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.
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