Hello everyone! This week I’ve been busy trying to improve my website by analyzing its performance and figuring out new ideas that could help make it even better.
In this lecture, I was fortunate enough to attend a talk given by Trevor Battye from Clevers Media, who shared his insights on monetization and ways to make money from your audience. He stressed that it’s important to identify the needs of your audience and to be unique in your niche when starting a business. One key takeaway for me was that your first business might not be the most profitable one, but it’s a valuable learning experience that can set you up for success in future endeavours.
Trevor also mentioned that starting a business when you’re young can be advantageous because you tend to be more determined and willing to take risks, and people are more compassionate and are generally more forgiving of mistakes. I found this encouraging, as I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist, and that’s held me back from starting my own business or even just creating my own public social media pag e. But As a part of Rojan’s Road to Roj transformation journey, I recently shifted my mindset and focused on continuous improvement.
One thing that really resonated with me was Trevor’s experiences with selling candles. As someone who wants to get a publishing minor, I’m eager to learn more about these kinds of experiences in this field by taking the PUB 456. Overall, it was an inspiring and informative talk that left me feeling motivated to keep pushing forward with my own projects.
As a content creator for my blog, I’ve become increasingly aware of the digital breadcrumbs I leave behind daily, from checking the weather on my phone in the morning to using my contactless card to buy coffee, various apps and technologies record and track every action I take.
But what does this mean for my readers and me? Who has access to this information, and how can it be used? These are essential questions to consider as we navigate the world of big data.
According to Dr. Elisa Oreglia, a lecturer in Global Digital Cultures, a digital trail is a trace that we leave behind through technology. This can include our location information, app usage, and internet searches.
But where does all this information go? Dr. Oreglia in “Digital breadcrumbs” explains that it’s stored in various places, from our mobile phone network to GPS satellites and data centers scattered worldwide. And while there are laws and processes in place to protect our digital privacy, it’s essential to be aware of what data we’re sharing and who we’re sharing it with. For example, when I search for my name on Google, I still see some very old profile pictures. Although I don’t want them to be public anymore, I cannot delete them because I can no longer access those accounts.
I believe I am responsible for informing my readers about the digital breadcrumbs they may be leaving behind, especially in this digital age where companies like Amazon are trying their best to make every action digital and collect every single piece of data from users.
Also, Suzanne Norman’s experience in “Trying not to drop breadcrumbs in Amazon’s store” when visiting Amazon’s first physical store was mind-provoking, as she could not purchase a physical book with cash, which is scary for me as a reader as well. By sharing this information, we can all become more mindful of our digital footprint and take steps to protect our privacy online. So, the next time you check your phone or purchase with your card, remember that your actions leave a trail of data behind you. Stay informed and stay mindful.
Besides, this week I made some changes to my design website based on the peer reviews I have received. I was glad that both of my peers were engaged with the overall design decisions, the flow of my content, and the consistency of my website for my audience. Both mentioned that my logo might not represent the intention behind my overall blog content and the other homepage elements. At that time, I had not yet posted my content about the transformative miracle of meditation and yoga on my journey and the following posts on topics such as my “ACL surgery” and “bypassing materialism“, which these practices have had a huge impact on my life, bringing me a new sense of balance and helping me to form this new perspective.
On this blog, by sharing the stories of each step of my transformation journey, I want to show the balance I have gradually gained through all these stages, wether in physical, mental or social stage. Thus, the Lotus pose is a powerful symbol of the balance between mind, body, and spirit (Luthra, 2021) and this is the reason I chose it as my logo 
Also, to make my header image more balanced with the overall homepage aesthetics, I updated the images of the featured homepage slider. I made it consistent with my header image. As Cass mentioned in her peer review # 2 I also added more pictures to my content posts and process posts to make them more engaging. I also shortened my paragraphs, as Ashley mentioned in her peer review #1, while reducing the white space in each post. I am grateful for the constructive peer reviews I have received so far.
Bibliography:
Affeldt, C. (2023, March 9). Peer Review Number Two. Completely Cass. http://completelycass.com/personalblog/peer-review-number-two/
Chia, A. (2023, February 7). Peer Review #1: Exploring Rojan’s Road to Roj. Two AM Thoughts. http://twoamthoughts.com/posiel/peer-review-1-exploring-rojans-road-to-roj/
Luthra, A. (2021, October 30). Padmasana Benefits. Be Body Wise. https://bebodywise.com/blog/padmasana-benefits/
Norman, S. (2016, March 7). Trying not to drop breadcrumbs in Amazon’s store. Publishing | Graduate and Undergraduate Studies – Simon Fraser University. Retrieved March 25, 2023, from https://www.sfu.ca/publishing/news/editorials/trying-not-to-drop-breadcrumbs-in-amazon-s-store.html
Pod Academy. (2015, September 28). Digital Breadcrumbs: Our Data Trail. https://podacademy.org/podcasts/digital-breadcrumbs-our-data-trail/
