This blog was created as part of a University assignment requiring the creation of an online presence.
The purpose of the blog is to document a group hiking trip to New Zealand and show readers what an amazing adventure and physically demanding trip it was.
A blog was chosen as the primary node because it is a narrative format which is an appropriate to write about travel activities. Blog posts were written as a daily account of the travel activities, with photos added to help ‘tell the story’. Blogs are normally presented in reverse chronological order (Wikipedia, 2010), however as this is a once only trip, a chronological archive list was chosen to display the posts in the order that the travel occurred and the order in which the blog is likely to be read.
Blogger was chosen for its ease of use, availability of widgets and customisable templates that are compatible with different browsers. A black and grey template was selected from Templatelite for its aesthetic qualities; the colour scheme does not detract attention from the photographs and can also be matched by the contributing nodes. The template also allowed for a customised photo positioned inside an open torn paper with some depth. A simple photo of a snowy mountain was chosen for this window because it was difficult to position a photo within the torn edges of the frame.
Some small changes were made to the HTML so that a panoramic photograph could be added to the banner; an original photo from the trip of hikers climbing up a hill in front of snow capped mountains was selected because it suits the purpose of blogging about an amazing and difficult physical journey, and is representative of hiking in New Zealand.
The blogger template was also selected for the width of the widget columns; the HTML template code was modified from two small widget columns and combined into one wide column that was appropriate for the width of the contributing nodes such as ShutterFly, YouTube and Everytrail.
Other travel blogs such as TravelPod and TravelBlogs were considered but rejected due to the presence of advertising on blog pages, or the lack of customisable templates and widgets for contributing nodes.
A range of Web 2.0 platforms were considered and chosen to contribute to the web presence. Each contributing node was carefully selected to tie in with the purpose of the blog.
Picasa, Flickr and ShutterFly were considered as contributing nodes as photographs are suitable for ‘telling the story’. ShutterFly was chosen because it could be customised to suit the blog theme, a guest book allows for reader comments and fellow hikers can also upload their photo albums of the trip that can be shared amongst the group. Picasa and Flickr were rejected because they did not allow for a customised webpage that could tie in with the colour scheme of the primary node. It is noted that the Shutterfly widget is not compatible with Firefox browsers, however a link still delivers the reader to the Shutterfly node.
A YouTube video was chosen as a contributing node to share content with readers. Picasa3 software was downloaded and used to create the slideshow for the YouTube video. A selection of original photographs were chosen that represented each day of the hike, which were combined into a slideshow with music. Music was chosen to add an emotive quality to the slideshow. Each song was carefully selected to tie in with the blogs purpose; Forever Young by Youth Group was chosen because it is the theme song for New Zealand tourism advertisements, viewers watching the video should attribute the song with New Zealand. The second song One Step Ahead by Split Enz was chosen because they are a New Zealand band, and the lyrics ‘one step ahead of you’ ties in with the daily walking on the hike. The final song The Time of Your Life by Green Day was chosen for its lyrical content, ‘the time of your life’ ties in with the theme of an amazing journey. The slideshow was limited to less than 10 minutes due to YouTube restrictions, so some photos were edited out. Upon uploading the video to Youtube, a warning was received about copyright of the musical content used. Youtube uses a content identification system that detected the music was content owned by WMG. However WMG has an arrangement with YouTube to allow its content to be shared on the site with the provision of sharing advertising revenue (YouTube, 2009). As a result, advertising appears on the slideshow.
Twitter was chosen as a contributing node as it allowed for ‘micro blogs’. Readers of this blog can read short updates rather than reading long blog entries about every training trip or gear purchase. Tweets consisted of trip preparation and training; which contributed to the theme of depicting a difficult physically demanding trip. A black colour theme was chosen for the Twitter node to link with the primary node.
Finally Everytrail was selected as a contributing node to add an interactive map from Google Earth. The trail was entered into the map and photos were selected and added to show readers the distance and location of the hike. This node has proven to be problematic, the Everytrail widget can sometimes fail to load when the Everytrail website crashes. However it was felt that the Everytrail map provides an important element of distance and location to the blog and has been kept as a fourth node despite these issues.
Each contributing node adds a complementary element to the primary node and assists in portraying an amazing and difficult hiking trip through New Zealand.
References
Cavallo, R., & Green Day (Producers), Armstrong, B.J., & Green Day (Writers). (1997). Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). United States: Reprise.
Connonlly, W. (Producer), Lloyd, B., Gold, M., & Mertens, F. (Writers). (2006). Forever Young [Song]. United States: Ivy League Records.
Templatelite (2009). Rustic Portrait. Retreived 21 February 2010 from http://www.templatelite.com/rustic-portrait-free-wordpress-theme/
Tickle, D. (Producer), Finn, T. (Writer). (1980). One Step Ahead [Song]. Melbourne: Mushroom Records.
Wikipedia, (2010) Blog. Retrieved 24 February 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog
YouTube, (n.d.) Warner Music Group and YouTube Announce Landmark Video Distribution and Revenue Partnership. Retrieved 24 February 2010 from http://www.youtube.com/press_room_entry?entry=vCfgHo5_Fb4
