like reading a story, but not

As somebody who has somewhat read blogs before (generally reading through Google reader rather than the actual blog itself) I knew that the most recent blog entry is displayed first (at the top of the page.) However, when tackling this blog assignment, I started reading Irina’s blog like somebody reading a book or journal: from top to bottom. Or I suppose I could say I started reading like somebody who has kept up to date with her blog. Anyways, whoops, but this reverse chronological order definitely has its upside and downsides.

To aid in the laying out of chronological order, Irina has labeled some of her blog posts to reflect this passing of time. While not as consistent as a formal research report, it is sufficient for a blog. A reader can easily navigate though the use of blog entry titles such as “First interview results” and “Research day two.” Some, such as “Research Day... 3.. (I think)” are more reflective of what happens in the mind but clear enough nevertheless. Amongst these numerically indicating post titles, there are those that are less in the “timeline” of things, but happen anyways, such as “Brussels & Gay Pride Weekend.”

Taking a closer look at the posts itself, I notice the posts regarding days are chronologically describing her day. It starts in the morning, and ends in the evening, like in “Research Day Four...it only gets better!” which features the photo of the sunset near the end of the post. Often, it is wrapped up with a last thought or foreshadowing what is happening next.

What caught my attention was the photos, specifically, the location of the images. The images are always integrated with the text, never standing alone. The image always seems to be located amongst the text that describes it. For me, it was a question of how to order this. With the rest of the blog in a chorological order of some sort, it threw me off to have to decide if I should examine the image first, then read about it, or read first, and then look the image? Or read part, then look, and then continue reading? This seems like a place where Irina could have made a decision of which to present to her readers first. I’ll have to keep this in mind as I start to add images in my own posts.