Self Reflection
While creating my blog, I learned a lot about Lucy specifically. We had briefly been introduced to Australopithecus afarensis and even saw a mold of Lucy’s skull, but I did not know any details about her skeleton, or her discovery. During this project I learned about where her skeleton was found and the details of her discovery. I was also able to compare what features of bipedalism were identified in Lucy’s skeleton to what we had learned in class. Specifically, they used her distal femur and her patellar lip, both of which we discussed in class. There are many different features that can indicate bipedalism, but I did not know what features Lucy had because her skeleton was only 40% complete. Learning this was interesting because her remains were so important in creating the evolutionary timeline on bipedalism. Furthermore, I learned about how they identified her age and the different theories surrounding her death.
I thought the biggest challenge was making the content relatable to modern blogs. I initially wanted to do posts like “Date Ideas” or “The Perfect Charcuterie Board” but found this more challenging than I anticipated. There was not really enough content to write about an activity. I felt that if I wrote about “lizard hunting” or “hunting and gathering” it would be too much of a stretch with not enough factual content. Even if I made it up, I don’t think I would have enough fictional content to fill up a blog post. Additionally, I didn’t want to write a list of things to go on a charcuterie board because I didn’t think it would be accurate. I couldn’t find information on what specific nuts or fruits or leafy greens Australopithecus afarensis ate. I am sure the foods were specific to the region or are now extinct. Therefore, I tried to write posts that allowed me to include a lot of factual information but also write a story fitting for what would go on a modern blog. The post “Lucy: More than a Skeleton” was more of an introduction/in depth “about me” post. I felt this was common for bloggers who are just starting out and want to introduce themselves to new readers. It allowed me to give more straightforward facts about Lucy and showcase why her remains are important to anthropology. In the post “My Rise to Fame...and My Decline” I was able to write about her discovery and information about how she may have died. It is not uncommon for bloggers to write or talk about how they became famous or why they started blogging so I felt this was a fitting story to write about, but in the context of Lucy. My gift guide blog was more along the lines of what I originally anticipated. It was definitely the most similar to blog posts I read, but I was able to slip in relevant information. I felt I was able to do this because I had put more factual information in the other posts.
I think my final project was successful. While I am not a graphic designer nor do I have a super great artistic eye, I do think the website looks nice. I think there was a lot of good content and it was really fun to make. However, I do think there are a few things I could have done better. The images I used for the blog posts looked great on the blog article itself, but they were slightly blurry when you scroll through the blog page and are trying to determine which one to read. I did not really know how to fix this problem, and figured content was more important than images. Additionally, I think it was hard to switch between past and present tense. I talked about “when I died” but also have this attitude that I am still around, especially in the gift guide. Due to so many writing rules it felt like I was switching back and forth and like I shouldn’t be doing that. However, I don’t know if I could have or should have done it another way. Overall, I am happy with the final product.
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