Alright, we're at the end of the road people. Now it's time to evaluate this blog. Many thanks to Whitney C. and her peer-evaluation of this blog a week ago. Her advice and critiques were much need, as well as her praises! :)
Posts:
- Quantity-I have 35 posts, 13 of which are dedicated to my focus. I didn't decide my research focus until later on in the semester when we were told to choose one. I think 13 is a sufficient amount to develop my thesis, although I definitely think I could write many more posts on the subject in the future.
- Content-I think my posts have a good variety to them. Writing about my focus made it difficult for me to introduce new and different mediums like I did in my previous posts, but I included images that reflected the subject of my post and were also eye-catching. Whitney C. suggested adding some videos to my post, so I included a news report in one and a movie clip of a scene I analyzed in King Lear. I wrote a familial analysis of three primary texts: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, and King Lear.
- Format-Once Dr. Burton mentioned we pay closer attention to our titles I started to be more specific with mine. Previously my titles were a bit informative about the post but they were mostly lures into reading my blog. I've included page breaks in some of my more lengthy posts and tagged all of my posts with Labels. I also included a Search box in the top right hand corner. I've tried to make it very easy to find what you're looking for on my blog.
Research:
- Thematic Focus-I think my theme of Familial Shakespeare is clearly stated and either mentioned or linked back to in every research post. I attempted to make the design of my blog reflect the theme in some way but I'm not sure it worked. I tried to keep the simplicity of my blog intact, but jazzed it up a little with a world map in the background (Shakespeare's illustrations of family are universal and timeless...get it?)
- Thesis & Cohesion- My final hub post is sectioned off so the reader can clearly read my focus and formulated thesis. I've also linked back to relevant posts in the "Support/Evidence" section.
- Sources-My sources are cited at the bottom of each post their referenced in and I've included a "Sources" tab where all the sources I've used are listed.
Personal & Social:
- Author identity-You know, I wasn't too sure how I was doing in this department. Is my personality coming through in this blog? I hope so. Whitney C. gave me some positive encouragement here in her peer-evaluation, so I think I am doing okay. After reading through the evaluation criteria when doing a peer-evaluation of Claire Hopkins blog I decided to reveal my "About Me" section. I chose to keep it hidden earlier on in the blog because it is the same "About Me" as my personal blog and I thought it might not be relevant. Either way, now the reader knows more about me. I hope it is helpful in getting my identity across.
- Documentation of Process- Just as Whitney C. said, I did not do so well with documenting my process. I think I got caught up in trying to write really good posts and forgot that I could post a snippet here and there with "this is where I'm going...this is what I'm doing." To make up for this I included a paragraph in my final hub about how my focus evolved throughout my research and why.
- Interactions- I linked back to other student's posts that related to what I was studying. I also linked back to and commented on some student's blogs that might be interested in what I was writing about. I think I could've done a better job with this at the end. The last few posts I wrote were so focused on my thesis that I narrowed my posts to just my thoughts and findings.
Design: As I mentioned previously, I changed the color and design of my blog to be more relevant to my thesis and aesthetically pleasing. In class, Dr. Burton suggested I make my widget titles more descriptive. I've done so, but I'm afraid they might be too wordy now? I also switched up my widgets in order of relevance. I think my widgets are appropriate and geared towards making the reader's experience better.
