This blog forms the basis of a web presence created around the theme of my journey towards becoming a primary school teacher. “There has been a significant shift from the ‘centralized’ identity of the homepage to the ‘distributed’ identity of the lifestream, which both aggregates data from multiple platforms and organizes the online life into a continuous data stream” (Helmond, 2010, p.20). Thus identity management has become a significant issue for all users of Web2.0 platforms. “Profile generation is the explicit act of writing oneself into being in a digital environment” (Boyd, 2010). These ideas have guided my decisions throughout the creation of this web presence.
I have chosen a blog as my central node to cater for a diary-like format, which reflects the continuation of my academic pursuits. Small post entries can be made regularly as I discover or experience new things along my journey. The “...key attraction to the blogosphere is ... the potential for individual and informal expression and ungatekept self-publishing” (Bruns, 2006, p.250). The blog also allows readers to subscribe to the site and as the numbers grow and conversations begin, the sense that the blogger is a lone voice shouting from a hill reduces (Rettburg, 2008). Bloggers “...automatically become part of the most public, fragmented environment in existence today” (Viegas, 2005). The creation of a ‘presence’ which makes cohesive links between sites attempts to address this fragmentation.
I have chosen to use a free platform as the basis of my presence. Blogger.com is a free, easy to use site that allows the publisher to adjust templates, colours, column widths and add gadgets without the knowledge of code and thus enables the masses to publish (Blood, 2000). I have chosen to use the picture window template, which allows the blogger to upload a personal background image. The image I have used is from my own collection, avoiding copyright issues. The image is a collection of textbooks I have used during my studies and therefore relates to the central theme. A second reason for using my own photograph was so I could use the same background image on my contributing nodes (except Delicious which does not support this function) and thus provides a visual link between the sites.
The main blog is supported by three contributing nodes; Delicious, Twitter and a YouTube channel, all of which add a unique dimension to the web presence. Incorporating nodes into the overall presence utilises the sidebar function of the blog as a “place for self-definition ... (that is) constantly modified and tweaked” (Helmond, 2010, p.6). Delicious adds an academic tone to the blog. The bookmarks featured are a collection of sites that I have discovered throughout my studies. Where I have felt it necessary, these bookmarks have been annotated to give the reader more information or an insight as to why I feel these sites are important to the theme. These bookmarks perform an important function by providing time-poor readers with links to other sites of interest and thus presenting the reader with a ‘pre-surfed web’ (Blood, 2000).
The second contributing node used in this blog is a personalised YouTube channel. This channel provides a link to videos I feel are important to student teachers. These have been collected from a combination of my own research and links provided by tutors during my studies. They cover a range of topics from students with disabilities, classroom management to etiquette tips during placements. Again this link has been personalised with the common background image and profile picture used on other sites. The most important function this link provides is that it breaks up the delivery of my message and prevents the blog from becoming overly wordy.
The third contributing node is a link to my Twitter account, also personalised with the same profile picture and background image to readily identify the link in the eye of the reader. Twitter offers a more personal aspect to the blog through status updates (Helmond, 2010). It presents the reader with a collection of thoughts and observations made while I’m studying, what I’m struggling with and what I’ve discovered. The incorporation of this micro-blog into the wider presence embraces Bruen’s idea that “as it has happened in the history of other communication forms ... it is likely that blogging will continue to embrace a wider range of media forms” (2006, p. 251). However, as noted by Helmond (2010) indexing by search engines such as Google can take single tweets or micro-blogging posts out of context and thus should be contributed to with care.
Throughout the overall web presence I have attempted to retain some level of anonymity while still providing readers with personal anecdotes. The audience reached by the primary node of this web presence will be largely unknown to me and thus avoiding identifying content is deemed important (Qian & Scott, 2007). As noted by Viegas (2005) bloggers have little control over who accesses the blog thus my personal preference is to limit the amount of identifiable content. Hence the profile picture I have used is a simple image of a bouquet of flowers from my private photograph collection, it still works to identify me as the common publisher of three of the contributing sites but does not personally identify me as the author (as mentioned previously, this is not possible on Delicious). To compensate for the lack of identifying data on the sites, I have included a brief biography in the About Me section of the blog as well as the personal quips published on Twitter. Further to this aim, I felt it important to add a separate page detailing my personal teaching philosophy to give the reader an insight into the kind of teacher I aspire to be. I chose to do this on a separate page instead of a post for two reasons. Firstly, the teaching philosophy section is a lengthy essay-styled entry in contrast to the shorter post entries. Secondly, the philosophy page describes my personal attitude and ideals of the teaching profession and thus I want it to always be visible to visitors to the blog and not archived alongside the post entries.
In creating this four-dimensional web presence I hope to provide readers with valuable information regarding issues that are important to people who are studying or contemplating a career in education. To do so, I have drawn a line between the ‘public’ and ‘private’ me where I feel comfortable.
References
Blood, R. (2000, September 7). Weblogs: a history and perspective [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html
Boyd, D.M. (2010). Social network sites as networked publics: Affordances, dynamics, and implications. In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.), Networked self: Identity, community, and culture on social network sites (pp. 39-58). Retrieved from http://www.danah.org/papers/2010/SNSasNetworkedPublics.pdf
Bruns, A. (2006) What’s next for Blogging? In A. Bruen & J. Jacobs (Eds), Uses of Blogs (pp. 249-254). New York: Peter Lang Publishing
Helmond, A (2010) Identity 2.0: Constructing identity with cultural software. Anne Helmond. New Media Research Blog. Retrieved from http://www.annehelmond.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads//2010/01/helmond_identity20_dmiconference.pdf
Qian, H., & Scott, C. R. (2007) Anonymity and Self-Disclosure on Weblogs. Journal of Computer –Mediated Communication, 12(4), 1428-1451. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00380.x/full
Rettburg, J. (2008). Blogs, Communities and Networks in Blogging. Polity Press; Cambridge. Retrieved from http://edocs.library.curtin.edu.au/eres_display.cgi?url=dc60263770.pdf©right=1
Viégas, F. B. (2005). Bloggers' expectations of privacy and accountability: An initial survey. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10(3), article 12. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue3/viegas.html
