Exegesis

The purpose of this assignment is to create an online presence and identity of ourselves with a specific Web 2.0 program. Blog will be the central node of my web presence for this assignment. Also, the main theme of this web presence is cuisine. This will include food reviews from different restaurants, and my own recipes as well. According to Helmond (2010, 17) ‘‘the web self is no longer present on one single  website, such as the personal homepage, nor  is it present on just one single social networking site’’. Other contributing nodes that I am using are Urbanspoon, Allrecipes, Twitter and Instagram to complete as a whole.

As the central node, I had contemplated on which blog site that I can use for this web presence assignment. After some consideration, I decided to use ‘blogger’ as my web platform because it lets new users without any blogging experience to customize and create a blog. Helmond (2010, 7) also mentions, “The format of self-publishing changed with introduction of the one-button-publishing blog software Blogger in 1999”. This way it allows users to express themselves in what they are passionate about on the net without the need for HTML knowledge. 

To be recognized in the web, users will need more than one node to confirm their existence on the net. Boyd and Elliot (2007) wrote that, ““public displays of connection” serve as important identity signals that help people navigate the networked social world, in that an extended network may serve to validate identity information presented in profiles”. This is why I used other nodes that are related to my theme, such as Urbanspoon and Allrecipes. Urbanspoon is a very good review site that is based in Australia, specifically Perth. Additionally, Allrecipes is a food recipe website that includes all kind of food from different ethnic groups.

Out of all other blogging site, I feel like this is the most common blogging site that people use. I know that I will face a lot of trouble and questions in the process of making this blog. Fortunately, all the answers and solutions are provided on the internet. Qian and Scott (2007) mentioned that, “there are thousands upon thousands of personal blogs through which people share their experiences, thoughts, and feelings”. In this blog, I will express my passion in cooking and tasting new food. I want to make it a fun experience for people that are visiting my blog. This is why I chose to use my own background. Also, in the heading, I made my own cover photo by taking picture of a plate, spoon and fork with the title of my blog in the middle. The empty plate that I am using is to symbolize how I am open to any ethnic food. The pink cupcake background that I use matches with the twitter page that I’m using. On the side of the page, there are pages that include my Urbanspoon, Allrecipes, Twitter and Instagram accounts to allow readers to locate my contributing nodes easily. 

The first contributing node that I use for this assignment is Urbanspoon. I am very well aware of this site since I have been using it to check reviews of many different restaurants in Perth. Even though, personally I have never written a review before this assignment. It is a very popular restaurant review site that people use to express their opinion on a specific restaurant. This site also allows food blogger like me to have our own tab of blog review that redirects reader to our blog site to read a more detailed version of our review. On the bottom of each review, we can place the information of the restaurant that links back to Urbanspoon. This way readers can see the ratings and other users’ review of that restaurant. On the bottom of Instagram widget, there is a Urbanspoon spin widget to let the readers spin any random restaurant when they have no idea where to have lunch or dinner.

Allrecipes is a very awesome recipe website for people to share their best recipes to all web 2.0 users. I didn’t use the Australia and New Zealand version of Allrecipes because I realize that there is lack in food varieties in that website which is why I use the US one. This is a good recipe-sharing website because it allows user to publish their own recipe and also keep their favorite recipes that are created by other users in the recipe box that is provided. I link this page to my blog so that readers can see my favorite recipe which is not on my blog, but is in my Allrecipes account.

Twitter account allows me to reach out to my audience to read my new recipes and reviews. Leaver (2007) writes that, “the coolest and probably the smallest is Twitter, which allows users to post entries of no more than 140 characters, sent in from the web, IM or text message and being sent out via these same three platforms to your Twitter friends”. This is a good way to update readers about new picture on Instagram, review in Urbanspoon, or new blog post. I believe Instagram is a good way to edit and share pictures. As a starting point of your readers’ base, it is very useful to attract more readers. Nowadays, plain pictures are very usual, with many different filters that Instagram provides, readers will be more attracted to what they see and they are more likely to try it out.

This assignment is a really good opportunity for students to experience a different way of using the internet. Everyone is very familiar with social networking site like Facebook and so on. To have our own site that we are passionate about is a whole different experience. It really let us see the bigger picture of the Web 2.0 in so many different ways. In my case, it is in food experience. Blog and other contributing nodes such as Twitter, Instagram, Allrecipes and Urbanspoon allow us to create our identity and presence in so many different ways on the web.

References

Boyd, D.M., & Ellison, N.B. (2007). Social Network Sites: Definition, History and Scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 11. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.x/full

Helmond, A. (2010). Identity 2.0: Constructing identity with cultural software. Retrieved from http://www.annehelmond.nl/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads//2010/01/helmond_identity20_dmiconference.pdf

Leaver, T (2007). ‘It’s a Small World After All: From Wired’s Minifesto to the Twitterati’, Tama Leaver dot Net. Retrieved from http://www.tamaleaver.net/2007/03/11/its-a-small-world-after-all-from-wireds-minifesto-to-the-twitterati/

Qian, H., & Scott, C. R. (2007). Anonymity and Self Disclosure on Weblogs. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 12(4), article 14. Retrieved from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue4/qian.html