au revoir.

As the semester comes to a close, so does my IEM blog.  I hope you have learned some valuable information about integrative environmental management in the policy process.  This final blog entry is a farewell with some insights on my experience investigating IEM throughout this semester.

End of the road

Stats to date:

9 Blogs (including this one)

188 page views

0 Followers (thought we had figured out how to follow each other (the class), turns out we hadn’t.)

Zero Comments.

What have I learnt?

Firstly, my blog was not very popular. Perhaps I should have spent more time working out how to make it appear on page one of Google?  With or without any comments at least I still feel like I’ve been on an IEM journey of discovery.

Secondly, this is my first EVER blog.  Let me tell you, I have re-written this thing about four times over and I finally feel like I can write about a serious topic in a conversational tone.  All those years in undergrad learning to write scientific reports and at postgrad level, they want you to blog?!

Thirdly, there are people out there who Google IEM?! Mostly from the USA, but I also had people visit my page from Germany, the UK, and South Korea.  It’s nice to think at least 20 people from abroad have checked out my blog.

Loves my IEM blog

My advice to you

Blogging is not easy at first and like I said before, it took me some time before I felt confident writing about IEM in a conversational tone.  The best thing you can do is try and make regular blog posts.  At least 1 blog every 1-2 weeks, this way it keeps you practicing those blog skills on a regular basis.  One of the beauties of the blog is if you want to make a change to something you have written or update it, you can..!  Remember not all blogs are created equal, you may find some being quite theory focused while other are based on a media piece, or something that interests you.  You may write long blogs or average sized blogs.  I tried to stick to average sized blogs and wrote longer ones for articles that I found particularly interesting. Also, remember that pictures are good! They help people visualise so make sure you include a few to keep people interested in your blog.

This blog has helped me to be able to identify IEM in current news pieces.  Believe it or not, it has! And it makes reading environmentally focused media pieces much more enjoyable to read.  The fact that the assignment is based over the entire semester does help to balance the work load, so remember to keep up with the blog writing!

Anyway, I’ve had my say, I hope you’ve enjoyed the journey as much as I have. 

Au revior.

Liza