Tag: #posiel

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Final Thoughts and Reflections

My university experience has been full of ups and downs, but after taking a year off, PUB101 has been an amazing way to jump back into school. I honestly didn’t know what to expect going into this class. I had a feeling that it would include some sort of content creation based on the course description, but other than that I went into this blind. That being said, I was so pleasantly surprised. This is the first course that I have taken that has allowed me to express myself and my ideas so freely. I also loved how challenging it was though. I learned so much about WordPress, the types of content I like to create and consume, the way I like to write, and also how to step out of my comfort zone. I enjoyed PUB101 so much that I have already declared into the Print and Digital Publishing minor!

Before taking this class, I was always so anxious about sharing any of my work with anybody, but having a class full of people who are learning and creating at the same pace as me gave me a level of confidence in my site that I never expected. I have shared my site with so many people and have received so much positive feedback, which always feels great. As I mentioned in a previous post, I plan on transitioning this site over to other social media platforms so that I can continue to develop my short-form video creation skills and build my audience on a platform that I am more familiar with.

To anyone who is interested in taking this course in the future, Suzanne and Christina have been phenomenal instructors. Suzanne creates really engaging lectures, her energy makes it super easy to feel comfortable participating in class, and it’s clear that she cares about improving the education system for all of us. Christina brought a lot of knowledge about both the course and the publishing industry, and she has been approachable and understanding throughout the semester.

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I Really Enjoy Short-Form Video Content

At the beginning of the course, I was certain that I wouldn’t post any videos. I had never used any video editing software, and I didn’t take a lot of videos in general, so it didn’t seem realistic to me, but my mind changed after we had to submit a mini assignment without any text. I made a reel-style video and really enjoyed it. It was super simple and the editing is far from perfect, but I enjoyed the process a lot. I made 2 or 3 other videos after that, and they are some of my favourite content on my site.

If I could go back and change anything, I would have turned “Fueling Your Twenties” into a TikTok or Instagram, and I would have focused on developing short-form video content. I used Capcut to make all of the videos, and I think I’m going to continue learning how to use all the features of the app so that I can make higher quality videos.

Rather than continuing with my posts on this site, after the class is over I plan to move all of my content to a social media site, most likely Tiktok. I am going to turn all of the posts that I have so far into some sort of video. Fitness content is huge on social media, and I can totally see myself building a bigger audience there than I can with this site. I also think I would find a lot more enjoyment in posting on social media, as I really enjoy consuming fitness content on social media.

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Peer Review 3

Radu’s site “Radds Games” reviews indie video games. The site’s design is really cool. The live graphics on the homepage capture the essence of a video game, and the bold colours and fonts really enhance that vibe. My only recommendation for the site’s design and layout is to add some additional categories to the menu so it is easier to navigate between the blog posts and the PUB101 content. 

When completing these peer reviews, I find it really helpful to read all of my peer’s process posts to develop a better understanding of their vision. Unfortunately, Radu only has 1 process post on his site, and I couldn’t use it as a resource for this review. With that being said, it’s pretty clear that Radu set out to create a site that appeals to other people who appreciate gaming as he uses a lot of vocabulary that is pretty unique to the gaming community. What I enjoy about the content, even though I am not into video games, is how thorough every review is. I was really able to gain a good understanding of each game just through Radu’s commentary. We are already in week 11 though, so Radu is behind in his content as he only has 6 posts. 

The reading from week 10, “State of Mobile,” really helped me to come up with some ways that Radu could increase the marketability of his site. The reading provided some examples of how different types of video games appeal to different demographic groups. I think that Radu could use this to inform some of his content. Radu could tailor his content towards his target demographic, whether older versus younger age groups or female versus male, by reviewing the types of games that appeal to that specific demographic. Additionally, I think that Radu could grow his site by linking it to other social media sites. Based on the little bit I know about video games, a lot of people who play video games enjoy doing so online with their friends, so it would be fitting for Radu to start a discord server where the site’s audience can come together and play the games that he has reviewed. This would allow Radu to directly interact with his audience and build a community. In the same vein, Radu could livestream his gameplay for his audience and do real-time reviews. 

Overall, Radu’s site lacks some content, but the content that is available is high-quality and clearly tailored to a specific audience, and the design is simple but effective. To increase the marketability of his site, Radu could narrow down his target audience and review games that appeal to that group, as well as expanding his site to other social media platforms. 

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Reflecting on My Week 7 Presentation

In week 7 I did a presentation for the class about habits to practice to get more comfortable with writing. Presenting is not something I am very comfortable with at all, but at the beginning of the semester, I promised myself that I would do things to get out of my comfort zone. I was pleasantly surprised by how well the presentation went! The class made me feel welcome, they engaged with my presentation, and I even received a few compliments afterwards, which obviously felt super great and increased my confidence. I have felt my confidence about my site slowly increasing as the weeks go on, which has made me feel more comfortable posting videos and photos to my site, and I feel like I am more comfortable writing in my own voice. I have even started to consider starting an instagram to go along with my site, which is something that I have always been too scared to do.

My presentation slides and the transcript I prepared for myself are attached to this post so that my classmates can refer back to it if they wish!

PUB101-Presentation-Download
PUB-101-presentation-Download
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Peer Review 2

Julia’s Digital Diary is an online collection of her varied interests, ranging from books and music to food and fun activities. In the “About” section, Julia explains to her audience that she wants her blog to be where she can talk about all her interests in one place. The home page of the site is designed to look like a notebook. The different shades of pink in the header are striking, and they remind me of diaries that I had as a younger girl, which creates a sense of nostalgia! 

Julia’s site exhibits great balance. There are photos of varied sizes across the site that create visually appealing asymmetry. In addition, the photos used across the site, like the photo of Julia in the sidebar, create a nice contrast that makes her posts pop. I also think the site has accomplished a good sense of unity, as the font, colours, and style are uniform and consistent across the entire site. I thought it was great that the site’s theme carried over to Instagram as well. 

The site is easy to navigate, with clear menu categories and post titles. As I was navigating through her site, though, I noticed that when you click on the “Blog” section, you are directed to a blank page. To fix this issue, Julia may have to edit her posts so that they are included on the blog category landing page. Additionally, it appears as though Julia is still working on a lot of her content, as there are a few posts that have titles and photos, but no content. 

I enjoy the content that is up so far on the site. As someone who is also into books and music, I love hearing other people’s opinions on these topics. Julia’s writing style makes you feel like you are having a conversation with her, which is entertaining and relatable. When reading her post about “Nook,” I noticed that she mentioned a previous post she had written about another restaurant and included a very clear link back to that post, which is super smart. Additionally, I appreciated the seamless integration of her Spotify playlist in her “for life music” post. 

I think that Julia would benefit from reading the assigned article from week 7 by Travis Gertz. In this article, Gertz discusses ways in which site administrators and designers can learn from editorial-style designers. I think this design style would translate well to Julia’s site, as it almost reads like a magazine. Overall, the design and layout of Julia’s site are visually appealing and easy to navigate, and her content is super fun to read. 

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Total Overhaul… Again

We had the first tutorial since the strike last week, and Christina gave me some feedback that disrupted my progress. She told me that my website design needed some improvement, which I kind of expected to hear but wasn’t ready for because the design process has been such a headache for me. That day, I decided to change the theme of my website once again to one that allows for more customization. The theme and layout of my site does stray quite far from what I originally imagined it to look like, but I am surprisingly pleased with the result. The new theme looks more sleek and refined, I was able to insert a photo into the header, which my previous theme did not allow. I also added a logo to my site, so now there is a little dumbbell next to the URL.

One thing that I have struggled with all semester is trying to create the “About” page. No matter how many tutorials I watched, I was never able to make it a separate page. I originally made the “about” section a post and then assigned the post to a menu category. As a result, when I clicked on the “about” menu section, the content was displayed as a post that I had to click on to read, rather than being directly displayed on the page. I’m not sure how I missed it for so long, but after more exploring I discovered how to add a page to a menu, and it solved all of my “about” section problems. I now have a whole page dedicated to the section that is connected to my sites menu, which is a big win for me.

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Digital Gardens

I found this week’s reading, “Digital gardens let you cultivate your own little bit of the internet,” quite interesting. The author explained that the nature of the internet has changed over time, allowing people more creative freedom over their online real estate. The author uses the term “digital gardens” to explain that blogs and personal sites can really be whatever we want them to be. They don’t have to be these formal pages that follow the same template week after week.

I felt quite inspired by this article. Since starting this blog, I have struggled to find my voice. I have so many ideas, but this blog is the first time I have had this much creative control over anything, and stringing all my ideas together has been difficult. This article helped me realize that I shouldn’t be afraid to take more risks with my content and try out new types of posts. The written posts are still going to be the bulk of the blog, but I am going to experiment with video posts and photos to share with my audience.

I want to create a blog that is useful for others, but I also want to use this space to express myself and share my passion creatively.

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My Audience

When I decided to make my blog about fitness, I knew I wanted it to cater to an audience I have been a part of. More specifically, I wanted to create a space for people just getting started in the fitness world, because it can be so intimidating. When I was first learning about fitness, I found the most valuable information came from fitness professionals and influencers who made their content accessible for all skill levels, so that is what I have tried to do with this blog so far.

There is almost too much information available on the internet about fitness, so to separate myself from the masses, I blog about the absolute basics. I want Fueling Your Twenties to act as a blueprint that anyone can access and apply to their own journey. I focus on using simple language and keep my posts as short as they can be to make them more accessible and easy to digest.

Truthfully, I picture my audience being largely female. This influenced my choice of theme because I wanted to ensure that it looked feminine. Additionally, I made the whole site pink, because as a female myself, everything looks better in pink.

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Peer Review 1

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. While Karamveer did mention in his week 4 process post that he uses simple language to make the information more accessible for people with varied levels of knowledge about blockchain technology, he could widen his audience a bit more by making 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.

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My Vision for Fueling Your Twenties

I have been struggling to make my visions for my site come to life. I am happy with my content so far, but I am struggling with the design element. I have watched tutorial, after tutorial, after tutorial about WordPress and Elementor, but I still find myself wanting to throw my laptop across the room every time I try to make a change. I spent hours this week trying to figure out how to incorporate my “about” section onto a page, rather than having it up as a post within a category. I was finally able to get the site set up in a way that I liked, but I had to pick a new theme, which meant that I had to redo everything. After spending a good chunk of time creating pages on Elementor and playing around with the new theme, my site is getting close to what I originally envisioned. Below you can find my original design idea. 

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