editing easier and faster than proofreading. The content would be hosted on YouTube and embedded into my blog. This would enable me to provide content to both viewers of my blog and YouTube channel.

Although I am active in three media channels and have plans to further enhance my transmedia integration on them by increasing activity during peak times, there are many fans and teams on Facebook too. I am planning to create a page from my blog to increase brand awareness. I will likely post content similar to what I am posting on Twitter and Instagram. Essentially, I am currently active on three of four platforms primarily used by hockey fans and teams. I have plans to increase my activity on these platforms in addition to adding another platform to the mix.

PROCESS POST: Create a goal (week 10)

There’s not much traffic coming through to my blog, so I’m not sure how much weight the statistics that are offered by Google Analytics hold in terms of seeing how my content is being received. From what I can see, my bounce rate is sitting well at just over 26%, and the bulk of my page views (39.08%) sit with my homepage.

I created a goal for my blog conversions called “Time Spent.” I found it kind of funny to make a goal, considering I basically get no traffic to my site. But, maybe one day this goal will be put to good use. I wanted to focus my goal on the duration of time spent on my site because I want to know that people are taking the time to actually read my posts. I set the goal for 3 minutes, because I figured that is a good amount of time for someone to navigate my site, find a post, and read it. Currently, the average amount of time people spend on a page on my site is just over 2 minutes. Although it’s nice to imagine people staying on my site for longer, I am content to start out with the goal of keeping people on my site long enough to read one post. As I get more established with my blog, I would hope that people would engage with my content and explore my posts for longer.