Module 1 - Task 1a: A reflection on the CV re-written as a professional blog profile

Before posting my previous and introductory blog (A Journey Begins…) I jumped straight in with tackling the first part of task 1a as part of my initial setup, turning my professional curriculum vitae into a blog profile. Before signing up for my blog, I had a very clear vision in mind as to how I was going to structure my profile after reading the overview of tasks for part 1 of this particular module as found in the Module One Handbook. In the handbook, the overview for task 1a states:

“You should take your current professional CV and rewrite as a profile improving on its quality and upload this as your profile.”

I took this direction very much on face value and began constructing my profile, including my credits and chronicling them in a regimented list form fashion. I had decided I wanted to use my last few sentences to discuss the course. I took a bit of time to really think about what to include in these closing sentences. Most of my profile up to this point was a very dry, straight up attempt to convert my CV to a profile, save for an informal ‘Hi’ to open with. I wanted the last few sentences to present a bit of personality and capture my excitement for starting. I was very pleased with the outcome. I felt I had highlighted the most important areas of my CV whilst detailing some personal ambitions for the future, all before signing off on an opinion about beginning work on the course. I dragged my browser cursor happily over to the ‘publish’ hyperlink and clicked to confirm to be brought back to the top of the same page... “What’s this? Has my browser timed out? Please don’t say my text passage has been deleted and I have to start again, I haven’t backed it up!”

It’s probably important to mention at this point that I am writing my blogs via ‘Microsoft Word’ and saving them as documents before transferring them to the ‘E Blogger’ space for editing. I feel safer knowing I have a back-up if need be. To continue, I manically scroll down my browser page to check whether my work had been wiped to find it intact but, of course, with a caption stating that the text entered can contain no more than 1,200 characters with spaces. This is perhaps one of the first technical hurdles as outlined by the module handbook, writing in a lucid and fluid manner whilst meeting the demands of social media technology. I was a little disheartened to have to begin the arduous process of cutting and editing out text in my profile, text I felt vital in giving readers a concrete sense of myself. It is hard to edit and condense efforts that you have spent time labouring over. However, like the performer’s practice, if a technique fails to work you try something else in an attempt to correct it. I began the process of cutting and re-phrasing sections of the text. But what would I choose to keep and, in turn, remove? I believed I had fully engaged and committed to delivering a profile that truly represented me to be told (look at me, personifying the internet) I needed to take away from that?

After much deliberating I decided that the task’s main outline, as quoted above, was the most important aspect to focus on. I cut a few sentences expressing my anticipation to begin the course as I knew I would be covering this in my first blog post. I also, painstakingly, removed all inverted commas around named characters I have played in various productions. I am a known grammar freak, so it tore me up to have to remove punctuation for the sake of a few word characters. My immediate thoughts after doing so were what other people viewing my blog would perceive of me, an inability to comprehend an understanding for punctuation. I can only presume, and hope, that viewers will forgive these apparent mishaps as limitations of the web-based tool. Admittedly, most computer users will be aware that certain characters cannot be processed as they are not recognised as HTML codes by certain programs. That is about as much technical jargon as I am going to divulge before I embarrass myself by stating something wrong!

In the time between posting this and my first, I have had a chance to peruse a few other students’ blogs. I was unsure as to how much writing would be required of me and which method would serve me best in presenting my work. I found a good example in Eleanor Claire Urwin’s blog. She has taken a lot of time to put real detail and thought into her blog entries and seems to be tackling the individual tasks in one go at a time. Others have opted to spread the one task across a few blog posts. I suppose it depends on how we as individuals prefer to record our work. I’m unsure as to whether Eleanor’s blogs are a conscious product of the aforementioned method, but it falls in line with how I best work. I plan to keep a journal to record notes or ideas for potential new blogs or critical reflections, but the bulk of my work will probably be done in one go. I tend to fall into more of a creative flow after sitting with a task for a while. As well as browsing various student blogs, I have also been looking at Paula and Adesola’s. Both raise and share similar ideas that I know will continue to support and inspire whilst progressing on the course. I came across an embedded URL for a YouTube video, ‘Kathryn Schulz: On being wrong’, linked by Adesola that I found a particularly worthwhile watch. It is advice that I heard quite often during my time training as a performer. I have linked her blog post ‘Being Confused’ below:

http://adesolaa.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/being%20confused

As a performer I am often being told to take risks in my creative choices and to not be scared of failing, throwing what doesn’t work away and trying something else. Once failure can be accepted, it allows for a much bigger release of creative energy and opens the mind to all sorts of possibilities. Upon watching the video, I began to see how this could apply to the progression of my blog. The presentation of each task is open to my interpretation and I can choose to follow them how I will. This is extremely comforting for someone like myself, unsure as to whether I am actually following the course criteria in the correct manner!

I am still in the middle of setting up my blog. I realise the layout needs to be customised to better reflect myself but to also increase my connectivity with others on the course. I will be looking at and learning the advantages of Google Blogger along with the tools it offers to create a deeper sense of interactivity between myself and other users before moving onto the next task. I will also be taking a closer look at Reader One for this module as I will need to begin including theories from practitioners mentioned and exploring social media and their relation to my own professional practice. I mentioned earlier about tackling tasks in wholesome bites. This is not, however, to say I will not be returning to them for editing if I feel they can be improved upon later. If anyone has any advice or constructive criticism they feel could benefit my posts, please feel free to let me know by commenting below.