Category: Uncategorised

I consider myself to be a hyper-motivated and enthusiastic learner. My desire to learn is fuelled by my interest in the specific subjects which I pursue.

There is such an incredibly incomprehensible amount of things to learn and do in our connected universe. Time is limited and precious, so it is impossible to do everything.

In order to justify investing cherished time into research, it is my belief there is one most important and completely non-negotiable must-have for creating a good research question:

The researcher possesses a deep curiosity, interest, enthusiasm, motivation, and/or inspiration for the topic. 

 

When searching for ingenuity to help with one’s academic writing, one should look no further than academia itself to provide these highly sought-after answers. Academic writing is written by academics for academics, fully academically within academia. Let us discover – directly from the proverbial source – exactly what is expected of us, as academics, whenever we partake in academic writing.

Simon Fraser University’s current (2017) slogan appearing on the header of their website is “engaging the world,” and how better to engage the planet than by openly sharing Academic Writing Resources with all the worldwide web? I choose to help SFU spread this wealth by generously gifting my find to you here today. Simply click on the above link from two sentences ago, and then you too shall be good to go. You’re welcome.

Hungry for more? Central European University displays a plethora of useful tips posted on their Online Writing Resources page. The beauty of this page is: instead of creating and then taking credit for all the posted resources, they link to a multitude of outside sources, mostly universities (very academic indeed) from all over the world. Much like looking at photographs and hearing stories from more-adventurous-than-me friends and family who travel a lot, I can vicariously experience the joys provided within CEU’s worldly links without having to discover it all for myself. Travel the Earth to find the best and the brightest academic writing resources from the world of academia… without leaving your home! ‘Tis very beneficial.

Although I would love to bestow more beneficial wisdom on my readers, I believe it is quite evident from this blog post that the author (myself) could use a plentiful amount of help when academic-ifying my thoughts into respectable and legitimate academic writing. Therefore, I shall leave you all now, and in doing so, I will become free to pursue academic excellence through our abundant, open and communal academic writing resources. May the blessings of academic writing shower you with fortunes and happiness throughout the rest of your days in this big world!

References

Simon Fraser University. (n.d.). Academic Writing Resources. Retrieved from

http://www.lib.sfu.ca/about/branches-depts/slc/writing

Central European University. (n.d.). Online Writing Resources. Retrieved from

https://caw.ceu.edu/online-writing-resources

The past week of readings has garnered many ideas about digital identity, literacy and presence. Our assignment is to come up with a plan for the creation of our individual digital personas. A few goals I am aiming for include trying out new platforms, gaining new skills with different tools, and keeping my various media up to date, all while keeping conscious awareness of my intended digital identity.

My primary method for approaching these goals involves simply testing things out. Near the top of my list of social media sites to try out are Twitter and Instagram. One novel skill that I will practice is blogging, which will take place right here on this very page. I also have intention to create and sample a system or schedule to stay on top of my digital presence, and to do so with purposefulness towards my aims.

In my tool belt of skills and knowledge, I have digital literacy plus an eagerness to learn and attempt new things on my side. Gaps I am aware of are a lack of time, a tendency to get distracted online, and possibly spreading my digital presence too wide, thereby diluting it instead of concentrating a more succinct effort in one or two places.

I can attempt to diminish these gaps through time management techniques, setting a timer for how long I want to work to keep me focused and on track, and by deleting any irrelevant digital presence after I find something does not work for me.

I will consider myself successful in these goals once I have tried several tools and platforms and chosen my few preferred paths. Ongoing, my choices are good as long as I can be current in creating and maintaining quality content in alignment with my deliberate digital identity.

 

After watching Just the Mapping by Dave White, I examined my online presence, and placed it into his technology map quadrant.

My understanding of White’s terms “resident” and “visitor” translates as “visible” and “not visible” when doing various activities online. Visitors carry out a specific purpose online without leaving a trail, whereas residents share some part of themselves openly with the worldwide web.

Most of my residencies are related to music. When I first began performing live in the early 2000s, we would poster the town and telephone our friends to promote shows. Now successful turnout is heavily dependent on spreading the word online, especially through social media like Facebook.

Personal and industrial contracting work communications and file sharing make up the bulk of my visiting online presence.

Overall, I’m fairly evenly spread out across my map.

 

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