Social Media In Our Class

Getting a Twitter account and a blog account on the WordPress associated blog was interesting simply because it was related to an academic course. I have never had a twitter before but I understood the format and how to use it since websites that use personal publishing interfaces are mostly similar.


I avoided twitter because I felt that it was an extra internet tool that I did not need because of my facebook, blogspot, deviantart, (soon to come) linkedin, etc… that I’ve already had. But I have wondered about it simply because of the way professionals use it. I like the fact that it promotes quick, casual interaction without knowing someone’s hometown or seeing last night’s party pictures. I know lots of professionals from the animation industry and from film in general who take great advantage of Twitter. For example, for the making of the live action film, The Last Airbender (2010) (and it was terrible, I know), I followed the producer’s feed and his updates on the progress of the film which was a great way to follow the progression of such a project. Thus I was not really bothered by the idea of signing up although I had never sought to do it on my own. I know I’ll definitely keep mine and will likely continue posting with the CHST404 hashtag (if Dr. Perez doesn’t mind!) to interact with future Chicano Studies enthusiasts and bring up related articles, images, etc.
Blogging on the Cited at the Crossroads site was nothing new since I have my own blog (Stef-a-Sketch). As soon as I knew that we would be given the chance to do blogs for the semester, I knew this is what I would want to do. I am a fan of researching, especially when I get to research topics that interest me, so this was the perfect combination of self teaching with the purpose of teaching others. I know when the time comes I’d like to do something similar on my own, e.g. a blog where I post researched info on multiple subjects, including Chicano Studies!
The only drawbacks I saw were my own, in which I deprived myself of enough time to dive in a little more into each subject I posted about. I also would have liked to tie it in to specific readings since most of the ones we read were very inspirational.
The chance to put our class on the internet really excited me. Although I’ve never been good physically in front of an audience, I love going all out behind the scenes. So again, this was an excellent way to do it. And I believe displaying a high level college class to the world wide web was very appropriate, especially since it is a class about culture, and people. The narrow focus on women I think is something that is also necessary. Like we have seen before, people want to know about this stuff, but sometimes the access of it is lacking. Bringing it down to the personal level of a blog instead of a professional website allows those looking into this subject to enter it more comfortably, and leave with legitimate resources as given by our links. All in all, I’d have to say the use of social media made this class and the experience in general, a very pleasant one that I hope to have in future classes.

Posting Using WordPress

Some of you seem confused about how to post to the blog so here’s a step by step guide on how to post using WordPress:

  • Log in to your WordPress account (what they call your Dashboard) using the link  https://citedatthecrossroads.net/chst404/wp-login.php. Enter your WordPress user ID and password.  If you don’t have a user ID and password, email me.  (Note: once you’ve logged in for the first time, you should change your password to something easier to remember by clicking on the Profile link on the left side of your screen.)
  • On the left hand side menu click on Posts, then Add New Post. Give your post a Title — try for something unique, descriptive and that will make people want to read it.
  • Write your post.  You can choose to use either the Virtual and HTML settings. The Virtual setting is WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) — just use it like a word processor. If you know HTML, you can choose use it and have more control over how your final post looks.
  • Proofread, check your post over for grammar and spelling. When you’re happy with what you’ve written, click the Publish button on the right side of the window.Now go to the site and make sure it looks the way you want it to. You can edit any post by logging in and looking for it under Posts.

Those are the basics. We’ll learn how to add images / media as we go forward, though if you know or can guess how, you’re welcome to go ahead.  I’ve got plenty of space on my server for anything you might want to put up. You’re not going to break anything so feel free to poke around and see what you can do.  Be sure to ask questions about anything that’s giving you difficulty. You’re welcome to come see me during my office hours and get help individually if you don’t want to ask during class.

Your first blog post with your self introduction needs to be posted by the start of class Friday. If you need help, email me. Don’t wait until the last minute — remember I go to bed early.