Part 1: My blog is going to be about living a healthy lifestyle. I know that there are a ton of blogs about eating right, exercising, and becoming a “better you” overall. There are vegan blogs, fitness blogs, and yoga blogs EVERYWHERE on the internet. But, my blog will center around how I personally have started to live a healthier life. I follow an uncommon diet, have a unusual fitness routine, and try to live as stress free as possible. Along with all of these things, I am going to focus on how college students can follow my routine (or a similar one that suits their lifestyle) to feel more energized, focused, and live happier. My specific diet is avoiding sugar and gluten. It is different from dieting, because I do enjoy all of the food I eat, and I do not really restrict my calories, but it does require some serious food changes. At times, I feel like a crunchy-granola mom, who goes too far with food. But, I will delve into the science behind the way I eat, and the results that sprung from it. Naturally, my audience will be college students. Specifically, my blog is for college students who are interested into changing the way they think about food and exercise. Not only will it make them feel better, but it will definitely be preventive for the future. Part 2: 1. Fit bottomed girls started in 2008. On Facebook, this blog has over 175,000 followers. This site allows readers to search through a variety of health and lifestyle related genres. There are also clickable boxes with links to each blog post. The site is intended for women and men who are interested in making being healthy, fun, rather than a chore. The site also sells products, such as books, apparel, and watches. There are several contributors to this site, and each of them has their own tone. This website complies many different topics in order to provide readers with several posts that speak to them personally. Due to it’s large range of topics, I think that this kind of site would not be ideal for my own blog. I would prefer to have a simpler design, with a less overwhelming home page. 2.This site is written by Neghar Fonooni, a fitness coach and personal trainer of 15 years. Almost 75,000 people follow this blog on Facebook. Her blog has been active for at least 6 years. The site has an about page, contact, page, blog page, and product page. Her blog is set up in one column, allowing readers to scroll through in reverse date order to find a post they are interested in. This blog page also sells products, such as program books, lotions, and potions. This blog’s audience is mainly women, but also men, who need empowering. This website allows readers to feel confident in their fitness abilities and worthiness of living a happy life. The blogger’s tone is very engaging, and she writes as if she is having a conversation with the readers. I really like the design of this page, and the voice the author uses. I would probably not use the same tone, because I do not want to seem as aggressive. 3. Skinny Taste focuses only on healthy recipes. Gina Homolka began food blogging in 2008. Her website allows readers to find recipes, along with entertaining commentary, that match their own diets, such as gluten free, vegan, vegetarian, etc.. This blog is intended for families who are looking for healthy, but delicious recipes to eat weekly. Her blog reaches 3 million readers monthly. The style of the blogs is a little different from others, because the post surrounds one recipe, and the writing is focused on that topic. The recipes are highlighted by her words, almost as an educator. The site has a store for recipe books, and several cooking products that Gina uses herself. This website is very useful for foodie readers, but I think I would focus my blog less on recipe, and more on overall lifestyle. I do like the friendly style that the author writes in, and I will try to incorporate this into my own blog! 4. This blog is written by Mickey and Angie (and a few other contributors), who are dedicated to finding foods that are allergen-free and will not harm any autoimmune disorder. They have both studied nutrition and health, so they are qualified to give advice, but ensure their readers to also seek medical help. This blog has been active since at least November 2012, and have more than 104,000 followers on Facebook and over 100,000 subscribe to their newsletter. This blog allows readers to scroll in reverse date order to find the post that interests them the most. The blog is intended to aid those with autoimmune diseases, but also for those who wish to learn about the paleo diet. Due to the variety of contributors, the tone changes with each post. The website sells meal plans, recipe books, and are also affiliated with Amazon. The main aspect of this blog that I like is the focus on why they wrote the blog. I want my readers to not feel like they want to change for just looking good, but rather because there can be some serious consequences from eating certain foods. I will adapt their message into my blog in any way appropriate 5. Something New For Dinner is also focused on food. The blog has been active since 2013 and has over 15,000 followers on Facebook. This blog gives readers the option to explore topics of food, drink, travel, and entertainment. This blog allows readers to shop for food products, kitchen tools, and apparel. Like skinny taste, the posts mainly center around a recipe, so the commentary is more educational than conversational. The audience for this blog is any family member who is looking for a change in food and lifestyle. This blog also wants to give readers an idea of how to make delicious, healthy meals for busy families. Like the other recipe blogs, I would like to be more conversational in my blogging. I would like to tell stories, and write like an old friend, rather than a foodie mentor. I believe that this blog is helpful for families, but not great for my own purposes. 6. This blog site is for college aged girls, who want to read about a variety of topics, including health and fitness. Although this blog seems to be inactive, it still has a variety of blogs to inspire readers to enhance their quality of life. This website has been around since at least 2012. The social media sites seem to be expired, but the author’s content has reached 6 million people. The design of the blog is very outdated, but it allows readers to pick from genres that interest them. The style of writing is definitely conversational and uses lingo that college students will be comfortable with. This website is helpful for me because of the college-aged aspect. I want to adapt the same tone as most of these posts, but a little less cutesy. I want my readers to feel like they are talking to a real-live person, and not a mom from the middle of nowhere that doesn’t know anything about them. I want the readers to feel comfortable with my writing. 7. This website focuses on fitness. The blogger started to use the internet to coach after having twins, about 3 years ago. The author is a crossfitter, weightlifter, and a coach. Her blog is new and the posts are not in completion yet. Her website allows readers to learn about how to change their lives through a variety of blogs in reverse date order. Meal plans can be purchased through the site. This blog is fairly new, so the social media pages are her personal pages, rather than blog site pages. Her instagram has over 30,000 followers. The site is intended for people who are interested in increasing their weightlifting skills, but are unsure how to start. I really like how the author is growing her audience, and how she talks to the readers, but I will not focus on fitness as much as she does. I will focus more on light, easy cardio, rather than hard-core weightlifting. 8. Eat Yourself Skinny focuses on only healthy food. The website has tons of recipes for meals, snacks, and beverages. The blog was created by Kelly, a fitness lover and foodie, in 2013. She also allows readers to choose their interests by labeling each post and recipe with gluten-free, vegan, paleo, and other food classifications. The blog design focuses around the recipes, but also has places to find out more about the author and press. Her Facebook page has over 400,000 followers. The posts include comical commentary on how to make each recipe, along with measurements and tips. I really like the design and formatting of this website. It is pretty, simple, and includes pictures of who she really is. Of course, I will not be recipe focused, but from a design standpoint, it's fabulous. 9. This blog is a tumblr based blog about healthy eating. Due to the conditions of tumblr, the blog allows other users to be reposted on the site. But, the creator picks what to repost, and she also creates her own content. The blog was created in December 2010. Tumblr does not openly list how many followers the page has, but each post has at least 1 thousand comments. Tumblr allows users to post in reverse date order, and the page contains several formats of media, including videos, pictures, gifs, and text. Contrary to other blogs, the posts are kind of random, but connected in theme. I like this site only because it seems like something I am used to- Twitter. I think it is easy for college-aged people to read because it is so familiar, but I want my posts to be more cohesive. 10. This blog was started in 2012 by, Claire, a college student. The blog allows readers to choose topics such as fitness, and healthy recipes. The blog design is separated into those two categories, and each post has its own link. They are listed in recipe or workout by title, rather than in date order. The Facebook page associated with this blog has over 2,000 followers. The design is simple, organized, and clean. The commentary along with the recipe are light-hearted, cute, and educational. This is probably my favorite blog overall. If I could pick one of my researched blogs to base my site off of, it would be this one. The age group is appropriate, the design is well-suited to what I want my site to be, and the posts are easy to read. I would have more blog posts rather than recipes, but if I do gather recipes like hers, I would organize it in this fashion. Part 3:
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1. My first digital literacy idea would take a look into twitter. With the creation of twitter, a new term, "subtweeting", has taken its effect into many people's lives. In this digital literacy, I will explain the horrors of "subtweeting" and why it should not be used on twitter. I will provide examples of "subtweeting" in the past, and look into how these "subtweets" can damage your social media presence, and even can have an effect on your career.
2. My second digital literacy idea would be a comparison of how I used to use social media and how I use social media today. I will take a deep look into my past facebook posts, tweets, and Instagram posts, and probably regret every second of it. This digital literacy will show how social media is changing, for better or worse, and how the people who are using it are changing. 3. My third digital literacy idea will involve online shopping. Online shopping is definitely growing everyday, and getting more addicting for people (like me) who love to find new clothes while not moving an inch. Although this tool is a great time saver, I will show how it in fact can be detrimental to your closet and bank account. Berry, Hawisher, and Selfe, took on a global experiment surrounding the technological communications of the current generations. They found out many fascinating things about how our world is taking on electronic devices and using them to create literacies. The stories that these individuals tell, we believe, reveal details not only about their particular pasts (about the worlds in which their parents lived, about the literacy practices and values established within their families and the cultures they inhabited), but also about their present (the globalized world in which they now live) and future (the world in which they want to live)." This quote stood out to me because it told of the importance of the current forms of technological communication forms around the world. Our pasts, cultures, values, family traditions, and worldly views contribute to the way we use these means to communicate. My friends and I communicate through text, email, and Instagram feed, but I am sure that the things that we communicate vary greatly from those across the globe; however, the importance of these digital literacies are the same for each person in our generation. In this particular log of messages, I was communicating with my roommate/best friend in the early parts of 2015. Although I do not remember exactly what messages came before this, we were most likely trying to configure our busy schedules to arrange some kind of outing. At one point, she sent me a message of how she felt about me or the situation occurring, and I responded. In this moment, whether we knew it or not, we were creating out own digital literacies. We did not know the words for what we were feeling, just what we felt. In person, I think it would be incredibly hard to recreate this grouping of messages. In this form of literacy, we were able to show exactly what we mean, without needing the words to say it, instantly. Of course, in other places, other people in our generation may be able to communicate the same feeling with a different pairing of symbols. Our backgrounds, past communications, and own personal feelings give us knowledge of how to use the new forms of media to communicate digitally. The importance of having this amazing way to connect with each other is growing across the globe, with each text, email, and tweet, by creating digital literacies. Rhinegold discusses one of the most growing outlets of information for today's generation of teens and young adults: social media. Social media is not only a daily part of many people's lives, but a perspective of the world and a new way to connect with it. Rhinegold explains that it is necessary to gain an understanding of the new form of communication in order to keep up with how people are talking to each other. In a room full of electronic-device connected young adults, the communication may look minimal. But, in reality, each phone/laptop connected person is connecting with people from around the world instantaneously, simply by touching a screen. Disconnected young adults may be at a loss in their future careers when communication skills become more and more digital. And whether or not we do anything about it, the webbed world is full of information about us that is provided by other people, including their opinions about us--- the fact of life we know as reputation. To an individual, reputation is a powerful influence on how well one gets on in life, and it's not wholly controllable by the person it impacts. First, this specific quote stuck out to me because of the truth behind it. Our social profiles paint a picture of how we live our lives. If someone posts pictures of their wonderful vacations, happy friends, wonderful family, and luxury lifestyles, we assume that that person leads a better life than we do. It is not something that anyone was directly taught upon entering the world of social media- rather an ingrained thought that protrudes. In return, we do our very best to post the pictures, videos, and statuses, that we want people to judge us on. If the amount of attention, or "likes", is low, it often makes us think that our lives are not that great, and it takes a hit at our self-image.
This quote originally caught my attention because of an ongoing conversation my mother has with me and my brother. My brother and I are both your average social media users, while my mother has a facebook profile that she checks every month or so. Some of her facebook friends constantly post about what they have going on in their lives, while my mother has posted maybe 2 pictures in her facebooking career. Very often, my mother asks us, "But, WHY do they post everything? I don't get it? Who CARES?". My brother and I have both taken turns trying to explain why, and we both find ourselves trying to explain this concept that is so natural to us, and so strange to someone who was not born into the digital age. It is very difficult to explain to her that "you care", when she absolutely does not. I am terrified to find out what the next, new platform will be and to find myself in the midst of playing-catch up with our ever-changing, communicating lifestyle. Although the term "literacies" is very familiar to me, Barton and Hamilton twisted my view on this concept. As a college student, one of my majors is literacy studies, which mainly focuses on providing a foundation of literacy for young students; however, the formal definitions, examples, and deep analysis of the word literacies broadened my view dramatically. I enjoyed reading about one of my favorite subjects from a different perspective. Of course, I made connections with some of the writing activities mentioned, such as a simple reading, or even using social media sites to write and connect with others. Last semester, a writing professor that I had opened my mind into the writing of social media and how it, too can be considered literacy. But, the section of the of the analysis that excited me the most was the example of Rita and her recipes. My mother is an extraordinary cook. She gather the simplest of ingredients and make a meal worth drooling over. I, of course, aspire to gain the talent that my mother has in the kitchen, and I am slowly learning from her. The number one thing that I know about cooking from her, is that the recipe is not the most important part of cooking. When I read about Rita, I instantly thought of my mom and how she will find a recipe, look at it, and transform it into her own. My mother learned how to use literacy in the kitchen, a domain within the home, and create a literacy event. Ironically, she is also a teacher of literacy, but more so the phonetic devices of literacy. She teaches letter sounds to children so that they one day can create their own literacy events independently. Barton and Hamilton did a phenomenal job of taking an everyday topic and giving more meaning to it. Their contribution to literacy is great. |
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