Tag: websites

Always Learning

~ Sue ~ 1 Comment

There is a problem with education in this country. It has the habit of ruining things which a lot of pupils cam be passionate about. I know that when I was younger, I lost my love of reading, after being forced to write laborious essays and questions on books read during class. I think it was the idea of constantly having my thoughts on novels that I loved critiqued, really sucked any joy out of the reading process for me. 

Over time, my love for reading anything and everything came back to me. I found that I loved reading different types of writing, from formal articles on science to trashy magazines. I love the variety that can be created by the written word. 

As I have gotten older, I have discovered that I do love to learn new things. It was just the formal setup of school, that didn’t agree with me. The biggest problem for me, was, as mentioned above, the constant testing. The constant nagging that you weren’t good enough, just ruined that period of my life. I was beginning to struggle with my mental health, and my grades started to suffer when I couldn’t actually use the things I loved to relax, because I was getting assessed on them 

Now my mental health is a lot better these days, I am trying to make the best of things and try to learn more. I have found a service called Future Learn, which provides free courses online. The courses run from a few weeks, to a couple of months, and are run with the help of many universities from all over the world. The course that I have signed up for, is Community Journalism, which is a 5 week course run by Cardiff University. The course has a variety of steps for every participant to complete every week, with a final test and the option to get a certificate upon completion. The best thing about Future Learn is that there is a wide variety of topics, something for everybody. You can also communicate with people also participating in the course, which means I have the ability to talk to people all over the world. It’s great. 

So, if you are interested in a topic that you would like to study into further, but you maybe don’t have the money to enroll in a course, don’t have the time to study full-time or just want to learn a bit more about something. I recommend that everyone pops onto Future Learn and has a look around and see if there is anything you fancy. Because education is about enlightenment, not examinations.

All Change?

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Changing your website seems to be something which is rather fashionable right now. Every website or internet based product I use seems to be doing an end-of-year update. Whilst, this is something I know is important, to keep sites feeling fresh, I just seem to see it happening a lot right now.

Maybe it is just the services I use. It’s not like the service provided by these sites are changing, just how I find things. It involves a change of habit, and those aren’t always so easy to change. I think that people’s negative opinion of change stems from the fact that people in general, are afraid of change. So, in defence, any change is met with an over-bearing sense of hostility, as if acting in such a way will get rid of the change that is threatening them.

Which as noble as your anger is, it doesn’t make the slightest difference, as change is going to happen. It is a hard fact of life that nothing will stay static forever. So the quicker you can accept change, the happier you will be. I mean, there is enough stresses in modern-day existence without creating more stress over nothing. I mean if YouTube stopped you from viewing and uploading videos, then fine, but they haven’t. Just changed the layout. Yes you have to learn new paths to get what you want, but the stuff you want and need is still there. So no need to be angry and vengeful against the site’s creators for trying to make things a bit different. Change happens to us all, so try not be so untrusting of it.
Listening to- Miss America by The Fates (watch the video below)

PS- Umm… the snow at the bar at the top is playing with my eyes. So strange.

Blog Filled Gap

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Why are blogging sites only used when people ‘remodel their website’?

Now obviously, this is not the case for most people who spend time learning how to blog and actually get something out of doing so. This goes to the people who use blog sites for nothing more as a stop-gap, till they get their new website up. Now, there actually isn’t really wrong with this, but as someone who considers herself a blogger, I find it insulting.

Why should I feel insulted? Because it feels like the person doing so, doesn’t care enough to write a proper blog. They don’t think of a site, such as Blogger or LiveJournal, as anymore as a temporary space. But why? Why use a blog site when you obviously have no idea of how to actually use one? Its because it is free, because it is worthless. And that is what it comes across as, like you don’t care.

What will a client think, when they see that the only time you updated your ‘blog’ was that one post when you opened the account, and a new one saying that you are going to use it now whilst re-designing. Of course, you need the mandatory 5 posts a day, to make the blog look active, and pretend you actually use the thing. But after a few days you’ll get bored, and you won’t even share a sentence, never mind a few of your thoughts.

And if you can’t even update something that costs you nothing, what’s saying you’ll deliver on something you are paid to do? You obviously aren’t as passionate about the internet as you so claim, are you? That’s what a client will think.

If you do use a blog, or even think you are going to use it for anything to do with business, then update it. Even if you are going to do it once a week. It is something. And shows you have long term interest in things, that you don’t get distracted. Also, don’t underestimate the power of opinion. If you wax lyrical about a particular topic, and are passionate, people will listen. The thoughts in your head are what will REALLY sell you, not some pixels shaped into a website. If you can convey those thoughts well, people will approach you for work. Trust me. That’s how I get a lot of work.

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Felt like writing this after seeing 6 people I know doing this in one day. I think highly of blogging, so got a bit upset. :S