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Spring 2025 - check in 4

What questions do you have about data-driven web writing that you would like me to answer?

How should I go about data analysis when there are conflicting results across my data? What reasoning is ‘reasonable’ to use when explaining conflicting trends? I had expectations for patterns, but it’s looking like they don’t really exist. Some posts with music, multiple photos, tags, etc have done really well, but others with the same features do not. I suspect that this has to do with the time of year and/or the individuals I tag in my posts, but none of that is being displayed using graphing techniques.

@npfannen

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Original 4.3

How does this data answer the research question?

Research Question: what can data on a social media post tell us (as academic analysts) about web writing, and the decisions web writers make when creating posts?

The data present in my personal Instagram posts shows that there is a tactful combination of writer features that gather the most audience engagement. This combo may be different for each account and each content style, but for me, the ideal strategy involves tagging the more well-versed web writers of my social circle, who then share the posts onto their own pages, and increase the overall audience engagement for the post.

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Original 4.1

Share what trends you are seeing in the data.

I have isolated 10 posts from my own Instagram account for analysis, based on certain writer features like the length of photo collections and the inclusion of ‘tags’ in my photos. At first, it seemed as though an increase in these features would be directly associated with an increase in audience engagement, but it looks to me like there’s a stronger correlation between the number accounts tagged and the shares received on the post. There is no evidence in this analysis, but I suspect that my shares are dependent on WHO I’m tagging in the post.

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.*.* Original 4.2 *.*.

Share how you are adapting your writing process to successfully draft this assignment.

So far I’ve done the typical ‘collect as much info as possible’ and pasted in the assignment notes/criteria. Will the inclusion of multimedia aspects (graphs, data tables, screenshots of our post elements), I’m now in the phase of ‘space layout’. Trying to section my paper into prompts and then account for the size of my photos and graphs. Oh, and the graphs. The data is mostly yes/no or numerical but I’m getting stuck on what aspects to graph against each other. If only post ‘views’ overall were public…

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.*.* Original 3.3 *.*.

As you are collecting data - what patterns do you expect to emerge and why?

I expect posts with longer timeframes between them to perform ‘better’ with more audience engagement. My profiles online tend to express ‘mysterious and cool’ (i hope) and it leads me to suspect that audience members are more accustomed to sporadic posts with lots of information in them.

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.*.* Original 3.2 *.*.

Share how you are collecting data and why.

To begin, I set up an excel spreadsheet similar to the example provided in our course materials. Some headings were changed or excluded to fit the purpose of my collections. Because I’m doing analysis on my personal Instagram page - often run more like a blog - there needed to be sections for photo collections, post dates, and tagging. I used a different Instagram account to view my personal (to limit this for ‘public data’) and scrolled through likes, comments, shares, and the various other ‘infrastructure’ features to collect well-rounded poster/viewer data from the page.

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.*.* Original 3.1 *.*.

Share your strategy for tackling a longer project with less stress.

I lift very heavily in the drafting phase! By filling in as much information as possible in the beginning of an assignment (while the details are still new), I feel more prepared when revisiting the document to actually work. First drafts are often longer than the final product and include links to relevant information, copy&pasted criteria, and tips for success surrounded with ***

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Compared to many other students, I have a pretty moderate connection to the greater Millersville community. For the past year, I’ve been working as the Station Manager for 91.7fm WIXQ, the on-campus radio station, and that keeps me active in the campus-related activities put on by various organizations. WIXQ does a lot of work with the Tell School of Music and the larger Lancaster DIY music scene. Outside of classes, I have a beautiful group of friends that have gathered together based on our mutual Millersville enrollment. We meet up regularly for ‘family dinners’ and homework sessions.

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.*.* Original 2.3 *.*.

What does your writing process look like when you draft a multimodal essay?

This process is quite different, though honestly I’m still figuring out the nuances! I’ve started with inserting discussion questions and setting spaces in the document for screenshots of these tumblr posts. There’s a lot more time spent collecting documentation for this type of assignment, since the writing was done in other spaces, at previous times.

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This post was great to stumble upon while browsing the course tags. Honestly, I haven’t yet read the assignment guidelines for “What Is Content” and wasn’t aware we’re asked to use Ai tools. I understand this is a professor-directed question but please, allow me to provide an opinion. All AI is reliably capable of is ‘brainstorming’ - somehow without a brain - and grammar checking. Many AI tools have been allowed to ‘learn’ from damn near any&all public Internet sources, leaving the information a bit vapid, due to the lack of source recognition. It may be a useful tool to investigate and learn, but from one student to another - heavy caution on using Ai to write any parts of your work.

Thursday check in post

One assignment I have a question about has to do with the requirement of Ai for the What is Content assignment. I am still completely new to the Ai world, as most of us are, and I have not used it for anything besides checking my spelling and grammar. Many of my peers have showed me how they ask Ai to construct their thought processes for assignments, but I have never personally dabbled in asking it questions. For this assignment, are we supposed to use Ai for all of the parts? Am I using it to develop a structure of my writing process, or for a different reason? I’m just trying to get a gist of how we are using it for this. 

@npfannen

[brainfogonline]

This is a GREAT example for the prompt!

If I had access to a roadside sign, I’d also dress it with a goofy slogan. There’s no reason a driver SHOULD be reading the signs while behind the wheel, so if anything catches them, let it be a little laugh :)

Week Two Original Content 3/3

We pass this business every week on the way to the gym. It is always fun to see a business take the time to still put thought into getting our attention in a creative way. Honestly, in Portland Or., there are so many automotive repair shops (our potholes are horrible), you don't notice them.

This is example of a business with the purpose of grabbing your attention so that you will remember them when you are in need of their services. They could've put up a deal or promotion that they are running, but this sticks with you. Think about the last time you stopped to take a picture of an ad in the real world. Companies on social media do this all the time. It is nice to see a company do it in the analog world.

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Spring 2025 - check-in 2

What assignment questions do you have that will help you complete the assignment successfully?

What is your take on a professional way to link/include different files while writing a document. I haven’t been able to attach screenshots directly & well organized in the Word document I’m using for the Reflection assignment. This course doesn’t seem citation-focused and I’m a bit overwhelmed by the amount of time this week’s work has taken me already.

@npfannen

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.*.* Original 2.2 *.*.

what does your writing process look like when you draft an essay?

To start, I copy&paste the assignment requirements into the document - typically some variation of the rubric, but in this course I’ve included the discussion questions. Usually I’ll paste in sources and accessory information after that and save the document with “title - draft”. Any work done after that is usually during the next day, so it’d important for me to collect all that I can to start strong when writing again.

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.*.* Original 2.1 *.*.

theory post: based on the assigned reading - what is content? this is actually a really hard question - develop a complete theory in about 200 words.

Content is an incredibly general term, I believe referring to any visual, written, or audible media accessible through the internet or other digital devices. Sub-categories of content exist, diversifying based on the space the media exists; blog posting, Elvisor publication databases, social media, etc. All of these documents are Content when existing online, but hold different media classifications when existing in print.

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original 1.2

.* based on what you know about web writing, how will weekly tumblr posts, with points for posts across multiple days, help you build a workable schedule? *.

I’m planning to segment the Tumblr posting into 3 phases: writing, scheduled posting, and replies. The writing phase will be done at the beginning of the week (Monday-Wednesday) and all my posts will be scheduled for the timespan of Wednesday afternoon to Friday night. The times will be chosen at random so there’s no chance my posts feel robotic to the viewers. The replying phase will last from Thursday to Sunday, with the intention that other folks in this class will have updated their blogs by then :)

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Spring 2025 - Week 1 check-in.

HELLO, NEW COURSE!! Hello, new tumblr account. Hello, Dr. P!

My initial question to begin this class is - how does/could/should a ‘web writer’ pick up on social norms of a platform if they have not yet spent time within that platform? If you, the web writer, were to be assigned an article-type writing piece for a new social site you aren’t familiar with, what would you look for while browsing the site to help you understand its content/context?

Excited to hear from you ✨