Template and addons (blog post #2)

I chose the template Neat! by Topi Peltonen. Why? I think it looks, as the title says, neat. The template is not “over the top” when it comes to design, easy to navigate and has a clean look to it. I have also implemented some sidebarwidgets that I believe could be of interest for those who visit my blog and to me as a author. These widgets are:

A rss feed from Jills blog.
For easy access to the information given to us student. I don’t have to visit Jills blog to get the latest news and updates in this course.

Recent comments.
This is interesting for both me and other visitors. Who and what have been commented.

Blog stats.
Show how many visitors i’ve had on my page.

Blogroll.
Links to my fellow students blogs, easy access for me and others.

Flickr photos.
I chose to have this on mye page because there is a lot of really cool pictures on Flickr..

Meta.
This widget is for me. It makes it possible to log in to my “dashboard” without having to visit the wordpress homepage.

Do this template and addons affect my blogging?
Maybe. If I see in mye “recent comments” widget that someone have commented on my post, it makes it more fun to blog. We can relate this to weak (soft) technological determinism, which claims that:

“.. the presence of a particular communication technology is an enabling or facilitating factor
leading to potential opportunities which may or may not be taken up in particular
societies or periodes” (Finnegan 1988, p.38)

I might not want to take up blogging, but when I come into contact with the technology for example the recent comments widget, it makes me want to blog more, I might want to reply to a comment. When I see how easy it is to personalize my blog, it might just make me want to explore the technology more.

I’ve also made a costom topimage. Just for fun really, cut and paste in Mircosoft Paint, its crap, but that is the point.