kylewith

Sep 03 2009

Doing that Write-ing Thing

Been a couple days since I last posted a post or a video. School started on the 1st and I have been a little all over the place because of that.

One of my major plans is to get into a routine for everything. I have about 4 hours total of classes Monday – Thursday and then no classes Friday. So I want to dedicate 4-5 hours towards class work on Friday or try and have all class work done during the week. Leaving weekends and evenings open for website stuff and recreational time. Yes I call my free time recreational time.

So far school is going well although it is only the first week and we have not gotten into anything quite yet.

Will try to update more this weekend.

Aug 25 2009

What is Hyperlocal Blogging? Is it my niche?

I have struggled for a long time to find my blogging niche. I love blogging but I have felt I don’t blog about anything interesting and what I constantly am trying to do is create myself online.

So it wasn’t until I moved down to Dawson Creek did I realize I had found my niche, I just hadn’t realized it. After seeing how successful YkOnline was or could have been had I still lived in Yellowknife I thought I would try a similar thing for Dawson Creek.

I think subconsciously I like to create these types of blogs because not only does it bring community together online but it also helps me get out into the community. Meeting knew people has always been a fault of mine so by giving myself these projects to keep up with it forces me out there. Then once I start to grow the readership I continue to do it because I feel it is expected of me. Make sense?

So what type of blogs are these? Well they are referred to as Hyper Local Blogs.

Hypelocal described by Wikipedia:

Hyperlocal content, often referred to as hyperlocal news, is characterized by three major elements. Firstly, it refers to entities and events that are located within a well defined, community scale area. Secondly, it is intended primarily for consumption by residents of that area. Thirdly, it is created by a resident of the location (but this last point is discussed because for example a photo or a gov stat can be hyperlocal but not locally produced).

This type of content should be contrasted with local news which tends to be less geographically constrained.

There are other types of data which have local or hyperlocal relevance, or be of interest to residents – e.g. a government statistic on crime rates in your neighbourhood. Such data, while relevant to residents are of a qualititively different type.

I guess some would call it just a Local Blog and would say that I am trying to be a Citizen Journalist and maybe I am. Watch the quick video below describing citizen journalism and tell me if you think that is what I am doing.

Whatever it is I am doing, I enjoy it and want to peruse it with all the information I can get my hands on. Over the next couple days I am going to do some more research on this niche and will write about it so 1. I can understand it better and 2. you have a better idea of where I want to go.

Aug 21 2009

Wide Angle Apartment

Here are some photos of my apartment so far:

There isn’t much in the main area yet but I barely go out there. Only to make food.

On to the bedroom/office.

My office area. My desk is still fairly clean but give me a week.

Here is the bathroom with the mini-tub.

Aug 13 2009

Beautiful BC

Currently I’m sitting in a hotel room in Penticton, BC as there isn’t a campground with vacancy within 200km. Yesterday morning we left our Revelstoke campground and drove up a mountain, literally. 26km of inclined roads. At the summit of this mountain there were hiking trails through the meadows. There was a beautiful view and gorgeous flowers. Upon cruising down the hill again we continued west towards Kelowna. The area is very nice and the lakes look as if it were in the Caribbean. When we went through Kelowna we couldn’t find a campground so on we went. The day was getting late and as we couldn’t find anything in Penticton, we decided to just stay at a hotel. This is a short update but if you want to know more about what we are doing and where we are, check out my Twitter account @KyleWith

Aug 10 2009

On the Way to the Rockies

Yesterday we were at the Dawson Creek Fair and Rodeo, where I took tons of photos. So when I get a chance I will upload them and display them.

Yesterday was also the start of the Road Trip, where I will be driving through the Rockies and Southern British Colombia. We drove to Grande Prairie from Dawson Creek late last night in order for my father to catch a flight back home early this morning. As he is now gone we will probably stick around GP for a couple hours and stop by some shops. Once we are done that we will head to Jasper, Alberta, which is a 395km drive. There we will spend the night and take in the sites.

Will try and update as often as possible, with pictures as well.

Hope everyone is having a great summer.