Tag Archives: Week 11

Conversations with the Age Gap and Transmedia Offline

It’s now the end of November; which means the holidays are fast approaching with families beginning to put up their Christmas trees, people going to the mall to get their Christmas shopping done and Mariah Carey beginning to take over pop radio. I was invited to a work Christmas party last week to attend to this past weekend. A part of me just wanted to stay home, but from sitting at my desk for over 3 days and continuously working on schoolwork, I figured that this would be a good time for me to get out of the house and just escape the realities of life for the night.

The party was mostly of guests that were quite older than me and outside of my age demographic. Luckily I already knew the majority of the guests, but sometimes I find the age gap can be a bit awkward as finding topics for discussion that interests both parties can be quite different; most of the guests are married with children and are quite established in their careers, whereas I am still a young adult student still living at home. Instead, I turned this around into an opportunity where I could network and perhaps just get to know people more on a personal level; similar to what I am already doing with this project.

I think one of my favourite questions that I asked a couple of people during the night was, “what did you decide to do after high school?”, as everyone has a different journey to land the career they did. Some went to post-secondary, some dropped out and some simply chose to pursue something else. In a way, I think their stories will help me gain perspective on how I’m going to direct my life through my 20s and give me direction on what I should do next with my life. As I am approaching the end of my degree within the next few semesters, life is starting to become a question mark once again with another chapter closing and a new one beginning; but I’ve realized that I’m also not alone in feeling this way and some talked about how they felt like they need some change in their life as well as they approach their 50s.

Regarding this week’s process post on transmedia integration, I think the channels that are chosen depend on one’s public and what interests that particular demographic on that platform; quick content or sitting down for a read? I think something such as taking snippets of each of my interviews and making a remix (similar to my video assignment) would work well on a platform such as TikTok/YouTube Shorts/Instagram stories, as this is quick content one can watch and it could transform into sort of like a spin-off to what is already discussed in the interviews; sort of like how YouTuber Thoraya Maronesy does on her social channels:

But to post the entire interview write-up as a post would not be appropriate on Facebook or Instagram. Even though Instagram is visual and media heavy, because my content is more in-depth and not just visuals, I think that viewers on these channels would be quicker at turning away to read the content. These platforms instead could be a place to bait people to read more and re-direct them to the website, in addition to Twitter with a catchy tagline to gain reader interest. On platforms such as Tumblr and Reddit, I’m curious if these platforms would work to share more lengthy transcribed segments, as I find these channels are more text-heavy with posts shared. Perhaps this is something I could integrate in the future…

From an offline perspective, a format such as a book, magazine or zine I think would work well. This could act as more of a coffee table book, where one can pick up and almost be like reading various short stories. As my visuals also add an element to this project, I think that the tactility can also make it more like a photo book. The book “Humans of New York” by Brandon Stanton was a big inspiration for this project. Although I haven’t read the book in the entirety myself, after conducting this project and having done multiple interviews now, I am so much more intrigued to read his work on a medium different from how I’ve done it. Perhaps one day I could transform my project into a book, I think this could also help take out the irony of how “offline” is still being shared online on this website; but perhaps what it this project was offline altogether…

Peer Review #3: Knitting After Hours

Knitting After Hours is a fantastic blog by Lily that is centered around the creator’s interests such as cooking and knitting. The About Me page eloquently captures the tone and subject matter of the titular blog. However, one aspect I would like to pay great attention to is the personal anecdotes Lily articulates. These personal details are a great touch that effectively conveys the personality behind the Knitting After Hours blog to the audience. Additionally, this personal approach lends credence to the assertions of Tom Critchlow in regard to digital gardening. For example, as cited in our Tanya Basu course reading: “with blogging, you’re talking to a large audience,” he says. “With digital gardening, you’re talking to yourself. You focus on what you want to cultivate over time” (Basu, 2020). Knitting After Hours captures the sense of a digital garden that Lily is fostering for both them and their larger audience. This is exemplified on the About Me page when Lily outlines how cooking and knitting helps them stay focused when conducting their academic responsibilities. It can be inferred that Lily wants to strive to achieve a better schoolwork ethic since it is mentioned on their About Me page that they “put off” assignments and readings. Thus cooking and knitting are great outlets to promote a better work ethic. This instance showcases how these interests help instill balance in their life. Therefore, Knitting After Hours serves as a digital garden that Lily can use to help cultivate better improvements in their life.

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