I decided to link and examine Mel’s what’s in my bag post.   As of Feb 2021

How has your colleague’s experience differed from yours? And how do you know?

Mel decided to showcase a curated bag to represent themself. Mel shares these items which revolves around their interests and free time instead of focusing on their work. It is also a version of a daily bag that reflects the current situation with the pandemic. The items in the bag shares a minimal look at what would be carried around during this time – keeping in mind that items like laptops and notebooks would normally be present if there was no pandemic. This clearly shows me what Mel’s interests are and how they like to carry fun items around with them (i.e. a deck of cards, a book, and a camera).

What web authoring tool have they chosen to manifest their work?

Mel used Genially to share what was in their bag. This was my first time seeing it used and I liked how it was interactive. Every time you hover your mouse over one of the highlighted items, there’s a little blurb about that item written by Mel. Some of the comments written for each item were small informal anecdotes, which I liked since it shows a bit of Mel’s personality.

How does their tool differ from yours in the ways in which it allows content-authouring and end-user interface?

Mel inserted the Genially interactive image directly into their WordPress blog which allows for users visiting their page to not have to go to a separate page to access it. I liked the fact that it was seamlessly included into WordPress. Mel also provided a link to Genially below the imbedded image so users can access the site directly and open up a larger image of her photo.  At the time of seeing all the “What’s in my bag” posts, I was fairly new to using WordPress and it was interesting to see how other classmates decided to use different web tools to share their personal belongings and share about themselves. I didn’t know you can imbed so many different digital tools into WordPress blogs.

What theoretical underpinnings are evident in your/your colleague’s textual architecture and how does this affect one’s experience of the work?

(As of February 15, 2021)

In the UBC Blog site, Mel  has the following organization to access this task:

• “Welcome y’all” is the main menu (home)
• With tabs at the top right of the blog:
  • “Activities” page, for activities suggested from the modules in this course.
  • “Tasks” page.

If I want to access Mel’s Task 1: What’s in my bag task, I had to click on the “tasks” tab on the menu from the Welcome page. Once on the Tasks page I had to scroll to the very bottom of the page. The posts are in chronological order with the newest posts at the top and the oldest at the bottom. Given that Task 1 was the first task done, it will always be at the bottom. I assume if Mel continues with this layout, that the Tasks page will be quite long by the end of this course. It does make it slightly harder to access more older posts Mel has created. However, it is not difficult to understand that this is how the blog is set up. The tasks posts are clearly labelled and each post has the published date at the top.

I like how the main menu is a welcome page that tells visitors about Mel. The organization of the blog is simple and well organized overall and shows that Mel understands the course expectations by clearly showing where their assignments should be.

How do the constraints of the course design manifest in your architectural choices? How have you responded to the pedagogical underpinnings of this course design in your own web space?

My UBC blog also has a Welcome page, but it is not as elaborate or welcoming as Mel’s.

The home page is just a VERY short blurb about the blog and directs users to use the menu tab buttons at the top of the site. I wanted to organize it so that my tasks had their own separate page tab and the linking assignment also had one. I do plan to add more menu options as I go through the course. I will be adding one for the Final Project later down the line.

My current menu tab options:

• Tasks (page)
  • This will take you to a page that lists and links to the individual tasks I have done thus far.
• Linking Assignment (page)
  • Currently, it’s a work in progress. I think I will set up something similar to what I did with the tasks page.
  • It is currently arranged with the most recent post at the top  (there is only 1)

My course content is on the UBC blog just like Mel, and the way my blog is set up portrays this. I’m still familiarizing myself with how to use WordPress so my blog is constantly in flux whenever I find a new format or layout I like better. It’s also interesting to see other classmates blogs evolving with them discovering new things and personalizing their own course blogs.