Exegesis

My web presence focuses on being a One Direction fan. The layouts and colours that I use are based off of the colours of One Direction. The contributing nodes that I use show that I understand the importance of Web 2.0. I came up with my choices by paying attention to discussions and readings throughout the unit.

For my web presence assignment, I decided to focus on creating myself as a huge One Direction fan. I decided it would be easier to use One Direction as my basis because I am already a fan of them and it made more sense than making myself into somebody that I am not. I could have chosen to make myself a baker or an artist, but it would have been a lot harder to complete the assignment.

My central node is based on Blogger because it is a key example of a Web 2.0 page and I have used it before. The actual layout of my central node comes from the colours of One Direction. The colours used are red and black. Orange is used for the links, which helps distinguish them from the red and the black. The background is a tiled version of a picture of the One Direction boys. The font is young looking and makes the blog a bit more interesting. I included the links at the top of the page because it makes them easier to find. I made sure to include all of my contributing nodes in the links.

My first contributing node is my Twitter account. Twitter does allow a small amount of editing to your profile, but I stuck with a simple layout and added a picture of One Direction as my profile picture and my profile banner. I added a small ‘about me’ and followed all of the members of One Direction, as well as their band members, family members, friends and girlfriends. It’s not uncommon for big One Direction fans to immerse themselves in the boys’ lives.

My second contributing node is my Last FM account. Last FM gives you the chance to listen to a radio station online for free. Last FM does not allow the layout of the profile to be edited, so instead I just added a picture of One Direction as my profile picture and added One Direction to my Last FM library. 

My third contributing node is my Tumblr account. Tumblr allows people to reblog pictures, songs and just average word posts. Tumblr pages can be edited quite a lot, with colours and different themes available even for free. This is all available to us because of Web 2.0. I chose the Effector theme because it is quite flexible with editing and it looks very sleek and neat. It also allows me to add links and link my Twitter and Last FM profile to my Tumblr profile. I chose the same colours as my central node (red, black and orange) because it links back to the central node of my web presence.

I chose Twitter, Tumblr and Last FM because these are all communication websites and as a fangirl, communicating is an important part of the web experience. I also chose them because they all would not exist without Web 2.0 and that also means that the pages themselves are very interactive. The three contributing nodes are all different and show different aspects of being a One Direction fan.

Twitter is important for communication because it lets you post statuses and talk to people from all over the world, which includes the boys from One Direction. Tumblr has many characteristics of Web 2.0 because it involves people reblogging pictures and videos or even GIFs of their interests. Most of that would not be possible without Web 2.0 and the allowance for interactivity. Last FM lets you stream music from the internet which we have Web 2.0 to thank for that. 

I believe that my choices in terms of the central node, my about page, and my contributing nodes demonstrate that I’ve engaged with the ideas discussed in this unit. I paid attention when we talked about blog posts and how they are not very long and I followed suit with my about page. (Topic 2.1 - Blogging, n.d.) I know a lot of people will not have time to read a long piece of writing, so I kept it short and simple. Because of the Week 10 information, I made sure that the information I shared was essential and not over the top, especially as I am creating a completely new identity online. (Information - How Much Is Too Much?, n.d.)

Because Blogger is so easily linkable to other websites, I decided it would be the best for my central node. I considered Wordpress after we discussed it during the unit, but I have used Blogger before and I felt more comfortable with it. This reading (Blood, 2000) also helped me to decide to use Blogger because it explained to me what Blogger was and how easily I would be able to design and edit my page, which is part of Web 2.0 and its user customisation. 

I decided on the contributing nodes by listening and reading to discussions about the different websites and also by paying attention to the importance of Web 2.0. Twitter was the obvious choice because I knew all of the One Direction members were on there. The Introducing Twitter (Introducing Twitter, n.d.) activity in Week 8 helped me decide to use Twitter because it explained to me how important Twitter is in terms of communication. Last FM is a music website and from reading about it during the unit, I believed that it sounded perfect. Tumblr lets you reblog anything and is most certainly a Web 2.0 invention and when I heard it mentioned in discussions as part of the social networking (Topic 2.3 - Social Networking, n.d.) part of the unit, I knew it was perfect.

Finding an idea for my web presence was hard, but after much thought, I knew One Direction was the right way to go. I based my design on the colours used by One Direction and I made the theme designs as simple as possible. I used pictures of One Direction for my profile pictures and any other pictures I was allowed to have. I chose Twitter, Last FM and Tumblr as my contributing nodes because they are great communication websites and key parts of Web 2.0. I made sure to listen during lectures and read all of the readings and discussions to give me information on how to best create my web presence. I feel that after so many weeks of work, I have finally come up with a web presence that I am happy with.

Word Count: 1,130 (including in-text references) or 1,106 (without in-text references) words

References:

Blood, R. (2000, September 7). Weblogs: A History And Perspective. Retrieved May 14, 2013, from http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html

Curtin University (n.d.). Introducting Twitter.  Retrieved May 14, 2013, from https://lms.curtin.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-2100499-dt-content-rid-383738_1/courses/305033-Vice-Chancello-111877403/Web101/2.3.html

Curtin University (n.d.). Information - How Much Is Too Much? Retrieved May 14, 2013, from https://lms.curtin.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_group=courses&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Fcontent%2Ffile%3Fcmd%3Dview%26content_id%3D_2100499_1%26course_id%3D_35129_1%26framesetWrapped%3Dtrue
Curtin University (n.d.). Topic 2.1 - Blogging. Retrieved May 14, 2013, from https://lms.curtin.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_group=courses&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Fcontent%2Ffile%3Fcmd%3Dview%26content_id%3D_2100499_1%26course_id%3D_35129_1%26framesetWrapped%3Dtrue

Curtin University (n.d.). Topic 2.3 - Social Networking. Retrieved May 14, 2013, from https://lms.curtin.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-2100499-dt-content-rid-383738_1/courses/305033-Vice-Chancello-111877403/Web101/2.3.html