Task 1a - Creating a Professional Profile

I am a bit of a technophobe so am not someone who readily engages with social networking sites; therefore this initial task of uploading a professional profile and blogging about the process of doing so was quite daunting.

Prior to commencing this BAPP Arts course I had never read any blogs let alone written one, so it was necessary for me to do quite a lot of research before I felt confident to start blogging.

RESEARCH

• To begin with I read Reader 1 and took particular notice of the definition of Web 2.0. I hadn't heard of this term before, so the succinct definition in the reader that it: provides the opportunity for the reader and creator to interact and more importantly, for the reader to become the creator (p.4) was very helpful to me in understanding the purpose of creating a blog.

• I also found the section of Tim O' Reilly's writing entitled Blogging and the Wisdom of Crowds ( What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models For The Next Generation Of Software) very informative. In it he explains what RSS is i.e. the 'live web' which permits someone to link and subscribe to a page and get updates as it changes. He mentions permalink and says it was: "the first- and most successful- attempt to build bridges between weblogs." I had never heard of either of these terms so reading about them and discovering their functions was useful in helping me understand the way that blogs work.

• His analysis below of the blogosphere also helped me get to grips with the concept of blogging:

If an essential part of Web 2.0 is harnessing collective intelligence, turning the web into a kind of global brain, the blogosphere is the equivalent of constant mental chatter in the forebrain, the voice we hear in our heads. It may not reflect the deep structure of the brain, which is often unconscious, but is instead the equivalent of conscious thought. And as a reflection of conscious 
thought and attention, the blogosphere has begun to have a powerful effect.

• Once I had read this article I decided to take a look at some of the blogs written by other people on my course. It was comforting to discover that I was not the only self-confessed technophobe and that I was not the only one who was apprehensive towards commencing my blog.

Sarah Robinson's blog contained a section entitled: No man is an island. This had a particular resonance with me because I had used this same quote by John Donne a few days earlier in my reflective journal. I had used it as a note to myself to adopt a more positive approach to the concept of social networking. 

I completely related to Sarah's comments about being a very private person and finding it difficult to find an online voice. Reading Sarah's blog and seeing how well she had overcome this gave me hope that I might do the same.

• I started to compare different blogs to see which ones I felt were the most effective both in terms of design and writing style.

I liked those that seemed to present more of a platform for their work than give a personal account of their feelings. Pete Francis' blog was one I liked for this reason. It gave an insight into his personality through the work that he was doing. 

I was quite surprised to find a chapter of his book posted on Pete's blog. It made me realise that there were endless possibilities when writing a blog and that it could be a great way of promoting your work and publicising events as well as getting feedback on what you are doing. This hadn't occurred to me before and it gave me a much more positive outlook on the ideas of blogging and social networking in general.

• Reading the blogs of people on BAPP arts whetted my appetite. I then decided to look at some other dance related blogs. Below are some of the links that interested me:

www.4dancers.org

www.theguardian.com/stage/dance-blog

There is a fascinating article by Judith Mackrell entitled Dancing on air: historical 24-hour TV danceathon is cause for celebration. It states that on October 1st there is a live 24 hour online insight into five major dance companies across the world. People will be able to watch the companies at work and interact with each other and make comments during it. This is a great example of the benefits of Web 2.0. The direct link to this article is:

www.theguardian.com/stage/dance-blog/2014/sep/19/world-ballet-day-live-tv-danceathon

• Once I had read these blogs I then needed to research how to go about setting up my own blog. Below is one of the sites I visited:

www.problogger.net/archives/2005/08/19/writing-blog-content-make-it-scannable

• Having looked at this site I decided to bullet point my main areas of research and highlight key points in an attempt to make my blog more scannable. I had seen how effective this was in Judith Mackrell's blog. I also liked her reportage style and her use of visual images. I wanted to include some of the photographs relating to my links above as, "a picture speaks a thousand words", but I was concerned about copyright issues so thought it best not to do so. 

I looked at various Youtube links to help me with the setting up my blog. Some were very technical and I found them quite confusing. Below is one that I found useful :

https:/m.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa7d7DCPLGc


This video talks about linking pages and I will probably come back to this at a later stage when I feel more competent at blogging.

• Once I had a good idea of how to start blogging I experimented with different templates. I eventually settled upon this view. As I become more proficient I may make changes along the way.

• I wrote a draft of my professional profile before attempting to add it to my blog. I noticed that several people had also uploaded their CV's. As I understand it, this task is as much about the process of setting up the blog as it is about the content, so I may upload mine as a document link in order to see if I can actually do it.

I have found this task a bit of an uphill struggle but I have learnt such a lot along the way. I have realised that there are enormous benefits to blogging, which I had hitherto missed out on. I personally still have some reservations about social networking, which I will talk about in a future blog, but I am certainly warming to the idea of it.