Tumblog: Reflection # 3 – Structure

The EDC course structure is designed as three blocks: popular cybercultures, virtual communities and posthumanism. This framework establishes the order in which the theory and concepts arising from the topics are approached, discussed and considered. This mapping of the topic is crucial in setting of a navigable route upon which the course journey may be made.

How though does this mapping transfer onto the space that is Tumblog?  The properties and layout of the Tumblog promote interconnection of the blocks mentioned earlier.

I like the use of the spiderweb as a metaphor for my Tumblog. In the centre sits EDC and it is from this core that all of my posts have  seeded and sprawled. Each post sits as individual on its own silken thread but is integral in the make-up of the web as a whole.

This was not evident until a certain amount of the course content had been covered. Tagging allows for “the collection of information, the sense-making, the organisation of information through categorisation and the trading of detail and knowledge describe some of the essential processes of human intelligence.” (Merchant, 2007, p. 251) The tag is a powerful tool with which one may construct the stepping-stones of access through the blog space.

The category structure is an important gateway for user access through the blog. When deciding how to fragment my categories I felt that it would be beneficial to fork the division: blocks and weeks. Perhaps weeks or blocks would have been sufficient on their own but when the time came to decide on that section the spiderweb image still lingered in my mind and resulted in the inclusion of both.

The capacity for customization within the Tumblog is substantial. Although most of the group’s blogs looked alike for the majority of the semester it is only in the past fortnight that we have gone down the road of personalization through layout and image. The diversity of our imaginations and creativity is supported by the Tumblog structure.

• Merchant, G. (2007) Mind the gap(s): discourses and discontinuity in digital literacies. E-Learning, Volume 4, number 3, 2007