Tag Archives: pub101

Timing is everything

“Analytics (Google, Facebook, Twitter etc.) is a very valuable tool for building your audience. For content creators, knowing how your reader behaves on your website can help enormously with developing the best content, posting at the right time, and developing the appropriate engagement strategies. On the flip side, for the reader or user, it can be tiresome and even worrisome knowing you are providing data trails every where you go online“

When I was younger, I used to have a One Direction Instagram fan account. I think I was about 11-12.

I was able to gain between 5000-10k followers during that time (predominately other teen One Direction fans) and I was able to make a cool and functioning fan account.

However, A LOT of work went into making it. Firstly, the most important thing for Instagram engagement at the time is the use of hashtags. I had to make sure I used a bunch of different hashtags like #OneDirection #HarryStyles etc… and this was one of the ways I was able to gain followers.

Another tool I used was posting at the right times when my timeline was most busy. This made it possible for me to get a lot of likes at one time. For example, If I posted in the middle of the night I wouldn’t get many likes and my post would be hidden by the time everyone woke up. I found that posting around after school time was a good time to get good engagement on my posts.

This was all a lot of work, but for the engagement, I got it was worth it. I also gained skills that would be able to help me in the future if I pursue content creation especially with social media.

Pros and Cons to Anonymity

Process Post #12

Anonymity can be a very useful, but harmful tool on the internet. It is a complicated topic that has proven to enhance things like participation, but also encourage more hateful comments. Today I would like to discus both the advantages and the disadvantages to anonymity and how it may or may not be useful for a website.

The first great thing about anonymity is that it encourages participation. Maria Konnikova states that “forty per cent of people in the eighteen-to-twenty-nine-year-old demographic have posted anonymously” (Konnikova, 2013), as this disconnection between a person’s identity and text allows users to feel less fear about what they say since it can’t be tied back to them. Anonymity can also support freedom of speech on the internet which can be very helpful in getting people’s voices heard. However, the lack of repercussions and judgement that comes with anonymity encourages more hate speech on the internet and increase the cases of online abuse. It can also lead to the spread of misinformation due to how easy it is to lie, which means we are generally less trusting of information we find on the internet.

Regarding a blog or any public social media account for that matter, anonymous comments are very likely to occur, but there are some things to do about it. According to The Gaurdian “Some say it is simple – “Don’t read the comments” or, better still, switch them off altogether. And many have done just that, disabling their comment threads for good because they became too taxing to bother with” (Gardiner et al., 2016). Unfortunately, it is not always this simple as not all comments are hate comments, and enabling comments increases the response from users. The creators of online content (include myself for my website) must decide which is more important to them – user participation or not receiving hate. An alternative – which I might apply to my website If I start noticing comments – is to filter out any hateful words or statements so that they can’t be posted. This way, you can still receive user response, but your comments are less likely to be hateful or triggering.

References:

Gardiner, B., Mansfield, M., Anderson, I., Holder, J., Louter, D., & Ulmanu, M. (2016, April 12). The Dark Side of Guardian comments. The Guardian. Retrieved April 6, 2023, from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/12/the-dark-side-of-guardian-comments

Konnikova, M. (2013, October 23). The psychology of online comments. The New Yorker. Retrieved April 6, 2023, from https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-psychology-of-online-comments 

Transmedia Storytelling

Process Post 11

In the past few weeks I have previously been focusing on user accessibility and using design and marketing to encourage people to visit my blog. However what I haven’t thought about is what they see when they do visit my blog and how I can make it more intriguing. To do so, this week I changed the titles of all of my process posts to a summarizing statement that gives information about what content is in the post, rather than “process post x”, which is what I made my titles before. Even though my process posts are just for PUB101, I still wanted to make it a little more interesting for whoever may read it, as an actual title might bring more people to the post as a sort of ‘hook’ that intrigues the reader.

In this weeks reading: Pokemon as Transmedia Storytelling, the author discusses how Pokemon is still so popular after so many years, and how transmedia storytelling is part of the reason for that due to its marketing possibilities among multiple age groups. This evidence of such successful transmedia storytelling represents how useful interrelation can be, and how it can be implemented across many different areas. To apply this technique to my website, I think I would start including more visual aspects to my blog as most of it is currently just text. I could include photos, videos or even graphics to present information and hopefully enhance the transmedia storytelling of my website.

References:

Pokemon as transmedia storytelling. kevinbrittenylauren.wordpress.com. (2013, November 21). Retrieved April 6, 2023, from https://kevinbrittenylauren.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/pokemon-as-transmedia-storytelling/

Peer Review #3

This week I will be reviewing Kathy’s blog, Lucid Dreamer (uderrated.com).

First Impressions: Kathy’s blog does not have that much content, however, her About page gave me some insight into the type of content she is trying to convey! I enjoyed that she has a picture of herself because her blog is personal, where she talks about her dreams and (book) recommendations. This is a great way to market your blog, as when someone looks at the About page they will know this is a personal blog about her, and not about any other sort of content.

By posting personal recountings of her dreams, she is presenting herself in a vulnerable way that we don’t see often online! In Hollenbaugh’s article, Self-Presentation in Social Media: Review and Research Opportunities, they talk about ‘self-disclosure’, “Self-disclosure, the revelation of personal information (i.e., thoughts or feelings) to others (Derlega et al., 2008), is distinct from self-presentation, yet it is an essential tool for those attempting to present their actual or ideal image” (Hollenbaugh, 2020). By talking about her personal life, and her dreams, she is practicing self-disclosure, which is rare online.

Marketability: Kathy has not yet worked on many aspects of marketability. It is a little bit confusing navigating her website and the content that she is actually posting, which makes it harder to market to a specific audience. I would recommend having her “Dream Diary” as the first thing you see when you open the site. On top of that, I would recommend some more pictures or icons that allude to the type of content she is posting so that the audience knows what kind of blog it is!

Unfortunately, she has not posted any recommendations, as this would be where the marketability aspect can come from. If she started recommending some manga or books, she would be able to market that type of content to have her audience looking at the stuff she is recommending. This part of her blog could be pretty easy and laid back too, she wouldn’t have to go into detail but maybe just have Pinterest board-like grid of different manga, board games, and card games that she likes!

Conclusion: Unfortunately Kathy does not have enough content on her blog for me to make a good and accurate assessment of her content, however, I gave several recommendations and things I would like to see from her blog!



Citations

Hollenbaugh, E. E. (2020). Self-Presentation in Social Media: Review and Research Opportunities. Review of Communication Research, 9, 80-98. Retrieved from https://www.rcommunicationr.org/index.php/rcr/article/view/71

Do Not Read Your Comments!

As someone who is starting, and interested in content creation, our contemporary period makes it a little bit harder with the existence of hate comments and online harassment. Especially in the last few years the emergence of cancel culture and the lack of media literacy makes this an even harder topic.

Thankfully, my small blog for a class does not receive hate comments or anything, but if I do want to pursue content creation, I should learn and talk about it.

“The Psychology of Online Comments” by Maria Konnikova talks in depth about online comments. My favourite study that is highlighted in the article is, “When people don’t think they are going to be held immediately accountable for their words they are more likely to fall back on mental shortcuts in their thinking and writing, processing information less thoroughly. They become, as a result, more likely to resort to simplistic evaluations of complicated issues” (Konnikova, 2013).

This brings up a point I have been trying to make for a long time, the lack of nuance, understanding, and most importantly media literacy, when it comes to these anonymous hate comments. For example, most hateful comments I see on TikTok are from someone who didn’t understand the video correctly, and instead of taking the time to understand, they just leave a hate comment instead.

As well as hate comments about political issues or other complicated issues, which the hate commentators have no education about these issues.

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 #12: My “KeptRules”

Reflecting on my site, my purpose is to create a safe and welcoming community. Therefore, to keep that statement I have come up with reasonable guidelines for users on my site to follow.

The list is as follows:
– Refrain from hateful/negative comments
– Consider appropriateness (my site is for all ages)
– To respect and support others
– Plagiarize of any work is not accepted
– If you want to borrow any content from KeptCollexion, you must ask for permission and acknowledge the original author.
– Don’t forget to share this space with your friends and grow the KeptCollexion community.

I think that the guidelines mentioned above are necessary as it moves the direction in where I want my site to go and how I want users to interact with each other.

We all know that the internet can be a dark place. In “The Psychology of Online Comments,” it stated that many users on the internet post anonymously and freely (Konnikova, M. 2013). This gives freedom to anyone to say anything online which can cause harm in some cases like online bullying. But it also stated that removing comments doesn’t really create a solution towards anything as it affects the way how people can connect, and takes away the motivation to build a community (Konnikova, M. 2013). Like how the article mentioned removing comments, I still want my audience to speak freely and share their thoughts as it drives engagement. Although, with that privilege comes limitations. I want KeptCollexion to provide a safe and positive space for users to share things they love, and I plan to keep it that way.

I plan to implement such actions by adding a small section on my site displaying the guidelines or publishing the text beneath my “about me” paragraph.

– Eliza (aka Peanut)

Reference:

Konnikova, M. (2013, October 23). The psychology of online comments. The New Yorker. Retrieved March 31, 2023, from
http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-psychology-of-online-comments

Using ChatGPT Code…

Today I was getting frustrated with the lack of accessibility that I had with customizing my website’s appearance. There was no way I could edit the colours of some parts of my website, so I decided to use ChatGBT to help with the CSS code to edit the appearance.

It took some playing around with but eventually, this made it possible for me to edit the colour and the opacity of my menu colour:

This was so useful and helpful, and I will definitely use it more to play around with the appearance of my blog so that I can have exactly what I want even with the limitations that the themes place.

Here is the colour of my new menu:

Process Post 10

This week, I wanted to once again, focus on my website from a user’s perspective. I mentioned in my 4th process post that I haven’t really been imagining an audience thus far, as I assumed no one else would be reading my content. I still think this way, however I have recently thought a little bit more about how I could gain an audience. Whether I decide to monetize my website in the future or not, I think it is very important to consider user experience when putting out content. Sam Hollingsworth states that “user experience has become every marketer’s number one priority” (Hollingsworth, 2021), and although I may not be marketing anything at the moment, I think it would be a good idea to start looking into increasing my website’s visibility.

One way of doing this is implementing social media withing my website. This is also something I recommended to my assigned peer in this weeks peer review, so I figured there’s no better way to work on my own website than taking my own advice. To do so, I added a link to follow my Instagram account at the end of my “about” page. I chose to link Instagram not only because it is one of the few social media apps that I have, but also because according to the State of Mobile 2022, Instagram is the top app likely used by Gen Z. If there is any audience I hope to increase engagement from, it would likely be Gen Z as my content aligns more with their preferences (as I, the writer of said content, am in fact also a part of Gen Z).

References:

Hollingsworth, S. (2021, August 9). 15 reasons why your business absolutely needs seo. Search Engine Journal. Retrieved March 25, 2023, from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-seo-is-important-for-business/248101/#close

State of Mobile 2022. data.ai. (n.d.). Retrieved March 27, 2023, from https://www.data.ai/en/go/state-of-mobile-2022/

Process Post #11: Flowing Through Media

This week we discussed the concept of transmedia. It is a way to describe a story which can be told across different platforms like writing, films, toys, games, etc. For example, in the reading written by Blogroll, they used pokemon as an example. It is seen across many mediums of platforms like card games, on-screen, on consoles, and books, and it contributes to the growth of the fanbase (blogroll, 2013). It explains the goal of transmedia storytelling to keep the experience and community alive and to continually grow an audience. This keeps the community interested and engaged in the whole platform experience.

With that said, knowing that I can use transmedia as an advantage to my site to engage my audience, to take a small step I can expand my branding of KeptCollexion onto other media platforms. I plan to take action by creating an Instagram page to start, then maybe a YoutTube channel to expand my creativity. With new platforms in mind, the content shared would be in the forms of Instagram posts and stories, and short edited video montages on Youtube. I’ll still be putting more emphasis on social media platform channels as it is the easiest and quickest medium to attract users since it is what most of us use. It is also the platform I am most comfortable using, and it can contribute to sharing a glimpse of what KeptCollexion has to offer.

– Eliza (aka Peanut)

Reference:

Whippersnappers, B. is for. (2013, November 21). Pokemon as transmedia storytelling. kevinbrittenylauren.wordpress.com. Retrieved March 27, 2023, from https://kevinbrittenylauren.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/pokemon-as-transmedia-storytelling/

Assignment Peer Review #3: perfecthurricane.com

For this peer review, I explored Riella’s webpage “Perfect Hurricane” (PERFECT HURRICANE – a personal blog about stuff and things). From a user’s perspective, I see how she organized the site’s categories from the top menu bar, and how I’m introduced to loud bright colours. This factor helps users easily navigate their way around the page. I also like the animation effects incorporated into the page as they caught my attention instantly and gives the impression of an interactive site. I find sites with visual effects entertaining and make me want to explore more and play around with them. In terms of a reader’s perspective, visually the text is legible and the website contains visual graphics and pictures to help communicate an idea of what “Perfect Hurricane” is all about.

Scrolling further, I found the carousel concept of gallery photos fitting to her site. It shows a quick intro glimpse of events and a story. After viewing the gallery, I wanted to know more in-depth about the site. So the next page I visited was the “Bio” section. It displayed an easy quick read about the author, although I do recommend maybe giving a small background behind the website name “Perfect Hurricane.” On this page, I like how she kept a consistent theme with bright colours and animations. I also found it helpful that a contact domain was added to encourage involvement and community with social media.

In terms of social media, this week’s readings focused on AI and marketing tools. For a successful site, it depends on how the author decides to display their platform and reach their target audience. In this week’s readings, we learned that Data.ai. Is a useful marketing tool that helps analyze and report the marketing performances of various apps like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, etc. It also discussed how this generation is known as Gen Z, and it is heavily influenced by technology and social networks (Data.ai., 2022). It is a factor to learn and apply to our sites to move towards success in marketability. As mentioned in Data.ai, topics and trends relevant to Gen Z drive engagement through connections and social platforms (Data.ai., 2022). Taking this into account, I see how “Perfect Hurricane” is more of a personal brand, and to engage both personal life and engagement to gain an audience, adding factors of trending memes or songs can add to viewer activity. For example, at the bottom of the home page, I see how there’s a song displayed. I suggest adding a small description or hashtags to reach other users who listen to the same song or artist. This is a way to grow the community through the author’s interests. Also using these social media tactics like hashtags, links, and trending titles will easily capture Gen Z’s attention but also make use of marketing tools and strategies.

This week we also touched on SEO. According to Hollingsworth, SEO is the most viable and cost-effective to understand and reach an audience. It also introduces the main search engine competitors like Google, Yahoo, and Bing (Hollingsworth, S. 2021). Keeping this in mind, adding relevant features to the site like trends, topics, and facts can increase the audience by keeping these search suggestions in mind. Usually, search suggestions are common topics or prompts that users look up, therefore incorporating topics to reach an audience based on the themes/topics of your site would be a useful tip to consider to grow engagement and further reach an audience to grow a solid community.

Lastly, visually I see that there isn’t much content going on. I suggest uploading more content relevant to your theme that can also be relatable to an audience you’re trying to reach. This will grow activity onto the page, and leave the impression of being “incomplete.”

Earlier like I said, the way how this site is well laid out with colours and grid components. It looks fun and interesting and the animation makes users feel engaged. These are good site attributes to continue and improve on.

– Eliza (aka Peanut)

References:

Hollingsworth, S. (2021, August 9). 15 reasons why your business absolutely needs SEO. Search
Engine Journal. Retrieved March 21, 2023, from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-seo-is-important-for-business/248101/#close

Panipekeesick, R. (n.d.). Perfect hurricane. PERFECT HURRICANE. Retrieved March 27,
2023, from http://perfecthurricane.com/

Posiel.com. Data.ai. (2022). Retrieved March 27, 2023, from
https://posiel.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/dataai__state_of_mobile_2022__en.pdf

Peer Review #3

This week, I was assigned to peer review the website sixtyfortythree by Darien Smallboy. The website showcases all of the photography work that the author has done in a very aesthetic way. As a user, I am quite pleased with the design of the website as it is minimalistic and easy to use but still shows the work in very nice way. Any buttons about where to contact Darien, where to find more of their work, and where to learn about the brand are all very easy to find and even encouraged to click on. I think this is useful especially if someone who does not know how to use technology very well finds this website as they will be able to navigate through it quite smoothly. I also like that there is a portion of the website that talks about the sixtyfortythree brand, why it was created, and the credentials that Darien has as a photographer to gain the trust of the users. In Sam Hollingsworth’s writing about SEO and why they are important, he states that “establishing a brand as an authority takes patience, effort, and commitment and relies on offering a valuable, quality product or service that allows customers to trust a brand” (Hollingsworth, 2021). Which is why I appreciate the use of examples of the photography that Darien has included to show experience in order to gain the trust of the website’s users.

Regarding the marketability of this website, I am not sure if Darien is planning on monetizing the website and making a profit off the content, but I think it would be a great opportunity to! I think one great way to engage with the audience a little but more would be to introduce social media platforms, if possible. Danah Boyd writes about using social media as a tool for creating publics as it builds a network of people and connections. Social media allows users to access their friends and introduces them to a broader world, making them feel like they are a part of something bigger and important to it. “Through engagement with publics, people develop a sense of others that ideally manifests as tolerance and respect” (Boyd, 2014). That being said, I think if Darien linked some social media platforms that also showed more photography it would encourage a specific public. Additionally, these social media accounts could be used to further promote the website.

Overall, I think Darien has done a great job with the website so far with its marketability as I can determine his intended audience based on the design, and I can see a lot of potential for how this audience can be marketed to, and how the website could possibly be monetized and used to support Darien’s future in photography!

References:

Visit Darien’s Website here!

Hollingsworth, S. (2021, August 9). 15 reasons why your business absolutely needs seo. Search Engine Journal. Retrieved March 25, 2023, from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-seo-is-important-for-business/248101/#close

Boyd, D. (2014). 8. searching for a public of their own. Wattpad. Retrieved March 25, 2023, from https://www.wattpad.com/203798155-it%27s-complicated-8-searching-for-a-public-of-their

PROCESS POST #10: Insights and Rankings, SEO

From last week’s process post discussing analytics, this week’s readings proposed a visual of Data.ai. The content used analytic reports to show which apps and websites are frequently used/downloaded. It is a useful tool that helps navigate businesses and users to improve their projects and increase engagement. It is ideal for decision-making processes and delivers overall insight into the performance of the gaming market for instance (Data.ai., 2022).

The reading even acknowledges the age of technology we’re in. Linking to my last process post, technology has evolved into a new age and is advancing as we speak, it has brought Gen Z to what it is today (Data.ai., 2022). With Gen Z, comes new trending sites and apps. Data.ai. has reported that TikTok has ranked “Top Apps” in the 2021 market.

As a social media user, I agree with this report. TikTok has grown a huge community of creators and overall is an entertaining app. I think that TikTok has become very successful because it offers short collections of entertaining content that keep the audience engaged and active since videos are around 15-30 seconds. Compared to an hour-long youtube video, TikTok has an advantage as it caters to short attention spans. I do find myself scrolling for hours in my free time which is probably me contributing to levelling up TikTok’s ranking.

Speaking of technology, SEO is introduced as “Search Engine Optimization.” The Search Engine Journal states that SEO is the most viable and cost-effective tool to understand and reach customers (Hollingsworth, 2021). The article elaborates on reasons why SEO is crucial for businesses. From this reading, 2 reasons stood out to me the most. 1: Organic search is often the primary source of website traffic (Hollingsworth, 2021). This is a true statement, considering where we all start online is with a browser, an organic search engine. 2: SEO is a strategy used for the long term (Hollingsworth, 2021). This is a factor to consider because technology and the internet have impacted society, and are constantly changing.

I’ve known about search engines beforehand since it is a daily tool I use, although this is my first time digging deeper into the topic and hearing about SEO.

– Eliza (aka Peanut)

Reference:

data.ai. 2022. State of Mobile 2022

Hollingsworth, S. (2021, August 9). 15 reasons why your business absolutely needs SEO. Search Engine Journal. Retrieved March 21, 2023, from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-seo-is-important-for-business/248101/#close

Process Post 9

After reading ‘Digital Breadcrumbs‘ by George Philip, Jennifer Anne Lazo, Rooham Jamali and Rudy Al Jaroodi, I started to think a lot about how technology is tracking me everyday. I was fully aware that this happens to users of technology as most apps require location tracking, however I am curious as to what they do with this information. Is this type of surveillance really as scary as everyone makes it out to be? As the authors of Digital Breadcrumbs say: “will this trail of data we leave benefit or harm us in the long run?” (Philip et al., 2016). This article made me think of an assignment I did a few months ago where we were to visit My Ad Center on our google accounts and and click “manage privacy”. This feature allows users to see all the assumptions that google has made about them to in order to provide appropriate ads that users will engage with. In my case, google correctly guessed my age, gender, household income, education status and even my relationship status all based on the info I have shared online by just using technology.

Although this information can be somewhat alarming as for anyone it is odd to find out that you have been watched and tracked this whole time. However, this data is used as information to educate, and also to create personalized ads for its user. Therefore, I am not to worried about minimizing my own digital footprint as I don’t find it to be as much of a threat as people can make it out to be. Besides, new technologies like this are inevitable and will only improve as time goes on. Think about it as a tool for out future rather than something to be afraid of.

References

Philip, G., Lazo, J., Jamali, R., & Jaroodi, R. (n.d.). Digital Breadcrumbs: The data trail we leave behind us. Pod Academy. Retrieved March 21, 2023, from http://podacademy.org/podcasts/digital-breadcrumbs-our-data-trail/

Process Post #9: Thoughts on Analytics

Analytics are tools used across different social media platforms. I am most familiar with Instagram’s analytics, and it also helps track my screen time use on the app itself. I keep track of the reports on Instagram since I hold a public account. I like to see insights on how my posts are doing and the rundown of how many users interact with my account. I mainly post dance content on Instagram (some are published on my movement page) and analyze how my audience on Instagram grows which helps build a bigger dance community. Insights like these do help guide you in knowing the progress of your business/accounts, although as discussed an invasion of privacy is at risk.

For tools like these to collect data, they need to also collect personal information from your phone (number, location, etc.) and about the environment, the user is in, (Digital Breadcrumbs: The data trail we leave behind us 2016). A conversation from the Pod Academy states that a phone comes with a series of sensors that run background information which transfers from the phone to cell towers, which can also be communicated to the internet where others and sites can gain information about you (Digital Breadcrumbs: The data trail we leave behind us 2016).

Tieing into KeptCollexion, I have Google Analytics plugged into my site. It gives me tips on how to improve my site and reports the overall health of my site. Currently, my site’s status reports as “Good” and suggests that I improve my site’s performance and security factors. It’s good to know what steps to take to upgrade my website, but a risk I am taking is the exposure of personal data collected.

Reflecting today, I think it’s challenging to keep everything private once you own a mobile device or some computer since these devices run a constant background cache of data and personal information. It’s something that can’t be avoided unless you decide to go deviceless. Think of it now, TVs and smart homes do the same. It is just the way technology runs today, but it also reflects our responsibility to how we use these devices and what we choose to share and install.

Reference:

Pod Academy. (2016, May 3). Digital Breadcrumbs: The data trail we leave behind us. Pod Academy. Retrieved March 14, 2023, from http://podacademy.org/podcasts/digital-breadcrumbs-our-data-trail/

Report Analytics. (2017). PNG Tree. photograph. Retrieved March 14, 2023, from https://pngtree.com/freepng/report-analytics-audit-business-data-marketing-paper-blue_4772977.html.

Process Post #8: Remixing Creativity and AI

This week’s reading focused on trending resources that came to be since the ongoing evolution of technology. AI, artificial intelligence is the “simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions” (Frankenfield, 2022) according to Investopedia. Since the development of AI, programs like ChatGPT and DALL-E are now widely used in different aspects of education, personal interest, and work. With the topic of AI, one of the readings elaborated on the use of DALL-E. I found it a helpful article written by William Antonelli. The article even mentions how DALL-E has become so popular lately and how random requests generated from the AI site have been shared on social media (Antonelli, 2022).

Reflecting now, how society moves along with the evolution of computers and human intelligence has also brought us much closer in terms of community through the influence of social media and the internet. An example is this blog here, KeptCollexion. Striving my goal to reach an audience sharing similar interests to build a community is a step toward connecting with others through the internet.

I think that DALL-E is a fun tool to use to let your imaginations go wild, and can contribute to content for this blog. Displayed above are the results of typing “Kirby and Yoshi playing videogames and eating snacks.”

Reference:

Antonelli, W. (2022, June 14). How to use dall·e mini, the viral AI tool that can turn any prompt into a series of pictures. Business Insider. Retrieved March 11, 2023, from https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/dall-e-mini

Dall·E. DALL·E. (n.d.). Retrieved March 11, 2023, from https://labs.openai.com/e/NqKZ4pci4MJ9MQUiqdiahlAW/DdYGYkkVt4SKdlPODnGrzcgw

Frankenfield, J. (2023, January 19). Artificial Intelligence: What it is and how it is used. Investopedia. Retrieved March 11, 2023, from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/artificial-intelligence-ai.asp

Peer Review #2 – Sammy Universe

This week I had the pleasure of reviewing Sammy’s website, which is suitably titled SammyUniverse. 

Immediately, when opening the home page, the banner had a picture of a planet with the blog tagline. I think the photo she chose ties in with the title of her blog since it is a planet in a “universe,” similar to the universe she created with the website. It is also similar to the header style discussed in the article “Design Machines. How to survive in the digital Apocalypse.” Travis Gertz details this commonly used home page format and attributes the widespread use to the fact that it simply works for many people and companies, creating a trend that can be seen on many other sites. 

After scrolling past the banner, there are some clear template blocks still containing placeholder texts. There are some headings which state that “Music, Film [and] Random Things” are going to be explored. There is also a block with a motivational quote, a few sentences, and a link box; however, the link does not direct the reader to any page. It’s unclear whether this block is a filler or something Sammy wrote but possibly forgot to link. Closer to the bottom, after more filler blocks, there are links to some recent posts and assignments and contact information. I do like the homepage, and the colours of the banner photo match the she chose, but I wish it were more concise and included content from or about the blog. The blog’s footer is a GIF of purple/blue clouds, which I thought was a nice creative touch. I liked that it was moving and matched the other colours of the website; it captures the readers’ attention. Sammy could use this to her advantage and include some social media links in the footer since I didn’t see any throughout the rest of her blog. 

The website’s typography is relatively simple. Around three sans-serif fonts are alternated between writing portions, but they fit the blog’s theme and are easy to read. One header on the Film page includes a combination of two fonts that I found visually appealing, especially with the inclusion of the bolded word. It allows the reader to understand what Sammy is trying to emphasize. 

It could be beneficial for Sammy to consider incorporating more contrasting font styles into her text to allow for variety. 

Sammy’s website has a few different cool aspects that come together to create a captivating user experience. 

Similar to the footer, other movements occur throughout the blog, such as appearing text and images that fall into place when the page is opened. These things grabbed my attention and made me want to keep reading. Next, I really enjoyed the use of images! From a reader’s perspective, there was a perfect balance of photos and text. The pictures were all relevant to the blog’s content and acted as a visual aid. It was especially crucial in the movie reviews and music recommendations, so the reader knows what is being discussed. The music and movies were also linked, which is important when discussing or recommending a piece of media, especially if you want the reader to view or listen for themselves. 

The website layout is unique from other blogs that I have seen. The music and film pages are sole pages and don’t include individual posts, making everything easy to find. The same can be said for the blog content, which is just one long page. On the Posiel page, all the content is separated by each week of class. I found this format to be interesting, but it took some work to navigate. While it was all categorized into Process Post, Weekly Content, and Mini Assignments, it isn’t easy to find what you are looking for if you do not have every week of course content memorized. It would likely be a good idea to title each week and the assignments; doing so would give context to the reader and make it easier for them to find what they need. 

In conclusion, Sammy Universe was a very captivating website that I enjoyed exploring. The theme was consistent throughout the site, and the colours and photos matched the theme or the content. Its general usability is good, but the Posiel page could be easier to navigate. Overall, this blog was fun to review, and I look forward to seeing what else Sammy has to add. Keep it up!