Tag Archives: pub 101

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

Peer Review #3

For this peer review, I will be reviewing Hayden’s blog.

My first thoughts when opening up this website is that I love the design. The theme is great, I think it is well picked for a lifestyle blog. The colours are are calming, I don’t feel overwhelmed or underwhelmed looking at the page.

As a visitor to this site, I am immediately drawn in by the design, and I am excited to see more of what this site has to offer.

One thing I would recommend to make the front page more cohesive is to have all of the posts have a featured image that are all the same size. The pictures that are uploaded already are great photos, they are very aesthetically pleasing and go well with the content of each post.

Hayden has her blog post content split up into 3 different categories, keeping active, lifestyle, and traveling. I think this is really helpful to any visitor of this site, as they can immediately identify what type of content they would be interested in and read it.

Starting off with the keeping active page, so far I really like the content that is there. A workout routine is great content that visitors to this site may like. I think a great addition to the content would be to add links for products described in the workout routine, such as the dumbbells and the peloton. This way visitors can find these products directly from the blog post. This would also be useful to make this blog monetized, as affiliate links would be a great way to monetize a lifestyle blog.

The second page is lifestyle. I think there are some great posts here, and I think the photos chosen to represent these blog posts are great. I would maybe split up the text into more paragraphs, so it seems less heavy for visitors and easier to read. The photos could be placed throughout the post, maybe putting the coffee picture right after referencing coffee and the laptop photo after mentioning doing homework.

The third category is travelling. I like the posts here, and the photos chosen are beautiful. One thing I would like to see for the latest blog post, Past Travels, is more personal photos and write up about each trip.

I think something that would make this website more marketable would be to look into search engine optimization. Some ways to do this would be to rename blog posts to make them more relevant to google searches that a potential visitor might have. Instead of “Past Travels”, it could be something more specific like “Top 10 Sights to See in Japan”. This would make it likely rank higher on a google search and be easier to find. Having key words in the blog posts would also help. Having links to products like I mentioned above would also be really good. Adding a plugin for SEO would be helpful for this, I use mine to make sure my titles are written well for SEO, my blog posts are a good length, and I have keywords written in there. I use Yoast SEO for this and I recommend it.

To market this website more, I think it would be good to utilize social media platforms that the imagined audience would use. For a lifestyle blog I would suggest Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok. I think you could get some really great reach from those if you chose to do so.

Overall I think this website has a great design and great content. I love the aesthetic of the page and I think it is all laid out very well. The site is easy to navigate and the posts with featured photos have great pictures that make me want to click. Great job!

The post Peer Review #3 appeared first on Home.

Peer Review #3

Week 9: Peer Review #3

Screenshot of Alyssa’s website.

This week I will be reviewing Alyssa’s site, Loafs by Lyss. First, I will look at design and then content. Alyssa’s website is clear and the user immediately knows that this is a blog about making sourdough. I like that she has chosen to display her recent posts on her home page, because it gives the user more information about the website. I also think this is a good way to grab the user’s attention and interest.

I like that she has created customized images for her process posts. However, on her home page I would suggest to make the process posts smaller, but I also understand this could be different among users as some screens are more zoomed in than others. I would also recommend moving the Instagram icon she has on the top left side of her homepage, as it sits alone in the corner and might not be seen by users.

As I continued to scroll down the homepage, I liked that she had attached her Instagram page. Her Instagram page is also about sourdough and this is a great way to market as she links out to other platforms and also uses other platforms to share her baking. I noticed that Alyssa linked out to other sources in her post titled Painting my Sourdough, and this is great way to connect your website to other sources.

In terms of her content, I like how she discusses a variety of topics. She discusses recipes, health benefits, schedules and more. Her content is clear and organized. However, I was wondering if in some posts she could expand a bit more. For example, with Coping with Sourdough Fails, she discusses how making sourdough may not always go as planned, and discusses that she has learned from her experiences and how to improve. I was wondering if she could expand more on the specific things she has learned and list mistakes that she has made to help the user understand what not to do.

Looking back at an earlier reading in this semester titled, A Personal Cyberinfrastructure by Gardner Campbell. The article discusses that it is important for students to learn and create while using digital mediums because it gives them technical skills and allows them to engage in all sorts of works (Gardner Campbell, 2009, para.7). The article discusses that the students should be able to curate and share their own engagement and knowledge in learning environments and online (Gardner Campbell, 2009, para.7). I see this importance through Alyssa’s site and her work because she is able to share a passion of hers, while engaging online in a learning environment. In classes one does not get to share their passions and often assignments are disregarded after they are marked, but Alyssa’s website is a portfolio of both her assignments and passions that she can use for further engagement.

Overall I think her website is great, checkout Alyssa’s site to learn how to make sourdough bread!

Link to Gardner Campbell’s article: https://er.educause.edu/articles/2009/9/a-personal-cyberinfrastructure

DKT MUSIC

Week 9: Blog Post / Mini Assignment #5

This infographic explains through text and graphics what you will find on the DKT MUSIC site. I created this infographic in Canva, and the reason I did not match this infographic to the color scheme of my website is because I liked this color scheme better, as the blue color scheme in Canva did not look good with this template.  

Through this infographic you learn that this site deals with different aspects of music.            

YOU GET:

Mini assignment #4 south park go

For this remix I combined two games with Pokemon go and South Park phone destroyer.

KingPNG. (n.d.). Pokemon Pikachu Png Photo [No background]. Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.kindpng.com/imgv/JbTTb_pokemon-pikachu-png-photo-pokemon-pikachu-png-transparent/

PNGITEM. (n.d.). Pokemon Mewtwo, HD png download [No background]. Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.pngitem.com/middle/hTibbb_pokemon-mewtwo-hd-png-download/

TEDtalks (Director). (2012, August 10). Creativity is a remix [Video file]. Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd-dqUuvLk4

AzuTakeo (Director). (2018, June 03). South Park Phone Destroyer: Legendary RANK PvP #4-12 (World’s TOP 40!) [Video file]. Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yDGNbhuwkI&feature=youtu.be

Process post wk 9

The first time I watched a video about Amazon Go, I was speechless.

It’s very cool because I didn’t realize Amazon would invent high technology to improve their guidance. What’s really cool about this video is that it uses the amazon app to key in items and has a censor to access in.    

The video was not that scary, it was basically a simple task of what shopping really looks like without any line ups and cash registers.  

Is that the phone can be useful to do work with everything such as a list making, or having an account. What’s interesting is your thinking would be like the three steps to make.

I think how they got the idea is they want to improve their way of making their technology advance so it doesn’t get confusing. Another idea is why not plan a simple way where there are self checkouts.  

I think some of the benefits are possibly that can be useful such as using robots as store clerks to help find items to guide where they are to search.  

The disadvantages are that there might be stealing items without paying, or getting caught of security. It would be the troubling part where people like to take things without paying.

I wish to go to amazon go store because I would like to compare what are the differences between other stores that don’t have that kind of technology. I think that’s why I really want to know why there’s a difference with other supermarkets that don’t have technology.

After watching this video it reminds me of whole foods. In whole foods, products are organic, fresh and they bring items from all countries. 

Data Discussion

Week 9: Process Post

Photo by Myriam Jessier on Unsplash

This week’s prompt discusses how data helps inform and educate but it also asks at what cost. The prompt also asks what my personal feelings are towards data trails, along with how do I minimize my footprint?

I agree that data collection can be informing and educating to the receiver. Data collection like, how many users have visited a site and when, is helpful to the receiver as it helps them grow and expand their website. I think this information being collected is fair. However, more personal information does not need to be collected, but if it is mandatory then that data collected should stay within that website and should not follow the user to other sites. This is seen through advertisements.

In terms of my personal feelings and if I minimize my data footprint, I would have to say that I do not think of it. I would like my digital footprint to be minimized but I find it difficult to do so and I have accepted this reality. I think it’s hard to minimize my digital footprint when I use the internet for everything; I got off all social media platforms accept one but may have to return to them as they are needed in the fields I want to work in. I think over the years it has become harder to minimize one’s digital footprint.

After writing this prompt I started to look into why I should consider to minimize my footprint. This article by INSIDER titled, What is a digital footprint? How to protect yourself online, and keep your data from being used against you, was insightful and this article, along with others mentioned that with a bigger digital footprint you are more prone to identity theft, advertisements, and that employers may be watching what you are doing as well. These are great points in why I should limit my digital footprint, but I think whenever I am using the internet I already take this into consideration. Even though I take these points into consideration, my digital footprint is not minimized because I still use the internet as these points do not greatly impact my activity online.  

This week I had also received feedback in tutorials for my website, I will be making these changes throughout the weeks and providing updates in the next process posts.

Remix Assignment

Week 8: Blog Post / Mini Assignment #4

Bruno Mars 24K Magic album cover (Original)

Photo Credit: Atlantic Records

Bruno Mars 24K Magic album cover (Remix)

I decided to remix this album cover since Bruno Mars has recently blessed us with new music. Go listen to his new track with Anderson .Paak and Silk Sonic called Leave the Door Open, it is a sexy slow jam that everyone needs to listen to!

Here is a little bit more about Bruno Mars.

Bruno Mars was meant to be a performer, he can keep audiences on their feet. Literally I never sat down when I attended his concert, I also believe he did not take any long breaks but kept performing.

Bruno Mars is an artist that does a bit of everything in terms of genres. He has given us pop, R&B, soul and funk hits. With his dynamic voice and sound, Bruno can create songs that are mood boosters, like Perm, but he can also make listeners emotional with tracks like It Will Rain. Side note: It Will Rain is not on the 24K Magic album but Perm is.

His songs vary in tempos but his upbeat and lively songs are usually considered to be a allegro tempo, and this fast tempo accompanied by lyrics like “Throw some perm on your attitude” ,and “Matter of fact, band, show her how to lay it back!”(from his track Perm on the 24K Magic album), make listeners want to get up and move.

Essay #2: The Conclusion of PUB 101

I always had an appetite for self-expression. In secondary school, I would post on multiple platforms including YouTube and Tumblr under a mysterious username. Although I constantly craved to speak my mind, I would always set my posts to private out of instinct. My self-expression was always limited to a privatized audience. This came as a result of being taught to keep things private online. In Danah Boyd’s book, It’s Complicated, she expresses the sentiment behind teaching the youth to be cautious online. She states that parents are usually concerned about their child’s online presence with worries that they might post something inappropriate or dangerous (Boyd, 2014, Searching for a Public of Their Own, para. 16). I was never posting anything harmful, but it was still a frightening thought to have something negative traced back to me in the real world. My past fears about having an online presence are important to recall when understanding how my habits have transformed throughout the semester.

PUB 101 forced me to defy the fears that I previously avoided. It troubled me to think about how others would perceive me online, so creating a public blog about myself was a significant disruption to the habits that I was normally comfortable with. The first disturbance came about when I was picking a blog name. It was such a critical decision to create a web domain that would last a year. Initially, I wanted my blog to be under a mysterious username, in the same degree as my old habits. However, I figured using my name would be my best bet at creating something unique. Since I was already taking a leap of faith by creating a blog in the first place, it didn’t seem too far off to also name it after myself. In hindsight, I’m surprised that I chose to post things under my real name where anyone could find me. This name choice was a shocking first step that paved the way for many other decisions because it went against all of the preconceived opinions that I had about creating an online presence.

After that first step, I decided to choose a blog theme. I wanted a theme that was minimalistic but also unique; something that wouldn’t take away from the content that I would post. I took a long meander through WordPress themes and initially settled on one of the lesser-known ones called ‘Pink Personal Blogily’. I enjoyed its simplicity, but I soon realized that this lone factor was its greatest downfall, since it lacked a number of customization features that I desired. Shortly after, I adjusted to the ‘Elfie’ theme. This theme allowed for the same minimalism but included more ways to customize features. I tried to keep in mind the design principles that were mentioned in class – balance, rhythm, proportion and scale, contrast and point of focus, and unity and harmony.

I was originally debating between two totally different blog topics – hockey or fashion. But since we’re in a global pandemic right now, the hockey season was constrained. With that being said, fashion was my best option. I consider myself to be heavily motivated by fashion influencers, so I thought it would be a good idea to experiment with fashion using my own personal twist. In “Digital Dressing Up: Modelling female teen identity in the discursive spaces of the fashion blogosphere” by Tara Chittenden, she explained how many females, including myself, choose to express themselves using fashion blogs. Chittenden articulates, “The complex interplay between individuality and connectedness comes to the fore in the field of the fashion blog as teens trade cultural and social capital through processes of posting, linking, and commenting” (Chittenden, 2010, para. 14). This is extremely relevant to the way that I view large fashion influencers and the way that I strive to become one as well. Popularity amongst fashion influencers stems from the idea of following trends while also creating new trends to follow. When reflecting on my own blog posts, I recognize that I do a lot to make myself become a part of the fashion community, but I don’t do a lot in order to differentiate myself from other people.     

For the most part, I provide information about products, including reviews and dupes. When looking for influencers to follow, I usually follow people who also provide reviews and dupes. In that sense, I recreate the tactics that big influencers use so that I can garner growth similar to them. This concept can relate to the idea of copycat culture that Travis Gertz outlines in “Design Machines: How to survive in the digital apocalypse.” Gertz states, “When another company achieves success, there’s a lot of pressure to investigate what they did right and apply that to our own organizations” (Gertz, 2015, para. 24). Although this is a good way to start, I also realized throughout the semester that this tactic can quickly become a disadvantage. This downfall is because there are many people who already blog about fashion and do it better than me. At the end of the day, it becomes a question of who will choose to listen to my opinion over other influencers who have a larger following? The only way to win in this situation is to create something unique; something that I haven’t done enough of. I learned this by exploring the statistics provided by my audience. Most of the sessions on my blog are surface-level interactions, with no comments. Consequently, I still have a lot to learn about how to cater to my audience using Google Analytics.

My imagined audience is other fashion enthusiasts who have a similar style as me. Although this imagined audience is whom I would hope to reach, I presume that almost all of my real audience is actually students from PUB 101. I think it would be cool to reach more of my imagined audience in the future, but I also understand that doing so takes time and effort that I have yet to put in. Before this class, I thought it would be easy to create and maintain a blog. But I realized it takes a lot of work. There’s a big difference between having an idea and actually executing it with an audience in mind. I had endless ideas about what I could post, but the way that I imagined them in my head ended up being difficult to successfully market to an audience. Although this is the case, it’s a part of growth to understand what I enjoy posting and vice versa.

After this course, I will continue to blog. I will experiment more with catering content to my audience and trying to find ways to reach more people. It will be fun to look back on my content from the past and see how much I have grown from it. I gained unforgettable knowledge from this course that I know I will use in the future. Since I want to work in the marketing industry, it was fascinating to learn about content creation and analytics. It was a valuable experience to be able to casually experiment with ways to cater to an audience, especially because it is actually a lot harder than it seems. I also learned how to use many different tools like WordPress, Google Analytics, Canva, Pexels, and Unsplash. I will be delving deeper into these new tools to use in my work life.

Works Cited

Boyd, D. (2014). Searching for a public of their own. In D. Boyd, It’s Complicated (pp. 213-227).

Chittenden, T. (2010). Digital dressing up: modelling female teen identity in the discursive spaces of the fashion blogosphere. Journal of Youth Studies, 505-520.

Gertz, T. (2015, July 10). Design Machines: How to survive the digital apocalypse. Retrieved from Louder Than Ten: https://louderthanten.com/coax/design-machines

Process Post #11: The Comment Section

During class we talked about having a space for comments. This led to us talking about how comment sections can be a place of good and bad: where people can share ideas and rave about a common interest or it can turn into a toxic debate about which politician is better.  As a lurker, I […]

Process Post #10: Respect to Animators

I just finished my remix video and I chose to animate a TikTok dance video I really like! My first mistake was thinking I could get a 15-second video done in a week with almost zero experience of animating.  Spoiler: I barely made it 5 seconds long.  It took 72 frames to make 5 seconds. […]

Process Post 12; Wrapping Up the Semester

As we are nearing the end of the 2020 Fall semester and entering into exam period, it’s crazy to reflect back on how much I have learned from this class. I never thought I would be capable enough to build my own blog and understand all the components that help put it together.

I also started thinking about my intended audience for my future blog/website that I may plan on building depending on how busy my schedule gets next semester.

I have decided to help my parents rebuild their company websites with the knowledge I acquired from here and hope to continue building on my knowledge in PUB 201 next semester. I think this is one of the very few classes which I have taken the skills I have learned and applied them to do something useful/helpful in my life today.

It’s A Not Goodbye, It’s A See You Later :)

The Power of Painting had a very funny start. I have told this story in previous posts but essentially, I only became interested in painting because of the COVID-19 quarantine. At around April, I would take my daily walks around my neighbourhood and sometimes I would end up at the dollar store. I grabbed a couple of paints and supplies, and the rest is history. With all of this in mind, when I began this class, I wasn’t too sure what I would make a blog on. At first, I considered a restaurant blog but that seemed generic and hard to do during COVID. But then I remembered my paintings and I thought a blog would be the perfect place to not only show my audience but also a place where I could document the work I have done and also share ideas and tips. This blog acts as a platform for me to be myself and write what I am thinking, which is apparently normal as “some people do report being more like their true self in cyberspace” (Suler, 2004). I like to think of it as my creative space and an online art gallery for myself. 

During my editorial and writing process, the audience that I had in mind was just like me. This is because “the con­tent should speak to the few peo­ple who can iden­ti­fy with this per­son­al­i­ty because this is the only audi­ence that mat­ters”which means that my content should reflect my own personality (Gertz, 2015). This includes regular people who aren’t expert artists, have little to no drawing/painting experience and are just looking to do something for fun when they have time. I think this is one of the reasons why I write the way I do. I specifically add steps and include points that may be simple to artists but are things that never would cross the mind of a beginner. I also took a very friendly and casual tone when writing my posts. I never wanted to be too serious with my audience and I wanted to make it seem like I was having a one-on-one conversation with the person reading. By doing this, it made the flow of the posts to be more natural and also easier to read.

In terms of the paintings I have made, they were all chosen by me and are designs that I really enjoyed. Therefore, the look and aesthetic of the paintings may be geared towards a younger audience but in all honesty, it can really be for anyone. The same can be said when I was choosing my theme and designing the blog. I already had a bit of an idea in my head and decided to do what I know I would love. Since I am a very minimalist person who enjoys very simple and easy to navigate things, that was what I wanted to see on this website. I chose a theme and template called “New blog WordPress theme” because it looked clean and had a nice menu bar at the top. 

With this audience in my head, I am glad I used Google Analytics and WordPress analytics to actually figure out who the people visiting my blog were. Having these tools was “like hav­ing an all-see­ing eye gaz­ing direct­ly into the hearts and minds of our audi­ence” which is really helpful as a publisher who wants to increase engagement on their platforms (Gertz, 2015). As I figured, my demographics were what I anticipated. In terms of age, it ranged between individuals aged 18-34. This makes sense because that’s who my target was, and I know a lot of my friends who followed my blog journey fall between these ages. For gender, I predominantly attract females which also makes sense because of the girly aesthetic of my website and also the more feminine paintings that I choose to replicate. 

Regarding value, I hope that I am giving helpful advice, tips and tricks to beginners just like myself. As mentioned before, I am no expert and what I am writing about comes from other artists that I have learned from. Also, I have no plans on monetizing this website because my intentions were never to make a profit or generate really anything from doing this blog. It’s just a creative and space for me to use to talk about my newfound hobby and also for other people to learn and get inspiration for their future endeavours.  

In the beginning, “The Publication of Self in Everyday Life” didn’t exactly make sense to me. I was reluctant to take this class, but this experience has really changed my perspective of publication in general and I would highly recommend this class to anyone thinking of building an online presence. With all of this being said, the end of this semester is approaching, and all of my assignments are wrapping up. This was a difficult semester (and year) for all of us but I am very proud of what I accomplished this term. Under the circumstances, I managed to create a blog that I grew to love and become passionate about. Although sometimes tedious, documenting my progress through my process posts really showed how much my thinking and thought process grew over the past couple of months. This website was really my own personal digital garden because I “frequently adjust[ed] and change[d] [ my website] to show [my] growth and learning” (Basu, 2020).

In terms of the Power of Painting, I would love to continue it. A passion that I gained over quarantine at the beginning of the year now holds such a big influence in my life. It has made me so happy to paint or come up with ideas each week and be able to share them with my audience. Even if the people reading my content were just my friends and classmates, it was still so exciting to see my analytics go up and it proved to me that I could continue this in the future. Obviously, I do say this now as my optimistic self, but I know that life gets busy and a lot of what I love gets pushed to the side. That is why my goal will be to try to continue this blog to the best of my ability. I think it is important to prioritize things that make me happy and this definitely does!

References

Gertz, T. (2015, July 10). How to Survive the Digital Apocalypse. Louder Than Ten. https://louderthanten.com/coax/design-machines

Basu, T. (2020, September 3). Digital gardens let you cultivate your own little bit of the internet | MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/09/03/1007716/digital-gardens-let-you-cultivate-your-own-little-bit-of-the-internet/

Suler, J. (2004, June 1). Psychology of Cyberspace—The Online Disinhibition Effect. http://truecenterpublishing.com/psycyber/disinhibit.html

The post It’s A Not Goodbye, It’s A See You Later :) appeared first on the Power of Painting.

Essay Two

I always wanted to have a blog or some form of documentation in my life but I never knew how. PUB 101 was also a class that I have been wanting to take for a few semesters but I was never able to get in due to the popularity and waitlist that this course withholds. When I finally got in this semester, I was so excited to start a journey of not only documenting a period of my life but as well as learning all the skills to build an online presence and make it into my own!

This blog was initially to document my family and I’s journey throughout the pandemic as business owners as the restaurant industry has been hit extremely hard since March of this year. I wanted to do this so that I would have something to look back on when hopefully, one day this pandemic is over. However, this blog has slowly turned into not only just current experiences but I have found enjoyment in writing about past experiences and I was surprised at how many of the course contents were applicable. I am not sure how much value or influence I have added to others but my hopes for this was to show awareness for small businesses and how anyone can support them during the pandemic. Every little bit counts!

Along with all the technical skills that I have learned from this course, I have also been hit with realization of the factors that make up what kind of space the internet is today. Some of the topics that stood out to me most during this semester were: fake news, copyright, monetization, and transmedia.

In week 7, we learned about fake news and the circulation behind it and I slowly realized that fake reviews could be written just like any fake news report. In my experience, it is common that one may exaggerate the issue when slightly discontent with an experience regarding a restaurant, especially when they are hungry and eager to eat their food. One small slip up could stir up a bunch of emotions and cause a blowout. Lewis & Marwick (2017) discuss how trustworthy media really is and how manipulation may be used to someones advantage. Being the daughter of a long time restaurant owner, I have heard countless stories of toxic restaurant relationships in which one party is discontent with what is going on, resulting in spread of inaccurate information online, ultimately leading to manipulation of others. Luckily, my family and I have never experienced that personally.

The next week, we went on to learn about copyright. It’s actually a coincidence because the day after that lecture, I was at work and noticed a bunch of the photos of our food on the delivery app Fantuan, was switched and not the original ones that we submitted. I called the customer service line and was told “it’s fine, as long as the food looks similar”. I responded with “no, we cannot use photos that were taken by someone else without crediting them, which is not possible on a delivery platform”, and they were very unhappy with me.

Monetization was also a topic that I found to be very eye opening. I was about 14 or 15 when “YouTubers” became a thing and influencers who were made money off social media starting becoming very big. Vara (2015) writes about how Steven T, Jones, an editor, started a kickstarter to continue his love for journalism “by letting people give online contributions to help fund…” (Vara, 2015) the window for reporting and writing. In terms of integrating ads into this blog itself, a peer suggested ideas such as pairing with local businesses to benefit both parties (Atwal, 2020). However, Atwal (2020) later recommended that monetization may not be fit for my blog as it is already one big advertisement for my family business alone and any other advertisements may harm the business which I strongly agree with.

Finally, the last topic that stood out strongly to me was transmedia and how we can incorporate multiple forms of media and how diverse it can be! Kevinbrittenylauren.wordpress.com (2013) discusses how Pokemon has developed into such a big corporation with many types of media, ranging from TV shows and video games, all the way to stuffed animals and even theme stores! By doing so, this company has been able to stay in the spotlight for many years and continue to be a relevant part of not only kids but adults’ lives as well! After learning about transmedia, it made me think about how I would want to incorporate different types of media to advertise my parents’ business.

This class has ultimately taught me so much in such a short amount of time and it has made me want to discover and learn more about the publishing industry. I didn’t think I would want to continue blogging after this semester due to my busy schedule but now, I wouldn’t mind putting aside some time for this blog. There is so much to discover in this industry and I am planning on taking PUB 201 to further my knowledge. I am so excited!

Sources

Atwal, J. “Peer Review Three”, Don’t Ruin My Mood. Retrieved from: http://dontruinmymood.com/pub101-assignments/peer-review-three/

Kevinbrittenylauren.wordpress.com. 2013. “Pokemon as transmedia storytelling. https://kevinbrittenylauren.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/pokemon-as-transmedia-storytelling/

Marwick, Alice and Lewis, Rebecca. 2017. “Media Manipulation and Disinformation Online“. Datasociety.net.

Vauhini Vara. 2015. “Survival Strategies for Local Journalism”,  https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/survival-strategies-for-local-journalism

Process Post #12: Reflecting…

There are a number of things that occurred this semester that I wish I would have done differently, or I wish could have gone a different way. In reality, it’s bad to dwell on the should’ve, could’ve, would’ves that were out of my control… but I figured I would say my piece and let it go.

COVID Gloom and Blues

Since we’re in a global pandemic, I reflected on the idea that PUB 101 would have been a different course if it was taken in person. As Suzanne reiterates regularly, I would imagine that the dynamic of the class would feel more like a community of sharing ideas and blog posts. I enjoyed the relationship that was shared amongst people who talked and turned on cameras during class, but it still felt like there was something lacking. Although I do enjoy going to class and finishing work in the comforts of my home, I also miss the social interaction that comes with taking courses in person. Presenting class materials online was very hit or miss… getting hit with Internet problems is always a worry. In the future, if I end up taking PUB 201, I will take it in person. With that being said, I look forward to the day that we can all go back to SFU campus! I can relate to everyone that is feeling a loss of motivation or energy, and I hope everyone in the class is doing well with coping. Hugs all around!

Process Post 11; Transmedia

Although this blog focuses mainly on food and restaurant business, I think there can still be a lot of opportunities for transmedia to be incorporated!

When going through this week’s lecture and readings, I realized how much more content I could create with this blog. This blog post talks about how Pokemon has grew from simple trading cards and a TV show to much more, such as stuffed animals and even a whole store dedicated to Pokemon in Tokyo! Pokemon is still very much alive and now more than ever, individuals of all ages are taking interest in it!

With that, some other media that I thought I could include on this blog could be videos of food reviews done by food bloggers (of course I would get their permission before incorporating their content)! Another idea I had was to find a way to incorporate surveys and such on the food. That way, customers can come directly to the website to fill our a questionnaire based on their experience instead of going on Google, Yelp, etc.

Process Post #10- Reviewing My Final Peer Review

As things are slowly ending for this class, I received my final peer review from Marylou Villegas. Marylou wrote me a really awesome peer review here and I can’t thank her enough for the kind words.

Her peer review revolved around the topic of audience and monetization for the Power of Painting and she had some very interesting insights and thoughts about our future.

To begin, her first paragraph made me so happy to read! She completely understood the vibe I was trying to go for in terms of theme and colours. She also really nailed my intended demographic and I appreciate her taking the time to analyze my site.

First paragraph of Marylou’s Peer Review

In terms of monetization, she touched on some points on monetization that I found really interesting. She mentioned that I have an opportunity to monetize through my paintings and gain revenue. While I love this idea and hope that there is people out there who would buy my art, I don’t think that this is something that I would like to pursue.

As mentioned previously, this website is just a personal gallery and blog for my friends, family and I. Personally, I like to share my experiences and post about the paintings that I have and hope that other people get inspired by my work.

Overall, I am glad that Marylou loved my site! She noticed the progress that I have made since the beginning of quarantine and that makes me so happy! I loved her site as well and I wrote her a peer review here, check it out!

Until next time 🙂

<3 Carissa

The post Process Post #10- Reviewing My Final Peer Review appeared first on the Power of Painting.

Process Post #11- The Truth About How It Is All Going

Hi everyone! Today on this process post, I am going to be super honest about everything going on, how I am feeling and just the struggle life has been through these hard times.

Our guest lecture Andrew touched on this topic and really sparked something in me. Everyone in the lecture was also sharing their stories of how this semester was going for them and it was nice to hear that we were all in the same boat.

School on its own is exhausting and every semester we all go through the same thing. The cycle of papers, assignments, tests over and over again for 3 months straight is tiring and mentally straining. But there are some pros. Going to campus to see your friends, going to school events, talking with your classmates and much much more.

But with the times we are in, this isn’t possible. Instead of your commute from the bus stop to your classroom, it’s from your bed to your desk. Your classmates are your roommates, your parents or no one. Your friends are through a screen and spontaneous meetups are no longer a thing. All of this on top of regular school life is mentally challenging me and as far as I know, all of my classmates.

Zoom Fatigue is real. My eyes are sore from staring at a screen all day during my classes and all night when I am doing my homework. My back is sore from sitting down all day, with short walks between my kitchen and my room every now and then. This is tough both mentally and physically and a lot of people are going through it.

It’s nice that professors and TAs are very understanding of what is going on. I can tell everyone is trying their best and we are all working to the best of our ability. Students aren’t the only ones who are suffering so we shouldn’t forget the teachers.

To sum up this rant I will leave you with this: I am tired, I am unmotivated, and I really want this pandemic to be over with. I miss my friends, I miss regular life but I know that won’t be back to normal unless we all do our part. SO PLEASE, do your part and stay safe 🙂 We will all get through this together.

Until next time!

<3 Carissa

The post Process Post #11- The Truth About How It Is All Going appeared first on the Power of Painting.

Process Post 11; $$$$

This week, we focused on the topic of advertising and revenue. I was always fascinated by how people made money off the internet. The first time I found was when one of my best friends signed up for Google Ads for her Tumblr account. over the summer, she made well over $1000 and I was shocked by how that was possible from sitting on your computer all day.

It is interesting how many connections are involved in one ad click and where the money is dispersed. Some people may not be in favour of this idea where as, some may love it and use it to their advantage. I guess it depends on what perspective you are looking at it from. From a seller’s point of view, it must feel nice to make money just by someone clicking on a link in where some clicks may even be accidental. However, from a consumers perspective, I understand some may be bitter or petty that someone gained money from their actions online.

Process Post #9- Finding Out Who You Guys Are!

Hello! Today on this process post, I will be finally looking at the analytics for the Power of Painting!

Currently, I am using Google Analytics and Monster Insights, a plugin on WordPress. Google Analytics is a very in-depth look at my audience while the Monster Insights that I am using is only a free version, therefore limiting me from all of its features. But ultimately, both of these tools are super helpful and interesting to use because now I get to see what you guys are like!

After a quick glance at both tools, Monster Insights shows me the same thing as Google Analytics, just with less detail. Therefore, I will just be focusing on Google Analytics, more specifically the general overview, the city and the browser of my audience.

General Overview

This area was the most fascinating to me. I got a chance to see how many users come to my site over this semester and see how many sessions I have had in total. While to most these numbers seem very small, I am actually quite excited to see this amount of people! I did’t even think more than 10 people have seen my site but 56! Wow thats really a huge accomplishment to me.

City

This is kind of creepy but I know what cit you guys are in! That’s a pretty cool insight to have and interesting to see people from all over the province. A little weird to see a few people out of the country, and I know that these are most likely bots, but hey, maybe I have some fans in Russia, the US and Finland. It makes sense the Burnaby is the highest as that’s where I live and where all of my friends do as well.

Browser

This insight gives information on what sort of browser my audience uses. I personally use Safari to create my website but it was cool to see what others are using. Between my friends, it’s a pretty even split of what they use but I have never heard of Android Runtime or Samsung internet (maybe these are the people from Russia or Finland).

I hope these were as interesting for you guys as it was for me. I think it’s really good for me to be transparent with you guys so I am glad you got to see more of an insight into the backend of the Power of Painting.

Thats all for today, see you guys soon!

<3 Carissa

The post Process Post #9- Finding Out Who You Guys Are! appeared first on the Power of Painting.