Tēnā koutou katoaWelcome to you all
The day 27 task is to write a post on the light we throw on our personal brand through comments.
Here is my post.
I chose my brand right at the start when I named my blog site, but there's a bit more to it than that.
Last year I published a book of sonnets entitled “Sonnets of Middle-earth”.
photo by Catriona Margaret Allan Dear
I thought of the name since I lived in Wellington where all the Lord of The Rings movies had been filmed, and of course Weta Workshop which is also centred in Wellington. Peter Jackson had already affectionately called Wellington Middle-earth so I thought that I’d borrow the name (after all, so did Jackson) from Tolkien.
When it came to thinking up a name for my blog, it was not difficult - Blogger in Middle-earth. I realised that there were relatively few people from New Zealand, let alone Wellington, to be found in the blogosphere. In fact it was only recently that blogging friend and co-commenter Sarah Stewart and I met - Sarah is from Dunedin, New Zealand.
I also decided to use the name Middle-earth in my signature. That caused a few comments just to ask about the name, and I still get a few now and again. I don’t always use it, but if I visit a blog for the first time, I put it in.
Māori is a national language of New Zealand. So I have made part of my branding the greetings and parting phrases of that language.
It has been good for me, for I was (and still am) not too well-versed on the Māori language. So by helping others learn something about an Australasian language new to them, I have learnt something too.
Ka kite anō
Spot ya
Posts
11 comments:
It's great to read a fellow NZ blogger and I like the way you gently weave maori language into your posts!
You might want to take a look over at http://nzedublogs.wikispaces.com/
which boasts a substanial list of NZ edubloggers and podcasters.
Looking forward to seeing more of your post come through my googlereader.
Ka kite ano!
Chrissy
I hadn't really thought (overtly) of branding when I started blogging although I know that I have made decisions that lead down that path. Perhaps I need to look a bit more closely at my blog - but also just need to post more there too!
Having only been in Aotearoa for 4 months, I am still finding my way round NZ bloggers. Thanks Chrissy for the link which I will check out. Have been finding that most edublogging activity tends to be at primary and secondary school level. Have not found many from tertiary institutions blogging which is interesting.
Cheers, Nigel (Easegill)
@Nigel - thanks for dropping in. It is good to be able to expand the known part of the blogosphere, especially when It means metting bloggers from new Zealand.
I make a point of visiting the blogs of commenters but in your case I got a Profole Not Available message. Is there something I'm not doing right?
Ka kite
@Chrissy - thanks for your appreciation of my beginner Maori. And thanks for the link too. I was surprised that I'd not come across many bloggers in NZ.
It is really heartening to find that there are a lot out there that I've not yet come across. I enjoyed dropping in to your interesting blog. The first post was dated 5 June 2008 - I had to look at the calendar. Rather than Stepping Back In Time, it was more like stepping into the future :-)
Hi Ken
Profile message seems to be from Google being too clever! I have a Google account on various apps but not a Blogger account. Google seems to be making assumptions about me!
My blog is now at http://easegill.edublogs.org where it goes through alternate periods of activity and stasis. Since we arrived in NZ at the start of the year we have also been keeping a family blog at http://easegill.wordpress.com
which gets more activity but not with an education focus.
After reading your profile, I should make a full disclosure and confirm that I am a member of the 'fellow Scot' brigade or tartan diaspora having been born and raised among Edinburgh's fair hills!
Cheers
Nigel
Hi Ken,
Just read your post on this comment. I didn't do it, in fact I'm feeling like it's time for me to move on to the next challenge with of course, a full reflection first, but your comments did make me think about my blog identity which was more of a spontaneous mistake than anything else.
I love yours Ken.
Bonnie
Tena korua!
@Nigel - Thanks for the links. I dropped in on your interesting blog 'order/disorder' and left a deposit there :-)
So, a fellow Scot, eh! Aye man, ye canna whack it! I spent 9 pleasant years living in Edinburgh as a student and teacher.
A beautifiul city - among the world's best I'd say. Chambers St was my haunt as a student. There and Bobbie's Bar up the road from Uni. Many a fine jar I've enjoyed in that cosy bar.
@Bonnie - thanks so much for your support! I have to admit that I'm finding the challenge a bit heady now!
It has been exciting but action packed with little time for foibles. I have tried to go with every beat but I often get the impression that I've missed a few too.
Identity and branding is not something I'd thought much about I have to admit.
N'mind. Just a few more Challenge days to go now.
Ka kite
I like you thought about language and culture as part of your blogger identity. But is that branding? I guess it is. It is a conscious decision to use your persona, or your vision of your persona, to reflect yourself online.
I have mixed feelings about this whole branding issue, though. I would rather it comes naturally, but that then goes against all the reflection we have been doing, right?
Take care
Kevin
@Kevin - dunno. Your blog name, Dogtrax, for instance, and the avatar you chose that was admirably appropriate does tend to say summat 'bout Kevin Hodgson. Sniff that.
Now I'm a fan of da Hobbits, an' am in der Middle-earth. Least ah think das where I am. Da natives are Maori.
Ka kite ano
True -- my avatar and username are compatible with each other. And there is a backstory to the name that my close friends know (nothing too dramatic) so I guess that gives my online persona a few levels.
Adios
Kevin
@Kevin - Vaya con Dios amigo
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