Exegesis

The platforms I have chosen to use for my web presence all work together well for my chosen topic of craft.  Being a visual hobby it is important that both the central node and the contributing nodes have a great deal of visual appeal.  Any tagging that is used throughout these sites has a strong leaning towards craft as the focus.

The choice of Blogger for the main node was due to the similar nature of journals and blogs.  Crafters commonly use journals as they strive to complete projects.  Documenting the progress allows a crafter to note what may have gone right and wrong for future reference almost like creating the perfect craft recipe.  A list of items to do and projects that have been done can be kept.  By writing this type of journal in a blog crafters are able to share with others and build a community with a common interest.  This helps others as well as inspiring creativity when other blogs are read (Boggon, 2011).

Blogs often link to other blogs that share a common interest and this sharing of information is what creates new trends and helps to think up new ideas (Rettberg, 2008).  The background of the blog is bright because I consider bright colour to be part of my craft work and an easy to read font has been chosen.  Links to other pages within the blog and the other nodes are near the top because of their importance and to make them easy to find.  The blog archive is then available so that readers can easily find older posts.  Links to pin content and for the RSS feed are readily available to the left and in particular using Pinterest and StumbleUpon as they are contributing nodes.  The readers should feel important which is why I have placed the followers feed where it can be easily seen.

The first of the contributing nodes, StumbleUpon, was chosen as a bookmarking platform.  When sites that are inspirational are found they can be ‘liked’ and added to a list of favourites.  The added bonus is that when stuck for ideas the ‘Stumble’ button can be clicked and something new found.  The host site that is stumbled upon can also be searched further and more similar ideas might be found.  It is also suggested that by submitting your craft site to StumbleUpon, traffic to your site will increase and links will be built.  The people that find your site will be those who are interested in the topic you are writing about (Allred, 2011).

I have added links to my blog in the profile information, and have also liked my blog as a bookmark to make it easily accessible.  I wrote a little about me and why I use StumbleUpon so that when people visit my profile they get a better idea of who I am in addition to being able to see my bookmarks.  I found it very easy to add my interests to StumbleUpon and many of the pages that appear as I ‘stumble’ are relevant to what I would hope to find.

Pinterest, the second contributing node, is particularly good for crafters.  It is visually appealing and makes it easy to digest the information.  The pinboard style of the platform allows you to collect the bit of the web you are most interested in (Shah, 2011).  The biggest draw of Pinterest for crafters is that it can be a part of the planning process and works like a personal organiser.  You can put things into categories that you choose yourself and create as many or as few boards as you like.  You can also search through pins others have placed and if you find something particularly inspirational you can follow the user or their boards and be further inspired by their choices (Wolf, 2011).

I first discovered Pinterest through links provided by a friend on Facebook.  The visual appeal of the site made me look into it further.  Being able to organise projects in a visual platform such as this makes comparison easy and can even help with choosing colour schemes.  This platform has provided the most relevant links through others tags of all of the platforms I have attempted and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys craft.

The final node, Flickr, was chosen as a way to display photos of projects that are complete and that is what drew me to it.  Links can also be included in the description of the image and comments to allow people to further explore your craft through your blog (Lam, 2007).  Groups can be joined to contribute your photos and add to discussions and the crafting population has even gone as far as to start craft swaps (Lindsay, Flickr for crafters: tips and creative photo tools, 2011).  These swaps are where crafters can exchange their completed projects for others they may not be able to make themselves (Lindsay, Craft Swaps: everything you need to know, 2011).

Something all of these platforms have in common is the ability to tag.  By using common tags the insights of others are used to help find information relevant to the craft topic and a type of folksonomy is formed.  The problem with this is sometimes things are tagged that sound like they would fit with the subject but when looked at they actually bear no relevance to the topic (Educause Learning Initiative, 2005).  However, this does not happen often and is not really a problem because you can simply go on to the next result.  Each of the contributing nodes use the tags and you can browse for information that may be relevant rather than having to perform a direct search.  This allows users to find information even when they are not sure exactly what they are looking for (Mathes, 2004).

It can be seen that my web presence through these nodes has a strong focus on craft and a visual appeal that works well with this hobby.

References

Allred, D. (2011). Why use StumbleUpon. Create Financial Wealth. Retrieved from: http://www.createfinancialwealth.com/why-use-stumbleupon/

Boggon, S. (2011). Craft month: why should crafters and artists blog. Word Cast. Retrieved from: http://wordcastnet.com/2011/craft-month-why-should-crafters-and-artists-blog/

Educause Learning Initiative. (2005). 7 things you should know about social bookmarking. Educause. Retrieved from: http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7001.pdf

Lam, L. (2007). How to use Flickr to increase traffic to your craft business. Sparkplugging. Retrieved from: http://www.sparkplugging.com/craft-boom/how-to-use-flickr-to-increase-traffic-to-your-craft-business/

Lindsay. (2011). Craft swaps: everything you need to know. Craft Buds. Retrieved from: http://www.craftbuds.com/craft-swaps-everything-you-need-to-know/

Lindsay. (2011). Flickr for crafters: tips and creative photo tools. Craft Buds. Retrieved from: http://www.craftbuds.com/flickr-for-crafters-tips-creative-photo-tools/

Mathes, A. (2004). Folksonomies - cooperative classification and communication through shared metadata. Retrieved from: http://www.adammathes.com/academic/computer-mediated-communication/folksonomies.html

Rettberg, J. (2008). Blogs, communities and networks. Ch 3 (pp.57-83). Retrieved from: http://edocs.library.curtin.edu.au/eres_display.cgi?url=dc60263770.pdf&copyright=1

Shah, S. (2011). The rise of Pinterest and the shift from search to discovery. TechCrunch. Retrieved from: http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/06/rise-pinterest-shift-search-discovery/

Wolf, T. (2011). Pining for Pinterest: a hobbyist's new best friend. TMCnet. Retrieved from: http://www.tmcnet.com/topics/articles/237566-pining-pinterest-hobbyists-new-best-friend.htm