Exegesis

My exegesis explains the choices that were made in creating this web presence for the Web 101 unit at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia.  I will discuss the choice of central node, the contributing nodes and how they reflect the theme of my web presence and how these choices reflect the ideas discussed in this unit.

On a holiday in Mauritius, where I was born, I came across banana jam that was being served as a condiment for breakfast at the resort restaurant where I was staying.  This brought back childhood memories and I thought it was something I would like to make myself when I got home.  For the web presence assignment, I chose to use a blog to document the steps involved in making banana jam and also to add pictures and video of the process.  I called the blog ‘The Jam Jar’ and created a logo that I could use across all nodes.  I soon realised that there were other recipes that I had in mind for future blogs posts so I created a blog theme of ‘All things jams, preserves, chutneys and pickles’ so I could add some other jam-related information. 
For the central node, I chose to write a blog using Blogger for my web presence.  The reason I chose Blogger was because it was easy to use, had a number of style templates to choose from, had a choice of ‘gadgets’ or inbuilt tools so I could add my contributing nodes and also as it had the ability to add external tools such as widgets.  The template I chose was laid out with the header at the top, the main blog post area to the left and I could add other nodes to the right hand side bar.  I wanted the theme of the blog to be simple, natural and organic so I chose a wooden texture background image, which was a photograph of a table I took whilst on holidays in Mauritius.

The Web 2.0 tools that I chose for my contributing nodes are Flickr, YouTube, and Twitter which have links either in the blog post or from the ‘Find Me’ icons linked in the side bar.  I chose these nodes because of the popularity, ubiquitous nature, ease of adding content and to enhance my blog. 
Flickr is a photo management tool which lets and you organise your photos.  The photos on Flickr helped to give an idea on where I had been on holidays and to show they what steps were involved in making banana jam.  These photos also helped to create a how-to style slideshow/video for YouTube.  Twitter is a micro-blog tool that I used to ‘tweet’ links of some useful jam-related information.  Other icons that can be found in the side bar are to del.icio.us which provides links to some recipes on the web and also a link to my Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed should anyone want to subscribe to my blog.

The theme of my blog such as the background image, logo, font type, font colour and link colour were all applied to the contributing nodes where possible.  My Twitter had the same background image as my blog as well as same colour links.  I embedded a Twitter widget on my blog which also matched the blog text and link colour theme.  For Flickr, YouTube and del.icio.us I was able to change the ‘buddy icon’ or profile image to reflect my logo and across all nodes I have placed a link back to the blog.
I have tried to portray my web presence in a way that is positive and not to create any unwanted digital shadow for my online identity.  A type of identity performance, known as a lifestream is the collection of one’s activity on various services, often  arranged by time, into one central location” (Blain, 2009) I created the username of ‘catfur101’ for the central and contributing nodes which enabled me to create an identity and share content  across the nodes that I have used.  

The idea of creating a web presence with cultural software such as blog tools, has been become known as Identify 2.0 (Helmond, 2010) which has the characteristics of the web presence being in perpetual beta, being networked, having a user-generated identify, being distributed, indexed and persistent.
Blogs are an ‘open network of Web sites that can function as a social network’ (Rettberg, 2008 p.68) My choice of writing a blog was to share jam-related recipes and information with other people interested in this topic and to encourage their contribution to my posts with the idea that blogs transform both writers and readers from “audience” to “public” and from “consumer” to “creator”. (Blood, 2000) 

By adding contributing nodes to my blog, I have networked my identity and this networked self, ‘communicated across collapsed and multiplied audiences, seeks opportunities for expression and connection’. (Papacharissi, 2011 p.377)
In the ‘About Me’, located in the side bar, I have given background information on myself as a student and a description of what the blog is about.  I have also invited readers to make comments or suggestions for collaboration.  The content I used in my web presence is original in that I took the photos and made the video myself which aims to give the impression that I produce high quality work.  This idea describes the performative aspect for presentation of self for the blog as opposed to the real self in the background (Goffman, 1959 p.97)

From the choices that were made to create my web presence above, it was my intention to form a networked identity online.  Taking advantage of Web 2.0 capabilities this web presence has a central node, contributing nodes and the design choices I have made have provided a common theme throughout my web presence.  I believe my web presence communicates my posts in a positive light, will allow readers to collaborate and will not create any unwanted digital shadow now or in the future.



References:

Blain, T. , 'Lifestream vs. Socialstream: A Battle of Nomenclature', Lifestream Blog.
Retrieved from
http://lifestreamblog.com/lifestream-vs-socialstream-a-battle-of-nomenclature/

Blood, R. (2000). ‘Weblogs: A History and Perspective”, Rebecca’s Pocket.
Retrieved from
http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html

Goffman, E. (1959). ‘The presentation of self in everyday life’
New York, NY. Doubleday.


Helmond, A. (2010). ' Identity 2.0: Constructing identity with cultural software.'
Anne Helmond. New Media Research Blog.  Retrieved from
http://www.annehelmond.nl/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads//2010/01/helmond_identity20_dmiconference.pdf

Papacharissi, Z. (2011). ‘A Networked Self: Identity, Community and Culture on Social Network Sites.
New York, NY. Taylor & Francis. 304-318.


Rettberg, J. (2008). Blogs, Communities and Networks in Blogging. Ch. 3, 57-83.
Polity Press, Cambridge.

No comments:

Post a Comment