With this post, I will be evaluating Hannah Pulley's blog, "Shake It." The focus of her blog is Shakespeare's use and portrayal of love and romance.
Posts: I feel that Hannah has done a good job of making posts devoted to the blog's evolving theme that are sometimes casual and other times analytical. After scanning the content of her blog, I did not notice any videos directly embedded in any of her posts. However, she does frequently incorporate eye catching images and illustrations that contribute to her blog's theme. Her blog also includes primary textual analysis as well as media analysis. As for the format of her posts, her titles are very specific and focused. Regarding the posts aspect of her blog, I think that it would be helpful for her to embed some media files so that her posts are more eye-catching and enticing to the reader as well as add subject tags to individual posts.
Research: To me, this is one of the strongest points of Hannah's blog. She frequently uses and cites academic and non-academic sources that support her thoughts and ideas. This research helps clarify her blog's theme. Her hub post correctly uses hyperlinks and clearly states her main claim as a Shakespearean blog writer. Her sources page is easy to understand and formatted correctly, making it easy for others to see where she has found her information.
Personal & Social: Unfortunately, there is not a picture and bio of Hannah on her page to make it easy for blog users to get a sense of who she is, but her posts do demonstrate a personal connection to topics. The design of the blog is a little bare but, I believe, the pictures on her posts make it more inviting. Many of Hannah's posts have long conversations between she and other bloggers regarding her topics and themes. This shows her great understanding of the importance of social communication in the blogging world.
Design: The media color and design choices are both kind of plain. However, the pictures that have been added to each post bring more color and life to the blog. The side content is also kind of plain, but is appropriate to the style and content of her blog. It might be helpful for Hannah to put a bio and description of herself on the side bar so the reader can get to know and understand her better.
All in all, I think Hannah has done a great job of developing her claim over the semester... Good work!
