Tag Archives: Process Posts

Process Post #10

For my process post 10 I will be creating a community guideline.

Welcome to the Weekly Build community! This is a safe space to discuss renovation downfalls, successes, tips and tricks.

We want everyone to be part of our community and have their voice heard.

We want your feedback and aim to respond to your comments as soon as possible. While we moderate this community, we welcome open discussion. 

To enjoy our community, we ask that when you post, you keep in mind the following: 

  • We don’t allow defamatory, indecent, offensive, profane, discriminatory, misleading, unlawful or threatening comments. 
  • Please do not attack people personally for their ideas or comments. Abuse will not be tolerated.
  • Spamming, or posting promotional material is not permitted unless it is applicable to the site content.
  • We will delete inappropriate comments at our discretion and block any repeat offenders. We will remove content that is fraudulent, deceptive or misleading.
  • Respect that others in the community have different life experiences and may have a different perspective to yours. Different viewpoints are always encouraged.
  • Our community is a public place. Don’t post personal information that you would not be sharing with a stranger. We recommend that you don’t post any information that may identify you or anyone else, such as your address, email address or phone number.

I believe that since this site is one that is sure to garner many different types of readers with many different opinions, having an extremely strict guideline will not be helpful. With these guideline, I would also need to monitor the comments regularly and delete any bots or trolls.

Process Post #9

Transmedia content is crucial when it comes to promotion and audience capture. By having content on various platforms and in various ways, one can increase their exposure and gain more audiences. The content on my site is fairly visual and many users may benefit from seeing the processes in video form. Although I did not record very much content while I was doing these projects, it may have been smart to start a tik tok channel with these postings. I think peoples’ attention spans are getting shorter and shorter so social media is a great tool where people can see small snippets of things and decided whether or not they want to explore the content in more depth. The information contained on the site could also be refined and turned into a how to book for dummies in DIY renovations. This could be another form of media that users can consume and refer back to. Since print is usually easier to navigate and more permanent, having a how to book made in this respect can help consumers who actually want to try the projects I have done. All in all, I think the most logical expansion for my site would be to branch out into a tik tok channel. Although I do not have any content to post, I could explore this should I take on another project. DIY channels are thriving and tik tok is constantly growing. If this growth continues, I could see many brands hiring tik tok experts to enhance their marketing portfolio.

Process Post #8

In this week’s process post, I will be talking about the features of google analytics, why its helpful, what harm it can cause. Google analytics is a powerful tool that can explain to its users what they site’s performance is like and how they can improve their sites for their target audiences. In my case for example, I noticed that my site has a fairly high bounce rate which could indicate that people are visiting the site by accident, or the site is too difficult to navigate, or they are visiting the site in hopes for something the site is not delivering. Google analytics also provides insight on visitor demographic and region. This can help one determine whether the site should be more desktop oriented, or mobile oriented. From my use of Google analytics demographic function, I learned that my largest demographic was the 25-34 range. This is useful information, as if I wanted to monetize the site, I would be including things and brands that want to target this demographic that have interests in the content that I am posting. However, this is not to say that Google analytics is all good. Although Google presents the information in a manner that is fairly private and secure, being a user and leaving behind a trail of breadcrumbs can be mildly concerning. Even if the information is anonymous, there is still a huge amount of data that Google has about you that you may not even know they have. While useful for content creators and website managers, this information must be used carefully and in good faith.

Essay 2

Since attending my first PUB 101 class, my view on publishing has been greatly expanded. Gone are my thoughts of if you write it someone will read it. After watching Julie and Julia, my expectation of blogging was that it would be easy and if you create a blog, there will be readers out there who want to read you content. That was a very mistaken view.

Since attending all the classes and reading the readings, I’ve come to realize, that competition is fierce in the online space. One’s site must be concise, targeted, and well designed. Never would I have though that “white space is just as important as user flow” (Gertz, 2015) This really shows how important it is to chose and audience and design a site that is targeted and valuable to readers.

When I created my publications, it was designed to be a lifestyle blog. I never thought that this would become a digital garden like the one described in the MIT paper. I was expecting it to be almost like a diary of what I do on a weekly basis and it somehow morphed into a construction blog.  This was the point where I realized that my life was being overrun by my home construction projects. At this point, I changed the name of the blog, the layout, and the design. This plays into the idea of the digital garden because the whole idea of a digital garden is that it can “grow and change, and that various pages on the same topic can coexist” (Basu, 2020). I kept the design simple, easy to navigate, and clear of any crazy design elements. This is due to my imagined audience of people who are homeowners or DIY doers who are looking for people who have been crazy enough to tackle their own renovation projects. I designed my site to be a place where users can see what mistakes I’ve made, and what mistakes they shouldn’t make. I’ve included a vast majority of my lessons learned in the blog and mistakes made. I believe that once people see what I have done and how I’ve messed up, they do not make the same mistakes I do, or at the very least, they know what they are getting into before anything starts. What I have learned from my site thus far, is that a majority of my visitors are in the 25-35 age group, most of them are returning visitors, and there is a high bounce rate. I think this may be due to the overcrowded nature of the home page, but my theme does not allow me to reduce the clutter. Although the bounce rate may be high, I think I am succeeding in capturing my target audience. The age group is in line with what I was expecting as these are the people newly stepping into home ownership and making changes to their homes.

In terms of thinking about how my view of publication has changed, I never thought about how blogs could be monetized. I had always had an idea of sites having blogs to improve their SEO performance and what not, however, using blogs the other way for ads and links was not something I had considered. I am not a frequent reader of blogs, nor have I ever written any pieces, so I was not familiar with the idea of ads and blogs. However, since reading the Tumblr advertising paper, I noticed that not only have I read blogs, I have also fallen for the affiliate marketing in these blogs. I read food recipes all the time and when these sites link to ingredients or cookware, I almost always go to the store looking for these items as I do not cook often and I do not know what can be substituted and what tools are unnecessary. I find this form of advertising to be more effective, because not only do I not feel like I am being marketed to, display ads can created the connotation of the site not putting  “the reader’s best interests first” (Bleymaier, 2013). With the teachings in this course, I feel like I am more aware of the internets uses and how businesses can monetize sites and exploit readers. I am more cautious of how I use the internet and I will think twice before making purchases or decisions. My blog will come to an end with the course, as I finish the course I am also coming to completion on my project. I will not have any new content to write about and I believe I am not the type of person who is cut out for blog writing.

References:

“Make Your Thing”

This week’s reading, Jesse Thorn’s “Make Your Thing” highlighted 12 steps to guaranteed success. In order, it goes;

  1. Start Now
  2. Make Deadlines
  3. Keep Your Legs Moving
  4. Don’t Confuse Content & Medium
  5. Be Authentic
  6. Follow Your Passion
  7. Focus on Great Work
  8. Connect with People You Like
  9. Own What You Create
  10. Find the Money
  11. Build a Community
  12. DO A GOOD JOB

I have read articles and seen videos similar to this one before, but this one just seemed more realistic than the others. While YouTubers preach about the consistent output of content, the monetization of their videos is not what is making them the most money, brand deals are. This article emphasized the importance of taking time to create good work while also sticking to deadlines. I am not entirely sure what I want to achieve going forward in my life, past post-secondary. But, I know that once I find something sustainable, that I am truly passionate about, I will continue to put as much work in as I can to make that my career. This course has taught me a lot about publishing and is definitely steering me in the right direction. I plan on taking more publishing courses in the future and possibly minoring in it!

This article made me think a lot about some of my favorite artists, and how they have worked incredibly hard to be successful. Some that come to mind are Tyler, The Creator  and Kevin Abstract. They are individuals who inspire me to go after my dreams, much like they have. Though I (unfortunately) have little musical talent, I love writing and this course has helped me harness that ability. Hopefully in the future, I will find an opportunity to demonstrate my talents in a career that I love.

Here are some of my favorite interviews from the artists I mentioned above:

 

 

References:

The Experience Of Creating An Online Publication

Week 12: Process Post / Essay #2

Featured Image Credit: Nick Morrison on Unsplash

Introduction

Throughout the course I have learned a lot about publication, and how to present myself online. In this essay I will be reflecting on course content, what I have learned, and my thoughts and experiences with online publication. The essay will be split into three parts; in the first part I will discuss my thoughts around online publication, then I will discuss what my goals are for my online self, and my overall experience with being an online publisher and how I will continue to expand my website. Secondly, I will discuss who my website is for, who my public is, and I will address the editorial and design decisions I made regarding my audience. Lastly, I will look at what I have learned from my audience, the course, google analytics, and WordPress.

Experience & Goals

            When I started this course, I had a basic understanding on what online publication is, and how to run a website. However, throughout the course I have learned the importance of audiences and how to cater content to them through your design and editorial choices. Throughout the course I have learned that every detail matters in regard to design and editorial choices as this helps attract audiences, and how it is necessary to become familiar with a software program like WordPress.

            The overall experience of being an online publisher has been stressful and exciting. Although my content has primarily only been seen by my classmates and instructors, it was still stressful to produce content that would be available for public consumption. I say this because, there is more pressure to ensure that the information is correct, appropriate, and falls with the values of your website. It is difficult to please everyone online and even if you do everything right, people can still be cruel online. This relates back to John Suler’s reading, The Online Disinhibition Effect, which discusses concepts like “dissociative anonymity (Suler, 2004, p.322)” and “invisibility (Suler, 2004, p.322).” It discusses how since people can’t always be seen online, they have more courage to say and do what they want, because they are unknown to the online world and don’t have to deal with the consequences of what they say (Suler, 2004, p.322). This relates back to what I am saying, because that pressure and stress I refer to is triggered by this anxiety that users online may say negative things towards my content, and I do not even know who they are.

            However, it was also very exciting to build an online presence where I can discuss my passion which is music. In many process posts I discussed that I would want my website to be a portfolio for jobs in the music industry; as the website would show my knowledge and interest in music, and possibly throughout time if I were able to gain an audience, that would indicate that I have interesting content. I enjoyed the experience of combining my passion of music and writing with an academic class. In Campbell’s reading titled, A Personal Cyberinfrastructure it was discussed how higher education often fails to utilize these online tools like creating websites and allowing students to explore their imaginations while doing academic work (Campbell, 2009, para.5). However, in this course I enjoyed combining technology and my imagination with academic work.

            I will continue to expand my website as I have many goals and plans. Firstly I would like to change the theme and overall design; my process posts from week 6 to 11, discuss the changes I want to make. I will use social media to help expand my website, starting off with an Instagram account that will deal with shorter posts to engage interest, and prompt users to go read the full posts on the website. I have already started Blue Bedroom Playlists, which is playlists I have created through Spotify, and I would like to continue to expand this with the website and other social media platforms.

My Public & Editorial and Design Decisions

            I have imagined a public that is users who are between the ages of 15-30 (Music Gateway Team, 2016, para.1), who would be visiting and engaging with my website. Since my website focuses on many topics like album reviews, new artists and deals with all genres, it was difficult to narrow down an audience. However, through my knowledge and understanding of who uses social media platforms and views music blogs, I had assumed that this age group would most likely be my public or audience.

            This audience informed my editorial decisions because I find that younger audiences want fast and engaging information through things like Instagram stories and GIFS. So, for my website I started to incorporate videos and Spotify playlists into the blog posts, to make them shorter and more interesting. My audience informed my design decisions because I find that younger audiences enjoy a familiar design, so I am trying to do that with a blue color scheme which I have continued to progress throughout the semester.

What I Have Learned

            Throughout the essay I had discussed different things I have learned throughout the course. However, I had also gained knowledge on, linking out, google analytics, and WordPress which I will now discuss. I learned that linking out in posts is very important, as it helps you connect with other platforms and helps to bring viewers to your website. Through google analytics I learned that I can monitor how many people come to my website, and what pages are viewed and more; this helps me understand what I need to improve on my website or what is working. Lastly from WordPress I learned that it is crucial to understand the software and to explore outside of it as well, as coding is essential in building a website.

Conclusion

            Throughout the course I have learned a lot and have advanced my skills in online publication and building a website. This essay explored course content, my experiences, what I have learned and more. As time progresses, I will continue to expand my website and use information that I learned from this course to help further my website.

Bibliography

Gardner Campbell, W. (2009). “A Personal Cyberinfrastructure.” EDUCAUSE Review 44 (5). http://er.educause.edu/articles/2009/9/a-personal-cyberinfrastructure

Music Gateway Team. (2016). How is Music Marketed to Different Age Groups? Retrieved from Music Gateway: https://www.musicgateway.com/blog/how-to/how-is-music-marketed-to-different-age-groups

Suler, J. (2004). “The Online Disinhibition Effect.” Available from: Cyberpsychology & behavior 7.3 (2004): 321-326. http://truecenterpublishing.com/psycyber/disinhibit.html

Community Guidelines

Please Do:

  • Be respectful towards others opinions
    • Understand that different people may have different taste in music and it is okay to disagree.
  • Share your knowledge
    • If there were details missed in the review of an album, leave them in the comments.
  • Communicate with kindness and respect
    • This is self-explanatory, treat others with kindness and respect their opinions.
  • Share your favorite music
    • If there is an album you want to be reviewed, send us an email or leave it in a comment!

Please Do Not:

  • Advertise or post repetitive messages
    • This includes third-party advertisements, petitions, spam, or any other form of unauthorized solicitation.
  • Use any offensive or insulting language
    • This is self-explanatory, be respectful of writers and commenters on this site.
  • Make personal attacks toward other users
    • Again, self-explanatory. Debate is encouraged, but when you disagree, do so respectfully and constructively.

Considering the lack of engagement I have on my website at the moment, it would be easy for me to filter through comments myself. Any case of inappropriate behavior will be handled and removed. However, going down the line, if I receive more engagement, I could consider using a content filter. This would remove any comments with words that I consider inappropriate. These community guidelines will help discussions stay relevant and courteous.

Helpful Links:

Transmedia Integration on My Blog

Transmedia integration or transmedia storytelling is when “elements of a fiction get dispersed across multiple media for the purpose of creating a coordinated entertainment experience.” The example given in the reading is the Pokémon franchise, which is composed of trading cards, a manga series, movies, and more. Each of these different facets must be accessible on its own, and add unique details to the overarching narrative. Each aspect is vital in its own terms, but can also be understood and enjoyed separately.

In terms of my blog, I already try to incorporate links to my Spotify and SoundCloud to enrich the experience, as there is not an overall narrative to what I am writing on here. These channels make the most sense on my blog because music is the most important aspect of it. In the future, I could incorporate more links to my social media to make the experience more personal. This would add a more individualized feel to my blog.

References:

Process Post #12

Prompt: Develop community guidelines for your site. Why are those the right guidelines for you? How will you implement them?

Guidelines:

Be polite and respectful: No rude, defamatory, offensive, and threatening posts will be allowed. Comments with offensive or hatred material on the basis of gender, race, sexuality, religion, ethnicity, age, or disability will be allowed.

No links: Links will not be allowed in posts in case they lead to spam or inappropriate material.

No self promotions: No self-promotions or promotions of others will be allowed.

Be Helpful and Relevant: Keep on topic, don’t comment irrelevant information.

No Doxxing: Sharing personal information is not allowed.

I think these guidelines are good to have for this site. I don’t anticipate my target audience posting anything like this, but trolls might. These would be implemented through monitoring of posts, and immediate removal of anything that breaks these rules. For larger sites, there may be a community manager in charge of reading through all posts are making sure they all fit into the guidelines, but for my site I would be able to manage them alone.

The most important rules on this list are the first and last ones. The first, to be polite and respectful is important because trolling and offensive behaviour will never be allowed on this site. The last one, no doxxing, is an important safety feature to make sure private information is not being posted. The other guidelines aren’t as important, but instead are there to ensure there is no spam and to keep comments and posts running smoothly.

I think it’s important to set guidelines, so anyone who comments knows the rules right away. This way there can’t be any complaints, as it was clearly laid out. Guidelines help keep the posts as a safe place, which is welcoming to anyone who wants to join the site.

The post Process Post #12 appeared first on Home.

My Site’s Community Guidelines

Process Post #12

The community guidelines for my blog site aren’t going to be much different from the guidelines on other online platforms. It is important for me to respect the views of my audience and vice versa. Jaapsfilm’s community guidelines strive to create a safe and fun space for all. It is expected that these guidelines are being followed by everyone. With that being said here are my community guidelines:

Respect other’s viewpoints
Respect the privacy and personal details on this site Do not defame others Do not plagiarize No hateful, unlawful, abusive, vulgar, racist, sexist, threatful, etc comments Communicate politely and respectfully. Always be thoughtful of others Treat others online as you would treat them in real life

I believe that the guidelines above are suitable for my blog site. The guidelines that I have created are not anything unknown or completely different from the basics. I had looked over at Instagram and facebook’s community guidelines for inspiration and direction before creating my own. They are just simple courtesy rules on how one should behave especially in public. They aim to create a safe online space for all individuals while giving my viewer the freedom to express their opinion. Now comes the question of how will these community guidelines be implemented? I will create a special section in my menu bar on my site in the coming weeks to access these guidelines. This way my viewer will be aware of the rules and regulations of my site.

References

The Instagram Team. (2021). Facebook – Meld je aan of registreer je. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/unsupportedbrowser

Community Guidelines

The topic of homelessness has always spurred controversy and debate – should our tax dollars go to helping those who can’t help themselves? (yes). Are we as a society obligated to help those who are not contributing to the economy? (yes). These harsh perspectives, (unfortunately) cannot be silenced – but they can be greatly reduced if we remove the opportunity to post comments anonymously. Both Konnikova and Suler agree that the freedom to post anonymously makes a poster more comfortable with posting hateful vitriol, intended to inflame and upset the reader.

Thus, while we cannot make it impossible for a poster to post anonymously (people can make burner, or “troll” accounts), we can make it more difficult, forcing people to link their opinions to their Facebook or something similar. Through this, people will still have the option to post abrasive comments, but they will have to post it alongside their faces.

Comments which foster a culture of dehumanization, and do not contribute to a healthy and respectful conversation will not be approved (comments do not appear until approved by admin).

“Were you silenT or were you silencED”

Website Progress

As we near the end of the semester, I’m reflecting on how far my website has come, and what I still want to integrate into the site in the coming weeks, beyond the end of the course.

The learning curve for WordPress was steep and frustrating at times – I remember it took me almost 5 weeks to figure out how to implement a drop-down menu for my “PUB101 section”.

The backend programming end of the website has remained a struggle, but I committed myself to accomplish the tasks set before me – the design changes, the formatting changes, and so on and so forth.

In terms of content posted on the site, I’m mostly happy with what I’ve covered, being a range of educational material (how to respond to an overdose, and a bear spray attack), and recommendations for further reading (Never Enough by Judith Grisel, Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Mate). I’ve touched on issues like stigmatization in the health care system, recording homeless people for internet fame, and provided links for those experiencing homelessness. I’ve shared a fair few numbers of stories about the people I get to interact with.

Something I want to discuss further is the experiences of Indigenous homeless and street-involved persons, and how their experiences differ from their white counterparts. Part of the reason why I haven’t already explored this topic is it’s an enormous topic, informed by a long history of colonial trauma, displacement, and cultural genocide. Instead of attempting to contributing my perspective to the discourse on this issue, I will amplify the lived experiences and perspectives of Indigenous peoples.

Overall, the experience of building a website has been difficult, but rewarding. Moving past the scope of this course, I will likely keep posting, if nothing else as a means by which to process what I’m exposed to at work.

Transmedia Integration

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?

Process Post #11

Prompt: Make a plan for incorporating more transmedia integration into your online publication. What channels will you focus on? Why?

Transmedia storytelling is dispersing content “across multiple media for the purpose of creating a coordinated entertainment experience” (para. 5). For a blog, this would mean creating content across multiple different platforms. In addition to blogs, many people utilize YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and other platforms as well.

As this website is a book blog, there are many different ways I could use transmedia integration. One is Instagram. This would be quite similar to the blog content I have, except the main focus would be the photo. Then there would be a shorter write up about the book I am featuring in the caption. It is more photo focused, rather than word focused like this blog.

The second one is YouTube. Many book bloggers use YouTube to do longer (10-15 minute) sit down videos, talking in depth about one book or even multiple books. These could be collections such as recently read books, books in a certain genre, or books by an author. The creator will focus mostly on their spoken words, maybe with a couple pictures or showing off the cover of a book. These could be compared to blog posts as being a spoken and visual version.

The third platform is Tik Tok. These videos are much shorter, in the 15 second to 1 minute range. These may have the creator speaking during it, or may just have a few written words on the screen about each book, such as a simple yes or no for whether they would recommend it or what their rating of the book would be.

For me, I get most of my book recommendations now from Tik Tok. “BookTok”, the name of the genre of videos on the platform has been a great source for book suggestions. The algorithm on Tik Tok also makes it much easier for videos to be seen than on other platforms. If I were to be expanding into transmedia content in addition to this blog, I would focus on making short-form videos on Tik Tok as well.

The post Process Post #11 appeared first on Home.

Incorporating More Transmedia Integration

Process Post #11

This week I will be talking about my plan to incorporate more transmedia in my blog site. This will include producing content for various outlets for my blog. Many content creators use platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter to reach more audiences. It is of utmost importance to note that, in order to generate the maximum amount of engagement, a story must reach consumers across all the devices and platforms they use (Heyes, 2019).

In today’s day and age, transmedia integration is crucial as it “forces people to tell stories with as much gusto as they can muster, using images, videos, animated GIFs, cinemagraphs, sounds, maps, and words” (Heyes, 2019, para.9). For a while now, I have been planning on turning my photography Instagram account into a platform for Jaapsfilm. This will work as both platforms are photography related and the content I post on 5jab_ is very much relevant to Jaapsfilm. I want to start off by posting more content on my 5jab_ accounts Instagram page and then I will slowly expand my audience base by hopping on Tik Tok, Twitter, and Pinterest. Gaining more audience is not an overnight job, it takes time and patience. I need to be consistent with producing content for my Instagram account and blog site!

For an audience that expects to be entertained at all times, online engagement is becoming increasingly difficult (Heyes, 2019). The best strategy for achieving that engagement might be to tell good stories that are genuine, factual, and elicit emotion (Heyes, 2019).

References

Heyes, S. (2019, November 13). Transmedia Storytelling & Digital Marketing – 8MS Blog. 8 Million Stories (8MS). https://8ms.com/blog/transmedia-storytelling-importance-digital-marketing/

Multiple Channels

Week 11: Process Post

Photo by Szabo Viktor on Unsplash

Unfortunately, I was sick and could not attend this week’s lecture on Multiple Channels and Multiple Media, and the link to the lecture slides was not working, so I had to do some research on the definition of transmedia. From the website Target Internet, I found out that transmedia deals with telling stories or producing content across multiple media platforms.

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.

Link to the definition of transmedia from Target Internet: https://www.targetinternet.com/transmedia-storytelling-in-2021/#:~:text=Transmedia%20storytelling%20is%20the%20practice,blog%20entries%2C%20radio%20and%20advertisements

The Dangers of Advertising in Journalism

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!

References:

Response to Peer Review

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.

Updated “About Me” Section
Old “About Me” Section

Last Peer Review Feedback

Week 10: Process Post

Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash

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!

Process Post #10

Peer Review 3 Response:

For this process post I will be reflecting on Hayden’s peer review of my blog.

The first piece of advice she suggested is to change up my featured photos for process posts, mini assignments, peer reviews, and essays. Right now they are all the same pink with a blue border and blue text (as shown in the featured photo for this post). She suggested to make each category a different photo. I really like this idea, and I was thinking I could play around with maybe having some with a blue background with a pink border and pink text, and maybe also switching up some other elements. This would keep them cohesive, but also different to each other and stand out for a user scrolling through my blog.

The second piece of advice would be to add more widgets that are also similar, such as Instagram, Pinterest, or something else book related. I really like this idea and want to implement it to add a little something extra. I currently have a widget of my book reading challenge for 2021 on my home page, but GoodReads also has more options, such as books I’ve recently reviewed, recently read, or in a specific collection. I currently don’t have an Instagram or Pinterest page for Brooke Reads Books, but if I did I think that would be a great addition to the page in the form of widgets.

Overall, I think Hayden had some really great advice to make my website better. Thanks for the peer review!

The post Process Post #10 appeared first on Home.

Reflecting on Peer Review #3

Process Post #10

I want to start off by thanking Tiana Paltiel for the insight she has provided on my website. Peer reviews are always helpful in understanding things in a different light and assist in incorporating varying perspectives to my blog site.

Firstly, I would like to clarify a misunderstanding that I came across in Tiana’s Peer Review. The No Text Needed mini assignment has pictures of the Sikh Holy Scripture, Guru Granth Sahib Ji, and is not of an Indian wedding. It is easy for someone who is unfamiliar with Sikhi and the Punjabi culture to mistakenly misidentify. The mini assignment also did not require any text so I couldn’t elucidate or get in to more depth about the film shots. However, I thought I’d be only right to adress this misunderstanding.

Moreover, Tiana suggested that I should link out to sites more often. I had also realized that I had not been doing that actively. That is why I have been recently doing that with the newer content that I have been creating. Still, I think it is worth it to go back and link out more sources in previous posts. I will be doing that sometime this week! Tiana also suggested that I should link out the camera I use and additional information about it. Coincidentally, I had already put together a post except I need to wait on some pieces of information to be confirmed before I could release it. All of these ideas are awesome recommendations that are positively contributing to my digital garden. Thank you so much, Tiana!

References

Wikipedia contributors. (2021d, April 2). Guru Granth Sahib. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_Granth_Sahib

Inside the Minds of Content Creator

Process Post #9

As Susan mentioned, knowing how your readers behave on your website can assist you with creating the best content, posting at the right time, and in my opinion, the most important factor: establishing the correct engagement strategies. Analytics (Google, Facebook, Twitter etc.) is a precious tool that expands your audience base but on the other hand, it can leave data trails everywhere you go online. That is one reason out of the many why being a content creator is not an easy job.

Speaking personally, I use Google Analytics on my blog site and it has proven to be extremely helpful. The information provided by Google Analytics helps me strategically plan out my next moves. My favorite part about it is discovering things about the visitors who view my site. For example, a lot of my visitors are from Germany so I am planning to talk about the farmer’s protest in Germany. There are two reasons for this, the first being I want my site to be the voice of the voiceless, and bring attention to important issues. The second reason is, the German farmer’s protest will be relevant to my viewers as some of them reside in Germany.

At times it can get a little concerning knowing that I am leaving a digital footprint everywhere I go online. Especially, knowing that information travels fast and is often taken out of context (Hickey, 2013). That is why I always double-check my sources but overall, being mindful and aware of the content I post online is crucial to me!

References

Hickey, C. (2013, May 23). Post author: Chelsea Hickey. Social Media Club. https://socialmediaclub.org/blog/from-the-clubhouse/teenagers-why-you-should-care-about-your-digital-footprint

Wikipedia contributors. (2021a, March 29). Google Analytics. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Analytics