Exegesis

The most adaptable and easy tool to initiate a web presence was to use a blog as a central node. A blog would fulfill the requirements and offer the tools needed to provide me with a web presence that connected contributing nodes with the ability to support and enhance the central node theme. The blog and contributing nodes, of LibraryThing, Delicious and a wiki, would allow me to express the ideas and concepts that I had defined as the theme of my web presence. Rettberg (2008, p57) states that the social genre of blogs offers the ability for many producers of communication to have audiences, thereby blogs are able to create a social network through their communication with contributing nodes. This promotes a web presence for anyone contributing to a blog.

Blogger was used as the central node to the web presence as a template for the blog. Blogger was an easy to use blog site that I had experienced before, so used that previous knowledge to my advantage in creating the blog. Blogger has a simple interface that offers easy instructions and features that are straightforward to understand and employ. This assisted in the creation of the blog as I was not required to have any html or javascript experience yet could use this information from other sites to add to the blog with little effort. By employing such tools, anyone who can use a computer can read and write on the web, consuming and producing information. Web 2.0 sites offer a social interaction between people, being able to share and collaborate on work, to enhance and connect with people outside of a specific physical environment (Baumbach, 2009, p.13).

The template used for the background of the blog was called dots dark. This has multi coloured dots on a dark blue background. For the purpose of this blog, the dots had a crafty feel that represented the type of business mentioned in the blog. The dark background has a representative atmosphere for those cosy days when books have a chance to be read and craft projects can be completed. All these elements could be changed to suit the user, such as altering colours, fonts and layout of the blog.

I chose to select LibraryThing, Delicious and a wiki as my contributing nodes. These three web 2.0 tools offered the ability to enhance and support the ideas presented in the blog. LibraryThing is a cataloguing tool for the public to add their home libraries and share reviews and ratings of the books. LibraryThing supports the ideas expressed in the blog by allowing me to showcase the books that are of interest and significance to the blog’s intentions and are of personal importance to me.

Delicious is a tool that enables people to bookmark the websites that are of significance to the user. Storing the bookmarks on one page and being able to provide access to that site from other sites, such as the blog, offers the opportunity to promote and share sites with other people. By linking it to the blog, I have been able to share sites that are of importance to the ideas expressed in the blog and support the concept I have outlined in the blog. The Delicious tool enables anyone to tag and share those sites that are of worth to the person offering their opinions.

The wiki is specifically related to a small business website that offers information and insight into beginning and operating a small business, a crucial base to starting any small business, such as that suggested in the blog. The wiki as a tool allows audiences to interact and offer information and opinions as part of the experience. This wiki in particular enticed me as it was straightforward and understandable to me. The wiki is able to be joined and contributed to, engaging readers in a tangible way. The wiki provides information in a series of posts that offer, in this case, steps to starting and continuing a small business.

Blogs, and to a certain extent other web 2.0 tools, are essentially a social tool. They are used to express the ideas, opinions and share information with an audience (Pontin, p.34). Bruns (2006, p.249) notes that as with all evolving networks, change continues to take place as web 2.0 tools develop and are added to and improved as the tools become more useable. The next big thing is just around the corner, and as such, the ability to engage and create new collaborations on the web is awaiting the public.

Freese (2009, p.45) suggests that we all wish to gain an audience, sharing our ideas with like minded people. Through a web presence, using the different web 2.0 tools, users can share and collaborate their ideas, providing an arena in which anyone can have ideas or opinions. The diverse community that uses the web becomes a smaller community for blog users as those who nurse common perspectives and visions of the world gather and embrace similar views through blogging (Luehmann and Tinelli, 2008, p.325).

The web presence I have created is based on my idea of a dream business that I would like to run in the future. This web presence has enhanced and helped me to define the concept of my business. In doing this, I have learnt that there is a possibility of my achieving this dream and creating a life and business that would harness and develop my hobbies as a passion for my work.


Bibliography


Luehmann, A., & Tinelli, L. (2008). Teacher professional identity
development with social networking technologies: learning reform
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Freese, J. (2009). Blogs and the Attention Market for Public Intellectuals.
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Search Premier database.

Bruns, A., & Jacobs, J. (Ed). (2006). Uses of Blogs. New York : Peter Lang
Publishing. Ch. 22, 249-254. Retrieved May 5, 2010 from Curtin University
Library E-Reserve.

Baumbach, D. (2009). Web 2.0 and you. Knowledge quest: social scholarship, 37(4),
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Rettberg, J.W. (2008). Blogs, communities and networks. Blogging. Ch.3, 57-83.
Retrieved May 5, 2010 from Curtin University Library E-Reserve.

Working towards my dream job

I have visions of dying at work while I shelve the cookery books, shuffling them so they will fit on the shelves (as no one else seems to do it!). This is not the way I want to end my days. I want to be able to wake up in the morning, look forward to going to work, earn enough to live on and satisfy my creative urges.

I want to continue to work toward my dream. Gather all the information I can (I'm not an information professional for nothing) and have a plan for the day I can open my dream. Working towards a place where I can be part of something that brings happiness to people is what I am doing. It may take longer than I want, and I may be impatient, because as with everything when you want something, you want it now!

One day I will have my dream job, in a setting where I can relax and enjoy my work.

Creating my dream job

Welcome to the creation of my dream job. Having read waaaay too many books and being a fan of craft, though I may not do it well (note the room full of UFO’s, unfinished objects!), my aim is to leave behind the very varied world of public libraries and embrace my own business concept. My shop would marry my three loves; books, craft and food.

Ideally set in an old house in a rural, touristy setting, my dream would take the shape of dividing the house into rooms of books, rooms of craft and wool with a café down the middle of the house to link everything. I would theme each room (yes, I know. Very kitschy but atmospheric, don’t you think?), for the books and to an extent with the craft section.

The craft section would have a room or two consisting of unique balls of wool, along with patterns and a room for workshops to be held, in a bid to create a cosy, community feel (I told you I've have read too many books!). The same would apply to the material and craft sections. Items that are different to what you can find in the large craft supply chains. Workshops would provide people with the chance to learn the different crafts available. A gallery space would be created down the walls of the café and in the entry to the shop to display and sell the wonderful objects completed in the workshops.

My lovingly tended book section would have rooms devoted to genres and subjects, something to entice most people. An area to peruse the books you are considering purchasing, with one of those comfy, sink-into-and-not-be-able-to-get-out-of sofas. Along with a chaise longue, for its sophisticated and very feminine air. Yes, I know I’m a sap! It would look good in the romance room though.

The café’s great coffee would fill the shop with that enticing aroma and provide an area for visitors to eat then wonder the store.

My dream job

My dream job is an encapsulation of where I would like to go professionally and personally. The ability to run my own business, create my own marketing and provide a service to customers entices me. I love my current job, but the stress of staff tension, political issues and lack of budget make it hard to operate positively everyday. Yet in a public arena such as a public library, your best game face is required everyday.

This vision may be a dream for some time to come but it fills me with hope and a drive that one day I can fulfill this dream.

About my search

This blog was created as a means of expressing the way I want my life to play out. My dream job marries three of my greatest hobbies into one. We all wish we could work in our dream job. This is my attempt to begin the process of defining my dream and seeing just how feasible it is. If nothing else, it will give me great pleasure to continue to refine the work/life balance I wish to achieve.