Anna's Book Reviews: 2013

The third assignment for Web Communications 101 was aimed at encouraging us to use different Web 2.0 platforms to create a web presence for ourselves, comprising of a central node, and three contributing nodes. This exegesis aims to explain the choices I have made in terms of content, composition and style as well as why a central hub is important. I decided to concentrate on something I enthusiastically do, reading and reviewing of various types of books, as well as commenting on other people's views and experiences, and participating in larger communities of book lovers. I have relied heavily on the blog being a succinct launching pad for my varying profiles and activity on other Web 2.0 platforms, while also being a central website that people can "backtrack" into from offsite profiles and discover my other book related web activity.

In creating my central web presence node, I referred to Helmond (2010) who states that in the Web 2.0 internet community, the home page is no longer created from scratch and self-mediated, but instead identities are constructed and performed via cultural software such as social networking. In this participatory environment, content can be freely added by users, shared and networked, constantly updated and never "finished".

I have decided to use the Blogger platform to create a new blog, as it was easy to familiarise myself with it and use its' various features, such as hyperlink creation and inserting of pictures into blog posts, without having to manually type HTML commands. I chose an easy to read theme with a pastel blue and white colour scheme, which is a scheme used by many popular web sites such as Facebook, tumblr and Twitter (Montserrat-Howlett, 2011). I chose a black on white text scheme for ease of readability (Maciak, 2007).

As Patel (2007) states, an important part of the blog, and one that people will click on early into discovering your blog, is the About Me page. Patel states that the four components of a successful about me page are a visual image, a short section about yourself, a section on how you can help the reader, and how to make contact. I completed a short summary of myself, as well as what I can do and how I can help the reader, by listing my different literature related activities on the web, as well as where to find my profiles. This also ties in to the contact requirement, where I can be contacted either via this blog, or via my different linked nodes. I have included an evocative image of a classical painting of a female reading, but chose not to use an image of myself on this blog. I have decided the classical painting is a vibrant stand in that can take the place of a personal photo.

In my decision not to use a personal photo, I have chosen to assume a slightly ambiguous virtual identity. Donath (1996) states that while identity, and knowing the identity of those you communicate with online is key to interaction and community, virtually identity can also be ambiguous. Without real world cues, I can present to the web site visitor and identity which centers around my literary interests, without the interaction being influenced by factors such as my appearance and age.

I had considered and tried out different social networking platforms for this assingment, including LinkedIn and twitter. While I found twitter to be a good microblogging platform, I did not think the short format was a good fit for the image and identity I was presenting for this assingment. LinkedIn was very schooling and employment oriented which makes it a great platform for job related networking, but I found it a poor fit for a hobby oriented website. I decided to not use the social networking giant Facebook for one of my nodes as I had learned about others in this unit that aren't as ubiquitous.

My first contributing node is the book and reading oriented website GoodReads. GoodReads caters to both reader and author, and makes it easy for readers to connect with authors, and readers to connect with one another. Existing friends can have a ready made network via facebook and twitter connectivity, and adding new friends is simple (GoodReads, 2013). It offers a robust, free mobile application that I have found easy to use, with features such as scanning your physical books in via barcode to quickly catalogue them. Out of all literature oriented Web 2.0 platforms, I have found GoodReads has the most utility for me as an active reader, and I made sure to emphasise it and my contributions there on my central hub. Different "shelves" allow me to either seriously, as with my "owned" shelf, or tongue in cheek, as with my "ridiculous title" shelf, catalogue books I personally own.

My second contributing node is my profile on the bookstore website Amazon. I have reviewed my e-book purchases and other books I have read there. A feature allows me to share my recent purchases to visitors of my profile, which are all electronic books and differ from the physical library catalogue that I share on my GoodReads "Owned" shelf. Amazon allows other readers to vote on reviews as well as comment on them, and a rank is assigned based on the number of votes and helpful percentage a reviewer has. All this can be easily perused from my public profile, as well as my frequently used review tags, an option for an RSS feed of my reviews, and a link back to this central node.

For my third node, I chose Pinterest. Pinterest is an incredibly easy to grasp website where users simply re-pin (reblog) images to virtual boards that they wish to view later, share with others, or simply enjoy looking at. I chose to link to my book related pin board, which does not include any of my reviews, but has images that express my love of reading and libraries, as well as cover images of books on my wish list, or those I have yet to read and review or comment on. Pinterest, while not encouraging review activity, is a great way to connect with other book lovers, and to brand myself as someone for whom reading, literature, and libraries are an important part of their life and self. I created the Book pinboard and pins specifically for this assingment.

I enjoyed the web presence assingment, and found choosing only three slices out of my web presence to link to via a central node an interesting exercise. I attempted to use only my brand as an avid reader, and attempted to engage the visitor in my activities as a reviewer and reader and engage like-minded people. I attempted to encourage collaboration and participation with me and my writing and activities.

Donath, Judith S. (1996). Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community. Retrieved May 19, 2013 from http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html
GoodReads. (2013). About Us. Retrieved May 17, 2013 from http://www.goodreads.com/about/us
Helmond, Anne. (2010). Identity 2.0: Constructing identity with cultural software. Retrieved May 16, 2013 from http://www.annehelmond.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/helmond_identity20_dmiconference.pdf
Maciak, Luke. (2007). Is Dark text on Light Background the Superior Choice? Retrieved May 18, 2013 from http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2007/10/09/is-dark-text-on-light-background-the-superior-choice/
Montserrat-Howlett, Mary. (2011). Feeling Blue? Why The Most Popular Websites Are Blue. Retrieved May 18, 2013 from http://www.webnotwar.ca/feeling-blue-why-the-most-popular-websites-are-blue/

Patel, N. (2007). The 4 Essential Elements of an About Me Page. Retrieved May 19, 2013 from http://www.quicksprout.com/2007/06/11/the-4-essential-elements-of-an-about-me-page/

Anna's Book Reviews

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Exegesis, WEB 101, SP1 2013

Portrait of Lucrezia Panciatichi

What I am currently reading: the Killer Book of True Crime