Reflecting on my blogging journey throughout Semester 2, I can feel a big change in the quality of my posts and obstacles I overcame in Semester 1 had now been reduced, leading to a better blogging experience this semester.
Last semester, I struggled with time management and balancing the academic depth required with the colloquial tone needed to write a blog. This is something I have struggled with across my academic journey. However, having the blog run across Semesters 1 and 2 helped me improve this skill. The bi-weekly sessions really helped to keep me on track and gave me the opportunity to check in with my peers and tutors.
While I am pleased to say my time management became more effective this semester, I still occasionally found it hard to balance researching complex topics and meeting deadlines. For example, the research for my second blog this semester on Urban Safety After Dark took longer than expected. Going forward, I should allocate more time to the research aspect of projects. However, the research conducted for that blog was very interesting to me and led to me writing my thesis proposal on a similar topic. This is one of the most useful outcomes from this project. My first blog on pollinators was used to explore whether I could write my thesis on that topic. However, I did not engage as much with it as I did with the second.
This semester, I found myself utilising visuals better, using images and diagrams in my blogs and including cover images to engage readers more. I also came across fewer technical issues using WordPress. Another notable improvement I am pleased with is the clarity and flow of my writing.
Moving forward, I would like to keep uploading to this blog as a useful exercise to collect my thoughts and hopefully spark some ideas for readers. Reading my course mates’ blogs made me think about topics that I wouldn’t have thought about researching alone, as we all have different interests and ideas. I think this blog was a valuable way of exposing all of us to the range of topics we are individually interested in. The two blogs I decided to respond to were specific ones that intrigued me. For example, Caiye He’s blog stood out because I had previously researched and written about the importance of green space for mental and physical wellbeing, but I had not considered the idea of “green inequality” and access to green space as a privilege. This made me view the topic from a different angle.
While challenges persisted, I have felt so much more confident in my work this semester and the continuation of this blog has been a useful constant during my master’s experience allowing me to explore and research topics that interested me by writing my own blogs and reading others. This blogging experience led me to find a thesis topic which I am very pleased with and has been a great help for all my design projects by widening my knowledge surrounding Urban Design.
