For my Linking Assignment #2 I have chosen to link to Tanya Weder’s Task #4 https://texttech.weebly.com/weekly-tasks

For ease of locating, here is my task #4 link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/rebeccahydamacka/2020/06/04/task-4-potato-printing/

I chose this link because I was struck by how similar our planning, thought process and conclusions were and yet despite having many similar elements, our websites are actually quite different.

Tanya’s experience was similar to mine as the planning process of the task seemed to be of significance for both of us. She selected a word that held meaning for her, “Teach” defining who she is or what she does.  My own word also reflects my teaching experience by defining my identity as a Raven House teacher. We both placed an importance on the appearance of our fonts, considering the historical significance of Gutenberg’s Bible and typeface. Fonts are where we diverged: she wished to display a more modern version to reflect change in teaching and also used the laddered T to indicate meaning.  As I reflected on the monks’ writing and Gutenberg’s Bible’s Blackletter, I also thought of American Gothic writer Edgar Allan Poe and his poem “The Raven,”  and decided to try a version of Gothic lettering. Our time spent on the project was also similar with results that as she so eloquently put “still missing the consistency that machinery could give but there is more life and humanity in it’s imperfections.” To this statement, I wholeheartedly agree; there seems to be more value in the handcrafted lettering. 

Tanya’s webspace, however,  is different from my own. It is a Weebly space which confused me initially as accessing from the course’s student webspace, looks different. There is not a complete list of tasks and blogs that usually appears under each individual’s name. Instead the access point appears as only one word, “tasks,” which redirects the viewer to a Weebly. Focussing on the weekly task I had not realized it was a Weebly site initially. The site appears very similar to my own WordPress which uses Booklite as a theme. Similar to my own site, Tanya’s blog presents items in chronological order with the most recent one at the top. Also at the top is of Tanya’s menu are the same words or links as mine own site with the exception of a “Contact” link on her site. Because I had co-created an earlier course’s Weebly for a project, I had wanted to create the same type of appearance in the menu at the top.  With these similarities, my brain connected the two sites. 

Because I had made this connection, it was all the more confusing when Tanya’s site did not navigate the same. What was different and confusing on her site was that to comment, I needed to go to the top of the post rather than the bottom and click on a link. I missed this at first which may be not only the location but also the lighter coloured and smaller font. The link took me to a form to fill out identifying information in addition to commenting and to ask approval to comment. Because it is different, adding another layer of complexity, it took more time and effort.  As frustrating as it was to navigate, not realizing why, it is a worthwhile experience to learn to navigate multiple blog platforms. 

The site itself has a clean minimalist appearance with a boldface type of the task which draws attention and a white background.   The photos display well on a white background. For someone who is more visual, the blog post is excellent. However, for someone with less than good eyesight it might be difficult to read the smaller, lighter font. I have played with my own font and background colours but have yet to settle on a satisfactory one as it seems to depend on graphics and effect I am looking for. One constraint of the course design was the preference to use WordPress. With this platform, I have yet to find the variety of fonts that I would prefer. I had found a font in google docs, Almendra, which I would have liked to use or something similar, to create a Gothic font appearance.  I have also found that my video file type was incompatible with uploading which necessitates uploading to YouTube first. I had wanted to experiment with my blog content. It has definitely been an exercise in exploration. What has been pleasantly surprising, is the way the course itself explores and allows a hands on, authentic experience that evolves with the text technologies despite being an online course.