Self Evaluation 3.

I feel like this blog evaluation period has pretty much been status quo. My second evaluation period was a major increase from the first evaluation, but I feel this period has been about the same as the second, but no better.

Post frequency: About 3 per week, sometimes 2, sometimes 4, but on average, 3. I've exceeded the minimum posts per week - about the same frequency as previous grading periods. This exceeds C level, but I don't think is A level according to the standards. I definitely could use improvement in this category.


That being said, I think my posting is much more reflected in the quality, not the quantity. I typically spend several hours on each blog post (All the posts with videos I made took quite a while to program and make look pretty). Many hours have been spent researching the topics so that I do not give incorrect information, and such that the information is appropriately framed for my audience.

I've reasonably consistently kept to shorter posts. I decided I needed shorter posts from a survey I conducted on my blog that ended right after the last grading period. Thus, I got input from my readers and changed my blog quite a bit from where it was before (in that department).

Nearly this entire grading period has been spent on news and applications of quantum mechanics, I even included a "political" post, and another philosophical post or two.

My posts have usually a few comments on them, and quite a few of my posts have had comments from outside readers. I've directed content from Facebook with great success, and have nearly half my traffic from Google searches on quantum mechanics topics. Also, I recently got another blog asking to have my RSS feed added to their site. Thus, I think I've been very successful at self promotion.

What I did in my previous self evaluation, I have continued. I comment on other peoples blogs with about the same frequency (maybe a bit less than last period, about 4-5 per week), I think my content is much more less deficit-y than when I started out, and I think I've gotten much more interest in  my blog.

I think that over the course of the semester, my view on the way I'm communicating science has drastically changed. I was definitely more of the opinion that, "if you don't like what I'm writing, that's your problem." But now I think I've definitely shaped my posts to be more interesting to my readers without sacrificing the content that I've wanted to post from the beginning.

I think my extensive use of multimedia content has been instrumental in the blog's success. I've spent many many hours programming simulations to allow my readers to "easily" visualize quantum mechanical phenomena, and tried to connect these videos back to real work experiences and technology.

In most of my recent posts, I've been trying to incorporate more "newsy" things, rather than talking about old hat content. For example, my post about the Fermilab experiment.

Overall, I think my blog has improved dramatically since the beginning, and I've put quite a bit of work into it. I've frequently commented on other people's blogs (meaningful comments, not commenting for the sake of commenting.), self promoted well, had a variety of content, and adapted to my viewers. For all of this, I believe my blog deserves an A, though I don't think it's QUITE as good as the last evaluation.