My classmate Karamveer’s site “Blockchain: The New Internet” is a blog dedicated to discussing the evolution of blockchain technology. Immediately, I was impressed by the design of the site. The site is sleek, organized, and easy to navigate. I tend to associate darker colours with topics like business and finance, so I found the black and blue tones used across the site to be quite aesthetically pleasing.
Before starting this review, I read all the content on the website. The process post from week 2 stood out to me because I saw some clear connections to Gardner Campbell’s work. Campbell (2009) explains that by giving students a digital space in which they can create freely, they would learn and practice a wide range of skills that can be applied to other avenues of life. In addition, having a digital space, or personal cyberinfrastructure, allows students to express their passions and interests in diverse ways (Campbell, 2009). In his week 2 process post, Karamveer shared that he works as a software engineer outside of school, so he was able to use his skills from that field to develop his website. He also mentioned that blockchain technology is something he is passionate about, so blogging about it was an easy choice. I found it really cool that in just a few weeks of class, there are already such clear links between how we run our sites and the material we are learning about in class.
I spent some time trying to figure out who the intended audience is. There is some background information about blockchain technology in the “about us” section, but I found that the actual blog content went a bit over my head, as someone who has no background knowledge on the topic. As mentioned by Hollenbaugh, (2021), content creators tend to imagine an audience, and create their content with that audience in mind. From my perspective, it seems as though Karamveer has imagined an audience that is equally as passionate and knowledgeable about blockchain technology as he is. If he wanted to widen his audience a bit, Karamveer could make a “blockchain technology basics” post, or something of that nature, for people with little to no knowledge of the topic.
Overall, Karamveer has created an online self that demonstrates a passion for blockchain technology, as well as educating others about the topic. Karamveer’s interest in web design is also made clear through the sleek and simple layout of the site.
References
Campbell, G. (2009). A Personal Cyberinfrastructure. EDUCAUSE Review, 44(5), 58.
Hollenbaugh, E. E. (2021). Self-Presentation in Social Media: Review and Research Opportunities. Review of Communication Research, 9, 80–98.
