Tag Archives: ProcessPosts

Process Post #3

I really like the current layout of my website. I tried to make it as user-friendly as possible and also functional for myself. My PUB101 content will live on the page “PUB101”, organized under the categories “Process Posts”, “Mini Assignments”, and “Peer Reviews”. My content will be separate from my assignments for PUB101 under the page “Content”. I’m not sure if I will have different categories for this page yet. I’ll decide on that once I start posting more content on my blog.

As I’m reading the article “Calling My Attention Back” by Craig Mod, it’s making me reflect on my own online habits and how glued to my phone I can be on a day-to-day basis. In the age of 10-50 second content on Tiktok, has it affected our ability to pay attention? I find myself gravitating back to my phone even when I’m streaming a movie. In fact, I’ve gotten distracted by my phone about 5 times while writing this. Also, when I’m out to eat with my family or friends, almost everyone is on their phones, and only glancing up and talking periodically. Honesty, I don’t think that I could be offline for a whole month. I think that I’m too reliant on technology to do that. Here are some examples: I need the internet to access my assignments on Canvas, I communicate with most of my friends online, and I watch movies, tv, and Youtube during a lot of my free time. But, that’s not to say I couldn’t cut back on my screen time. Perhaps cutting back and spending more time meditating and reading could really benefit my mental health. It’s definitely something that I would seriously consider attempting.

Process Post 2: Reflecting on my Tumblr days

Me during the circa 2014 ‘soft grunge’ era on Tumblr.

I’m going to be completely honest, going into this I didn’t feel confident in creating a blog at all. This is my first time using WordPress and my first time editing a blog since about 2015. When I was a teenager, I got really obsessed with the band One Direction and I decided that I wanted to dedicate a blog to them. So, I created my first-ever blog on Tumblr.com called “NandoswiththeNialler”. I called it this because one of the band members called Niall Horan liked the food chain Nandos. Anyway, that blog didn’t last too long. As I grew up and decided to become more “edgy”, I ended up changing my URL and my whole theme to more of a “grunge” aesthetic, after becoming obsessed with it. If you were a Tumblr kid between the years 2012-2016, you know what I’m talking about. I call this my emo/misunderstood/it always felt like the world was ending era. I had a lot of feelings and angst and I made Tumblr my outlet. Since then I’ve blogged pretty casually over the years, with my URL and theme changing once or twice. My Tumblr blog (and my old cringy posts) is still up and I still post sporadically. I didn’t delete anything, change the theme, or change the ‘about’ section for nostalgia reasons. I checked the other day and I was surprised to see that I still have a little over 2,000 followers, but a lot of them are probably either inactive or bots.

Although I haven’t edited a blog in years, I found it fairly easy to figure out how to navigate WordPress and add plugins, categories, and widgets to my blog. I originally wanted this blog to have the same theme as my Tumblr blog. A black background, the title as the header with no image or icon. The menu bar would be below the header with the content beneath it. This theme was very popular in the “grunge” era of Tumblr. Then I started thinking about how much I’ve changed since I originally chose that theme. I want the theme and content of my current blog to reflect who I am today. So, I decided to use this theme from the Elementor plugin. I chose to display my icon and menu as the header with a sunset-like gradient background and the title below it. I also added some pictures that I’ve taken on an image carousel.

The blog I’ve created relates to my vision board because it has bold colours, and the title is larger than everything else which gives it a typography feel that I really like. I was leaning toward an art magazine editorial look.

Ps. I linked a video about the 2014 grunge Tumblr aesthetic, maybe I’ll dive more into this topic in my content posts.

https://www.tumblr.com

Elementor Website Builder

Process Post 1: Talking to a Stranger

Being introverted, I’m not exactly thrilled about the idea of talking to a stranger. I’ve always been reserved and quiet, and I’m still learning to break out of my shell and put myself out there, even online. Talking to a stranger can feel intimidating, you don’t know if they’re going to be easygoing or not, and they might be reluctant to talk to you.

When it comes to either online or in-person interactions, I used to find myself leaning towards online interactions a lot more. There is less pressure online, there are no awkward silences, you don’t have to worry about if there’s something in your teeth, and you can send the other person memes or funny Tiktoks. Although I used to lean towards online interactions more, lately, I’ve been growing to enjoy interacting with strangers in-person more than I used to. I find that it’s a lot more candid, you don’t have the time to contemplate your responses as you would online, and your true self comes out more that way. The conversation seems to flow better in person, and you can also read the other person’s tone and body language.

I consider a stranger to be someone I’ve never met and know nothing about. I consider a person known after interacting with them and learning about them, like their name, age, where they’re from, and some of their interests. You can meet someone and become acquainted without fully getting to know them. The more you get to know someone, the more comfortable you both become. Over time you start opening up to each other and discussing things beyond the surface level.

For this process post, we were asked to find a stranger and engage them in a conversation. My encounter was unexpected, and I didn’t even have this assignment in mind when I engaged with this stranger. It happened on a Sunday evening while I was grabbing my laundry in my apartment’s shared laundry room. When I walked into the laundry room, one of my neighbours was there getting her laundry. I startled her when I opened the door, we both laughed, and I apologized. After that, we walked to the elevator and discovered that we live on the same floor. I told her that I hadn’t seen her around before, and she said she moved in a few weeks ago. I then asked her how she was liking it here so far, and she said her new apartment is a lot nicer than her last place, and it’s way more convenient to be close to campus. I agreed that it was convenient and we said goodnight. After this interaction, I would still consider this person a stranger, but maybe a tad bit less than a stranger, if that makes sense. I didn’t learn anything about her other than that she also likes to do her laundry on Sunday, she lives in my building and we both enjoy the convenience of it.

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!

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 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.

Week 9: My Infographic

I had very little experience with creating infographics. I’m not capable of making one from scratch so I opted for the free ones! Thankfully, I’ve used Piktochart to create mine and it’s very simple. With free software (and limited knowledge of the software), I came up with a very simple one.

my desktop screen

I wasn’t comfortable showing who I am online because I still have this unfamiliarity with blogs. So, I focused on my own online activities and how that represents me.

Discord and Reddit are big time spenders I have online. I like to be on Reddit because I can browse for news and find updates on topics that I follow. I don’t usually engage because I’m content with reading. I occasionally comment, but I prefer to stay anonymous. I use Discord because a few of my close friends are on there, and it’s an easy way to communicate when we play games online. These 2 are part of my online self. I am active in my own circles, but curious in others.

Instagram is the closest platform for me that represents my ideal online. I also want to create content that’s eye catching and interesting. I do have pieces of my personal life on there, but I try to keep it vague. I use it the most often because it’s a good aggregation of content that I want to see (especially the many dog accounts). All this combined represents who I am online, and I kept the theme neutral to focus on these aspects.