Posts
- Quantity: Throughout the semester I posted 30 times, and about half of those posts (14) were directly related to my theme of business in Shakespeare. In a short period of 3 1/2 months, I think I've consistently managed to post valuable content to keep the blog interesting.
- Content: I've tried to manage my posts so that I refer to some books and sources but also make the content accessible. For example, I've tried to compare Shakespeare to business scenarios that I think apply today, as in my post "Innovating in Business." In all of my posts I try to write with a personal, familiar tone, while citing my examples or research material to back up what I say.
- Format: I generally include at least one image in my posts, and I break up each post with headers and page breaks. These characteristics have been consistent on my blog since the beginning of the semester. (An old example and a more recent example.) However, one of my weaknesses may be always following the same format. It's easy to throw in a couple headers and think that's good enough. I could improve by trying lists, countdowns, interviews, specific images, etc. I think that might help add variety and keep readers interested.
-Thematic focus: My blog has clung tightly to the broad theme of business since the beginning of the semester. However, during the second half of the semester I began to articulate this more regularly in my posts and define it more clearly. I believe that a new user who stumbled across my blog would clearly identify the theme of my blog based on its styling and tagline, as well as the efforts that I've made to set the context in all of my recent posts.
-Thesis and cohesion: The blog format lends itself to a sort of perpetual working thesis as it grows in various directions. With that in mind, I would say that my working theses have been identified clearly (and linked back to) and the posts from the second half of the semester all cohere to those theses. I catalog the progression of theses in one of my hub posts.
-Sources: One area that I could improve is the accessibility of the sources for my research. I have maintained a source page on the blog that connects all posts to the sources behind them, but could have done a better job of citing sources at the end of posts. Improving the accessibility of sources (or at least clearly directing readers) would likely give my blog more credibility from an academic standpoint. At the very least, my source page is fairly easy to access and does include a comprehensive bibliography for my posts.
-Author Identity: I'm not sure that my personality is strong in the blog, but I'm also not sure that it should be. I believe I have a strong voice, which is important, but in some ways I've tried to write personally while minimizing personal details. I think a reader would clearly find that I enjoy Shakespeare and that I'm very intrigued by business, a combination which lends itself to a unique identity.
-Documentation of Process: For last month and a half, I've made strong efforts to make sure that the a reader could arrive at any post and grasp the idea of what I am doing. In these instances I've connected back to hub posts, and the hub posts narrate the process that my blog has undergone.
-Interactions: I've tried to participate in discussion with my classmates and react to their feedback. However, I really wish I had taken the opportunity to link to my classmates' blogs more frequently, or perhaps add links retroactively as I discovered connections between my posts and others'. I do feel that I tried to make valuable contributions to others' blogs by suggesting ideas or links with knowledge that could be useful and applicable to their respective topics.
Design
-Midway through the semester, I re-branded my blog and I think the change was very successful. In my opinion, I adopted a clean, professional feel that fits perfectly with my topic. I also think that re-branding my tagline ("Business and the bottom line as the driving force behind the bard.") was a big step toward clearly indicated what my blog was about. I tried to keep the layout simple with only the basic widgets (archives, labels, top posts) and I included the most relevant pages--sources and learning outcomes. I was also careful about the design of my posts, making sure the alignment of the headers, images, etc. were aesthetically pleasing and that the font and background were easy to read.
