When people see you, think of you, and relate to you, words and images and feelings come to mind. That is your personal brand.
Another is that I wish to uncover my personal brand.
I’m not sure that a single personal brand exists. My impression is that people are so diverse in their personality, likes and dislikes, points of view, etc, that how someone may view me would certainly be quite different from how another may see me, even if it was just from an online perspective.
To average all these perceptions in some way, and come up with a categorisable description, strikes me as being similar to finding an average letter for the alphabet.Casting all ridiculousness aside, I approached this challenge from as wide a perspective as possible.
I didn't conduct a survey on my commentsphere. Surveys are difficult to devise, and their results are notoriously poor reflections of what they are meant to convey.
Acknowledgement
My choice is to acknowledge my commentsphere for who they are – a wonderful group of people who, over the past few months, have helped to shape the blogger I am becoming. The participants in my commentsphere around newmiddle-earth.blogspot.com have been patiently keeping me on track.
Over the period from early May 2008 until today they have provided me with much pleasurable discourse and I have learnt a lot from them. You may appreciate the pattern their names make in the Wordle blimp at the top of this post. Here they are in alphabetical order of first name:
Amazing comments
My precious commenters have provided me with an amazing 13, 833 words in comments! I sifted the comments, gathered in a single text file, removing all small words such as and and to, the and but, etc. The key words left behind were made prominent by their frequency, and are displayed in a Wordle blimp shown here:
This week's Web 2.0 Wednesday assignment from Michele Martin is to create an icebreaker. Created specifically as an introduction to Wellington City this slideshow uses a 360degree panoramic series of 15 pictures taken from the summit of Mt Victoria, Wellington.
Tangi-te-Keo is the resting place of the manuwairua, Te Keo, of the unfortunate taniwha, Whātaitai (see A Taste of Middle-earth).
The photos were loaded as a photostream in Flickr, made into a slideshow, and the resulting embed html pasted into this post
Update 29 Aug 2008 (Thanks to Virginia Yonkers!) Participants in groups of twos or threes view the slideshow, then share with each other something about a geographical feature of where they come from (island, hill, mountain, river, sea, lake etc.) If they are from Wellington they share something of what they know of Wellington.
The traditional Māori welcome to a marae is called a pōwhiri. Sometimes the wero is made before a pōwhiri. This video shows the wero, an ancient Māori challenge used to determine whether manuhiri (visitor) comes in war or in peace. The taki is the dart which is laid in front of the manuhiri who must lift it carefully. If the taki is lifted by its handle, this indicates that the manuhiri does not come in peace.
The people of Taranaki do not wish to incite war. They lay a Raukura (white feather) instead of a taki. The Raukura is a symbol of peace.
The wero is, of course, a symbolic ceremony where both the manuhiri and the people of a marae can demonstrate their peaceful intensions at a Māori welcoming.
I take this opportunity to welcome you as a commenter to come in peace onto my blog. I offer you the invitation to comment and in so doing, lift the Raukura.
Michele Martin's Web 2.0 Wednesday asks us to tell something unique about where we live. The above photograph (click photo for enlargement), looking to the east across the harbour, shows the famous Wellington cable-car that travels up from the heart of the City in Lambton Quay to the Botanical Gardens near the suburb of Kelburn in Wellington. Looking across the highrise buildings of Wellington CBD we see Mt Victoria. Tucked behind the populated suburbs of Oriental Bay and Roseneath lies Miramar Peninsula. At the other side of this natural harbour is the town and resort of Eastbourne. The Rimutaka hills rest at the horizon.
In the suburb of Miramar is the now famous Weta Workshop, co-owned by Peter Jackson who has a home in Miramar.
A Māori fable has it that the harbour was once a coastal lake where two taniwha lived. Their exploits gave rise to the natural harbour that is Wellington Harbour (Te Whanganui-a-Tara). At the top of Mt Victoria is Tangi-te-Keo, a place that took its name from. . . well, you can read the poem I wrote about it for yourself:
Adventures In The Sun
On a beautiful South-Sea island long ago Two taniwha lived in a shingled coastal lake, Each day they planned where each they longed to go And kept a friendship fine as friends could make; This affection as long as they'd remember Was wide as wind and deep as steepest hollow, But Ngake of a fearsome eager mettle With courage broad and heart a burning ember Caused Whātaitai a weariness to follow And wrought his thought and would his sense unsettle.
His afternoons were often spent in yearning While tears of loneliness dropped to the sand As Ngake stirred impatient by his learning Of crashing waves beyond the southern land; He often longed to swim beyond the reach Where he believed the sea swelled large and deep, His lashing tail would smash the rocks to silt Beneath the craggy shore where sea sprays breach, While Whātaitai sank in shallows fast asleep To dream of precious days their friendship built.
In wretched depths the awful thrashing thundered As yet the angered monster raged a fit, And far above the hills the seagulls wondered What evil power possessed Earth's deepest pit; The taniwha had often mused with interest The plan they would employ to burst these banks, And, O, to wriggle free from yonder rocks And span dividing ragged heights abreast To ride on waves with Tangaroa's ranks And leave the dismal stagnant watery stocks.
All at once bold Ngake had decided To end his tortured term in nature's dungeon, All the years impatiently resided Had set his wrathful spirit in high dudgeon; So plunging to the North he swam the lake And plummeting to depths as far he could, Binding all his fury with his anguish, Nursing to extremes his wildest mood, Lashing his tail fiercely fit to break He furrowed South to execute his wish.
The North wind had doubled his intention As in the wake it gathered up a storm, Lightning seared and held the air in tension, Then shook the rocks as if they would re-form; But as the thunder died amid the blast, And still the tempest raged towards the shore, A louder rumble echoed round the bay While Ngake drained his power to its last, And hellish tremors shook the rocks once more As the divide inexorable gave way.
At this the tender taniwha awoke And popped his gentle head from slumber's pool And saw his friend tear free as morning broke To bathe his tail a bleeding broken tool; But as Whātaitai watched him swim beyond, With fresh horizons shimmering in the mist, He pondered on some treasured moments rare, His heart roused by an age-long friendship-bond, Lamented at the chances he had missed And the lost opportunities to share.
Whātaitai loved to swim the warmest shallows With all their pleasure coves and shady crooks, To bask near where the water-lily mellows, Or steep in oozing sun-soaked mid-day nooks; Still he longed to swim with Ngake near him To keep his life's companion by his side, So he chose to follow, yet again, In search of what was once an idle whim, But knew nothing of the turning of the tide As water from the lake began to drain.
Up the swamps he started in an instant And thrashed his tail with all his beastly store, Then channelled with a resolution constant Towards the narrow strait that Ngake bore; So proud of his new vigour he diverted His direction to the jutting cliff beside, And crashed through rock and boulder in a storm That surely would be soon by Ngake's side: Alas this cruel energy deserted Poor Whātaitai's straining shuddering form.
For many years he stretched in grievous bondage Stuck fast within the debris by the tail, The more he tried to loosen this appendage The further he was shackled in the shale; Even at high tide his toil was futile, The windless days of sun sore seared his hide, The lisping ripples barely reached his flanks, The calmest days he relished were now vile, He feared the pitiless summer ebbing tide And rotten stench of kelp-strewn sun-parched banks.
At last came Nature's merciful reprieve, An earthquake struck and land and sea did heave And lifted poor Whātaitai clear the water, Then meted out a bloodless horrid slaughter; The winged manuwairua Te Keo Flew up to Matairangi knoll to weep For all the living Whātaitai had done; Then left the knoll at Tangi-te-Keo For Hawaiki of taniwha, to keep The memories of adventures in the sun.
photo by Nicolas Allan. Click to enlarge. From Tangi-te-Keo, overlooking Houghton Bay and Island Bay where I live, mid right.
My precious commenters have provided me with an amazing 13, 833 words in comments! I sifted the comments, gathered in a single text file, removing all small words such as and and to, the and but, etc. The key words left behind were made prominent by their frequency, and are displayed in a Wordle blimp shown here:
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