My thoughts after a few rounds

So, I’ve been writing this blog for a bit over a month now.  I think I’ve been pretty disciplined, trying to write as often as I can.  Of course it’s hard when you have essays to write and pubs to visit (all for research purposes for this blog, of course…).

Let’s face it, I have plenty of material – there are many pubs, bars and clubs on which I am still keen to share my experiences, insights and opinions.

But it certainly has been challenging trying to write regularly.  Especially on the blog theory aspects such as niche analysis, web design,  comment cultures and licensing.

I’ve never really been one to explore the Internet, I only do what I know (which happen to be the stereotypical uni student applications: Facebook, email, online news etc etc).

So writing a blog and writing about blogging were both pretty new concepts to me.

However, I think reflecting on blogging itself has helped a little with creating Uni Night.

Thinking about my niche audience has made writing my reviews easier by forcing me to think about who I am actually writing for; what they would want to know and how I should get that information across.

This helped with my design choices; deciding which template would best suit my audience and topic.

Writing about blog theory also made me think about copyright for my blog and whether it is necessary.  I would not have considered this at all if I hadn’t explored the concept in my blog.

Although, I’m not sure how interested my target audience would be in reading about blogging itself.  It certainly was difficult to make the web theory posts fun and exciting when the rest of my blog was about nights out!

The fact that I haven’t done IT since primary school, rendering anything that exceeds the basic level of software/technology over my head, made starting a blog fairly intimidating.

I am therefore extremely thankful for the WordPress.com platform.

Its straightforward set up has been really easy to navigate.  I have enjoyed experimenting with design, especially choosing themes and widgets for my page (I had never heard of a ‘widget’ when I started this blog so I feel I’ve come a long way!).

I would have liked a bit more design choice, in fact this has been my only issue with WordPress.com.  But it’s not a big deal.  If I really wanted more freedom I could have invested in a hosting company and bought my own domain name, rather than choose WordPress (which, on the plus side, is free and easier).

Blogging on this platform has made the process less difficult and demanding.  Being able to write about something I enjoy has also helped make the experience fun.  Well, most of the time.

I wouldn’t mind a few more/any comments that aren’t spam! I guess I could have put more effort into marketing my blog to increase traffic to my site.

I could have tried to make it more ‘Search Engine Optimal‘, that is ‘improving the volume or quality of traffic to a Website from search engines’ (ScrubTheWeb.com, SEO) by adding more searchable titles, keywords and tags as well as creating relationships with other sites.

Alternatively I could have shared my blog with more friends and family (that is, people who aren’t my mum) and relied on word of mouth for more hits.

Maybe I’ll get on this once all the essays are in.

Because I just might keep posting on Uni Night (probably more so about pubs than blog theory…in fact definitely more about pubs than blog theory!).  As I mentioned earlier, I have an array of material from which to draw.

And researching for this blog isn’t too much of an ordeal.

But is it worth it if no one’s reading? Yeah, I think it is.  After all, the more you practice, the easier it gets.

This blog is also for me as well as my audience.  It lets me record my university experiences; the places I have discovered and the amazing nights I have had in the city of Melbourne and its suburbs.

Plus, I think I would miss the feeling of satisfaction I get when I finish a post and hit the ‘Publish’ button.

This quote from writer Thomas Mallon (cited in Geert Lovink, “Blogging, the Nihilist Impulse”, Zero Comments, 6) sums up my thoughts nicely:

There comes a point where, like a marathon runner, you get through some sort of ‘wall’ and start running on automatic.  Of course, there are always days when I hate writing the thing.  Who needs it?  I’ll ask myself; but I’ll do it anyway.

So, cheers to another round of Uni Night.

To the d-floor

The Prince Alfred Hotel

Uni night is: Wednesday

I am aware that less than I month ago I raved about Pugg Mahones Carlton as ‘the ultimate uni night pub‘.

I am certainly not going to take that back in this post, but I must admit I find myself a little tempted to label PA’s likewise.

I know, big call.

But I should point out that PA’s provides students with a different uni night.  I wouldn’t so much recommend the Prince Alfred for a quiet night out like I did Puggs.

In my opinion, this pub doesn’t really have value as a ‘sit down with a few beers and a few mates and chat’ pub.  This is not to say you can’t do this at PA’s.  There are tables and bar stools and a beer garden (but note that ‘smoke garden’ would be a more appropriate term for this area) upstairs, plus pool tables downstairs to provide the bona fide pub experience.

But this is not why most uni students trudge down to the corner of Grattan and Bouverie Streets (yes, you are not mistaken, this is pub is literally located right outside Melbourne Uni) every Wednesday night.

For me, and my fellow university residence students, PA’s is all about the dancefloor.

It may be sticky from a few spilled beverages.

It may be sweaty.

It may be so packed with tipsy uni students that moving your feet is a challenge in itself.

But this is why we love it.

PA’s is packed every Wednesday of the university teaching periods, almost without fail.  What better environment for the student who ‘doesn’t really dance’ to blend into a crowd and the one who is one who is happy to show off his/her array of moves to an appreciative crowd alike?

It helps that the DJ plays a good mix of songs, ranging from the latest hits that one might hear on Fox FM or even Triple J, to the old favourites.  I had an inspired dance sesh at PA’s last Wednesday night which got even better when the DJ whipped out Passion Pit’s ‘Little Secrets’ followed by Madonna’s ‘Like A Prayer’.

The Wednesday playlist always ends with Semisonic’s ‘Closing Time’, which is bound to stir the crowd to place their arms around each other and sway while screaming out the lyrics.

Note: the DJ takes requests.

Drink wise, PA’s doesn’t offer a lot of deals apart from $5 wet pussy shots (definitely worth a try) and cheap-ish jugs of beer.

But if you want to experience the epitome of dirty d-floors, vital to any big uni night, PA’s is the place.  Jump in there with the sweaty, sticky crowd, request your song and get dancing.

It’s the best way to blow off some steam and get rid of some uni stress.

My shout!

I faced a dilemma when I started up this blog.

Well truthfully, two dilemmas.  The first being which pub to review first – Puggs or PA’s? – both equally awesome uni night establishments (that reminds me, must get around to doing the PA’s piece soon…)

My second dilemma, possibly a little bit more important that my first, was whether or not to attach a Creative Commons license to Uni Night.

Basically, do I want to shout my ‘intellectual property’ to the public sphere, for people to share, copy or use?  Or do I want to keep the copyright protection my site automatically acquires?

Decisions, decisions.

Maybe first I should explain what Creative Commons actually is.

Most simply put, CC is a set of licenses for enabling free culture.

Free culture, according to CC c0-founder Laurence Lessig, refers to things created outside copyright culture, including peer production and amateur works created for the love not the cash, with no intention of becoming professional.

Sounds like this blog, which I would say I created for the love of pubs.

To elaborate, the purpose of  CC is to deal with all creative works protected by copyright, that is ‘text, audio, pictures and video of any subject, in any format’ (Fioretti, “The case for and against Creative Commons” on Techradar.com).

The project encourages authors ‘to put their works into a commons‘ (Fioretti) so others can share, remix, and/or ‘use [them] commercially’ (Creative Commons website).

The CC website came about in 2002 to counter new copyright laws which caused works to become copyrighted automatically.  That is, if you don’t to do anything to own your work, it is copyrighted from the moment it is made (CC video, “Get Creative“).

So, if I choose not to attach a CC license to my blog, it will be protected by copyright.  No one will be able to copy it, use it or share it without my permission.

CC saw a problem with this – how can you know the author’s intent for their creative work when it is automatically copyrighted? What if they don’t mind sharing it with others? (“Get Creative”).

From "Get Creative"

The project therefore decided to ‘work alongside copyright‘ to allow authors to modify their copyright terms to best suit their needs and intent (CC website).

Surely this rationale to bring work into the public domain is appropriate for creative works on the internet such as blogs.  After all, Web 2.0 is about engaging with other ‘produsers’ and creators of user generated content.

So at the moment I’m leaning towards getting a CC license for Uni Night.  I can definitely see a few pros:

• Being able to share my work with fellow bloggers and internet users, certainly my intent for Uni Night
• The potential for collaboration
• Encouraging free culture, mainly the idea of creating ‘for the love, not the cash’
• The opportunity to choose the right type of license for my works, not just accept a copyright license

And so on..

However, I am aware that the CC project still has some weaknesses.

It has been suggested that ‘CC doesn’t fight copyright, it just puts a nice, much friendlier face on it’.  That is, the project still ascribes to the notion of placing property rights on creative works.  This ‘unfairly favours the creators of culture over the consumers’, as only authors can decide what can be done with their work (Fioretti).

Another common criticism is that CC is essentially a ‘legal computer product’ run by lawyers and technicians.  To fulfill its creative purposes, the website really should be organised by authors and creators of works  (Eldred, cited in Garcelon, “An Information Commons? Creative Commons and Public Access to Cultural Creations”, New Media and Society, 1313).

CC has also been labeled confusing because there are too many licenses and many authors simply don’t understand why they would need one (Fioretti).

This, coupled with the fact that majority of the CC-licensed works only appear online, making them ‘irrelevant in places where…internet access is absent‘, means that CC licenses aren’t widely recognised.  Indeed, Fioretti suggests it can be ‘potentially risky’ to use them ‘outside western countries’.

While these cons complicate my choice, I think the strengths of CC outweigh its shortcomings.

The whole idea of blogging is to share your thoughts, ideas and knowledge with fellow web-users; to link to others’ works and comment on them; to use them in your own blog and share them with your audience.

If this is the aim of CC – to encourage free culture – then I am all for it.

Pub forum #1

Up for a late night snack?

The Intersection Cafe

Uni night is: every night of the week

The Intersection Cafe is notorious among college students at Melbourne Uni as the best place for a late night feast.

Intsy’s (also known as Smiley’s, however as a St Hilda’s College kid I like to discourage that) provides a variety of greasy, fatty food, perfect after a few (or a lot of) beers, including:

• $2.50 slices of pizza
• hot chips
• dim sims
• potato cakes
• and souvas

It’s open til the wee hours of the morning (3am) and is situated on the corner of Lygon and Elgin streets, conveniently located within walking distance of an array of uni pubs, including Puggs, PA‘s (The Prince Alfred Hotel) and the Clyde.

Important to note if you’re too tired to wander down after a big night out: Intsy’s also delivers.

Blue Waterfall

This is an interesting drink I stumbled upon on a random night out in the city with uni friends.

It is called the Blue Waterfall.

You can get it at the Melbourne Central Lion Hotel (located on level 3 of Melbourne Central shopping centre, next to Hoyts cinema).

It is a must try.

If you’re not sold, check out the drink recipe

BYO comments

In this post I’d like open the floor to my readers.

Academic Daniel Solove wrote that ‘a blog post can inspire some fascinating discussions…It is a form of instant feedback I rarely receive when I publish an article.’ (“How the Free Flow of Information Liberates and Constrains Us” in The Future of Reputation, 20)

This inspired me to ask you, my readers, to comment on my posts!  Your observations would be great for the feedback purposes mentioned by Solove, but also to give my blog a few more perspectives.

So I’m throwing it out there to anyone with comments to add or suggestions to give re pubs I have already reviewed or other awesome uni pubs: please contribute to my page!  As I said in one of my earlier posts, who better to introduce you to the uni nightlife than those who have experienced it?

Use this post (and my others, of course) to tell me about your uni nights:

• Do you have a favourite pub?
• Or a drink deal you look forward to every week?
• Or a story from an epic night out?

Also, let me know if my information is out of date or if I’ve made a mistake (hopefully this doesn’t happen..).  I saw this on one of the blogs I mentioned in an earlier post: Ten Dollar Meals In Melbourne.

Some comments on the post “Cheap Drinking Spots Around Melbourne” informed the blogger that some of his information might be ‘a bit outdated’.  Some of the pubs mentioned had closed down.

The blogger replied to these comments as follows:

Folks, I’m happy to update this list with any of your recommendations/removals.
I agree, it’s a pretty old list, some are my own observations, plenty came from friends too – and no doubt there are now things on it that are now out of date.
Thanks for the helpful comment about Club UK – you’re absolutely right, have now updated.
If you want to let me know which ones have closed down, I’ll take them off the list.

This type of constructive commenting is what I am after.

Unfortunately comments are not always this useful.  Some posts (albeit not too many) just attract provocative observations from readers.

I was hoping to give you an example of one of these aggressive comment threads but I couldn’t find one that related to this blog!  Funnily enough people don’t get too fired up about pubs and drinks!

Media and internet theorist Geert Lovink says that blogs ‘create communities of like-minded people‘ (this makes sense, considering most blogs are pitched to a niche, which I explained in an earlier post..).  He argues that blogs ‘are characterised by a culture of desired affiliation’.  This means bloggers generally do not try to ‘foster public debate’.

Maybe this is why I had so much trouble finding an aggressive comment thread.  The readers who commented on the “Cheap Drinking Spots Around Melbourne” post were more constructive than critical.  They understood that they shared a common interest with the author and as such sought affiliation with him/her rather than conflict.

Comment threads on blogs should be used like this: as a public sphere for discussion.  Observations from readers as well as bloggers could be useful for gathering information on niche subjects.  In their article on media participation Russel, Ito, Richmond and Tuters described this:

Blogs are another kind of collective intelligence in which individuals pool their fact-finding capabilities to gather knowledge that can challenge the authority of the professional press. (“Culture: Media Convergence and Participation” in Networked Publics, 46)

However, Lovink notes it is much more common for blogs to attract ‘zero comments‘ than to inspire public discussions.  This, he argues, is ‘the limit of blogging’ (Blogging, the Nihilist Impulse).

There are so many blogs out there on the Long Tail it is unlikely that most blogs would have a large enough audience to attract lots of comments.

Solove put it this way: ‘just because you now have the power to reach a worldwide audience doesn’t mean that anybody will be reading.’ (20)

There’s also the issue of ‘netiquette‘, ie ‘the etiquette of cyberspace’ (Shea, “The Core Rules of Netiquette“).  Internet users are expected to follow this set of rules for behaving appropriately online.  People’s reputations are on the line.  Lovink suggests it’s often ‘safer to post [clashing comments] on your own blog’ than comment the blog you disagree with.

‘Überblogger’ Dave Winer does not think comments add much to blogs.  He argues the value of blogs is that ‘you can say what you want without being shouted down.’  He suggests readers’ observations interfere with the natural, personal nature of posts. (Scripting News).

I’m not sure I agree with Mr Winer.  Your insights are just as valuable as mine.  They add different personalities to my posts.

So please, BYO comments.  I don’t want to be one of Lovink’s examples of a blog with zero comments.

When uni students venture into the city…

Automatic/The Pub at Crown

Uni night is: Monday

While not strictly uni pubs, Automatic and The Pub have some excellent Monday night deals for the students who are willing to leave the comfort of their local haunts and venture across the Yarra to Southbank.

Start the night at the Automatic Cafe with half price woodfire pizzas and a few pots of beer and cider, also half price.  Grab a table outside with full view of the river and Crown Casino fire towers, which erupt every hour when it gets dark.

In my opinion, you can’t go past the tandoori chicken pizza and an ice-cold pot of Heineken.

Autos is situated in Crown Casino at 8 Whiteman Street, Southbank.

Then…

After enjoying some fine and reasonably priced dining, venture inside the Crown Entertainment Complex and head up the escalator to Level 1.  Past the sports bar, Steakout and right next to the Village Cinemas is The Pub at Crown.

Monday nights have fantastic drink deals from 9pm onwards.  Jãgerbombs, daiquiris, house wine, sparkling wine and pilsners of local draught beer are all $5.  Bargain!  Who said a night out at the casino had to be pricey?

After a few beverages, hit the d-floor and dance the night away to a DJ or the very best karaoke tunes belted out by pub patrons.

Or if you’re game enough (doesn’t matter if its only the $5 Jãgers giving you a bit of liquid courage) jump on the stage and give karaoke a go yourself.  Seriously, think about.  I have only ever done karaoke twice in my life and both times were at this venue.

So while Autos and the Pub do not specifically cater to students, their Monday night deals are unbeatable.  So be brave!  Venture into the city and spend the night at Crown, just for something a little bit different.

Before I go, I’ll leave you with this clip.  Hopefully it inspires you to ask the Pub bartender to have a try..

Capturing the pub aesthetic

When I started this blog I was pretty set on choosing a design template which would capture the pub aesthetic.  I think I’ve succeeded.

When you’re reading my blog I want it to remind you of the local pub.  My local pub is Pugg Mahones Carlton, which I reviewed in my previous post, The ultimate uni night pub.   You can see below that the colour scheme and basic layout of blog matches well with the Puggs interior:

Quentin (by Mike Purdy)

My chosen template, Quentin, shares the old fashioned appearance of the Puggs decor.  This is particularly clear in the fonts, the graphics dividing posts and colour scheme of maroon and cream.  If you look closely at the dinner menus in the photo of the Puggs interior, it resemles the layout of the Uni Night page.

I would have liked to further replicate the Puggs aesthetic by adding a touch of Irish green to my blog, but unfortunately the WordPress platform doesn’t allow its users to have much control over page design.

Well, technically it does.  WordPress users can edit the CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) of their blog, that is how they would like HTML elements to be displayed on their pages (w3schools.com, CSS Introduction).   This goes way over my head.  I write about pubs after all!  Don’t expect too much from me!

So, while I would appreciate a little more design freedom for my blog, the process of choosing my page’s aesthetic would have to be very simple.  Like choosing the look of a MySpace page simple.

But I’m not sure I want my blog to resemble my old MySpace profile.  If I had the choice, I think I’d rather the clean, minimalistic templates offered by WordPress.

According to web theorist danah boyd, this style would probably be more suited to majority of this blog’s audience – those in their late teens to early twenties who see the MySpace look as ‘gaudy, immature, and “so middle school”‘.  Teens, she suggests, favour the ‘clean look of Facebook, whose template resembles the uncluttered WordPress aesthetic (Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace).

This minimalist style is preferred because of its ‘clean, efficient visual communication for an age drowning in media’, says Liu in his book The Laws of Cool (199).

This ties into the notion that ‘form follows function‘ (Louis Sullivan, in Liu 198).  That is, while design should make a page look good, it is more important that design makes a page functional.

I hope I have achieved this on my page!  I have tried to make it as easy to navigate as possible by including sub-headings in my review posts and by using widgets – ‘small applications that provide functionality and content online’ (Widgets Lab, What are Widgets?).

My widgets can be found on the right-hand side of my page.  They include:

• a brief blurb about my page
• an image
• a ‘Recent Nights Out’ section for recent posts
• a ‘Pub Crawl in Full’ section for all my posts
• a list of my post categories
• tags to make it easier to find posts on particular topics
• links to pages mentioned in my blog or appropriate to my blog

The links under the ‘Places Reviewed’ heading should be of particular use to my niche, listing each of the pubs I have looked at in Uni Night.

I hope the design choices I have spoken about in this post have made my page easy on the eye,  but also easy to use.  I’d like to apologise now for the lack of dancing cats, starry backgrounds and word art fonts, but I’m just not a fan.

The ultimate uni night pub

Pugg Mahones Irish Pub Carlton

Uni night is: every night of the week

I can think of no better way to start this blog than by reviewing my favourite uni pub.  This pub encapsulates the uni night experience, as every night is uni night at the Irish pub Pugg Mahones Carlton.

It is known for accommodating students and uni functions, something I have certainly appreciated as a resident at a University of  Melbourne college.  I have attended countless events at Puggs (including a Pirate Party just last Thursday) and am proud to say I had my first uni night in Melbourne there.

Since that night all the way back in O week last year, my relationship with Pugg Mahones has blossomed.  I feel like I’m cheating on Puggs when I walk into other Irish pubs.  I miss Puggs dearly when I don’t visit it for a week.  I have withdrawals if I don’t have my fix of $4 pints on Tuesday or Thursday nights.

Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating.

But I certainly rate Puggs as the ultimate uni night pub.

Where?

On Elgin street just a blog from Lygon. Pugg Mahones Carlton is a 10-15 walk from Melbourne Uni and its residences.  For those who don’t live at the uni, just jump on the 1 or 8 trams from anywhere on Swanston street in the city and get off at the corner of Elgin or Lygon.

The pub

According to its website, Pugg Carlton ‘mixes a traditional Irish pub a contemporary bar feeling‘.

It certainly looks like a traditional Irish pub, with a large bar fitted with Guinness taps (as well as other local, international and boutique beers), its green decor and Irish knick knacks, which adorn the walls.

Downstairs is decked out with comfy booths, stools and tables where patrons can sit around and chat or take in some folk music, either performed live or played over the speakers (keep an ear out for the Pogues’ Dirty Old Town, it’s certainly a favourite at Puggs).  This is where meals are served.

Alternatively, head upstairs for the dance floor and less traditional music.  This is generally the function room and is not always open, depending on numbers at the pub.  I have had many a good night on the Puggs d-floor, dancing and singing to the latest hit songs.

Be warned: it can get hot and sticky up there, especially on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I would advise against wearing nice shoes, as it is not unusual for fellow patrons’ drinks to end up on the floor.  And definitely no heels.

So, Puggs is effectively a pub downstairs and a club upstairs; a good venue a few quiet ones or a big night out.

What does uni night have to offer?

While Tuesday and Thursday nights stand out as the best nights for uni students, there is something on every night at Puggs.  Here is a weekly run down:

Click to enlarge, deals subject to change

$10 jugs of Carlton, VB and Bulmers are also now avaliable on Tuesdays from 9pm til close.

To keep up with changing deals I would recommend adding Pugg Mahones Carlton as a friend on Facebook.  They update regularly!

In my opinion you can’t go past $12.50 steak or parma and chips (both top pub meals) and $4 pints on Tuesdays or Thursdays for the best value.

What else?

As well as its regular deals, Puggs is known for its epic St Patrick’s Day celebrations which begin at 7am with breakfast and a pint and continue long into the night.

Every year the entire pub (upstairs and down) is filled with a sea of green-clad patrons, some with Guinness top hats and tattoos, most with a pint in hand.

So popular is Patty’s Day at Puggs that queues for the pub are known to stretch back to the end of the block..until after 11pm.

Also worth considering is joining the Guinness 100 Pint Club (aka ‘happiest club in the world’, according to the Puggs staff).

Join up and get your membership card swiped with every pint you buy.  Reach 100 points and you’re officially in.  There’s no time limit and, should you complete the challenge, your name with forever adorn the Puggs honour wall.

Just before I finish up, I should mention that it is tradition to finish a night off at Puggs by getting a late night snack at the Intersection Cafe (AKA Intsy’s).  It is conveniently located block from Puggs (on the corner of Lygon and Elgin) and a favourite of most uni students.

What better way to finish off the night with a nice greasy piece of $2.50 pizza?