I’ve often wondered how some people decide on the handle that they use for their online presence. I’d forgotten how mine came to be but reflecting on my first online foray brought it all back. Shewgirl, which always gets autocorrected to “Showgirl”.
In 2007 the State Library of Victoria offered a Web 2 program for all public library staff in Victoria. It was run by Yarra Plenty Regional Library on behalf of the State Library and hundreds of public library staff took part. The purpose of this was to have staff learn through play and familiarise themselves with the various Web 2 tools that were available at the time, such as photo sharing sites, blogs and wikis. YPRL staff assessed every participant’s progress and anonymity was encouraged to reduce apprehension.
I wanted to keep mine anonymous however still representative of myself in some way but came up blank with ideas. I couldn’t think of anything clever with my first name, surname or initials. I thought of things I liked (Bookgirl – taken; Pengirl – blah; Stationeryaddict – hmmm too long) then came up with Shoegirl. I was quite excited by this one but…it was taken. I was really put out that someone got to Shoegirl before me! Somehow I thought to adapt the spelling and so Shewgirl was born!
What’s the story behind your handle?
Monday, 2 January 2012
#blog12daysxmas 5 Becoming shewgirl
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7 comments:
Mine is pretty boring. Sharon and U for Uthmann.
Like Sharon, mine is my first name and last initials (thanks to double-barreled surname). However, it causes problems because I don't actually like being called "Fiona" by friends! FiWB (the alternative) just seems too short and not particularly expressive of who I am. Besides, I don't really like strangers calling me Fi. I like to offer that privilege to people once I think we'll be friends.
I did an blog post a while back about the Bonito Club...
http://wp.me/pkI9e-1Q
My handle on Twitter is @stephmcg which has been the first part of my hotmail address since 1997 and is short for Steph McGlinchey. Bookgrrl came about when I started a blog and stephmcg was taken. As my surname is not the easiest to spell, I decided upon something which was showed what I liked 'Book' and what I am 'grrl'- feisty and feminist!
My twitter avatar was just me trying to find some name that was plain, could be anyone, for every girl is bound to have shoes. It has led though to many assumptions of a certain foot attire fetish - which was really not the intent. For my blog, Girlwithshoes was taken. So taking things to an even more basic level, I added 'just'- that is 'simply a girl who has shoes'. Your average Jane Doe.
No big dramas with my preferred name, having blogged about its history back in June 2011.
When I first discussed my need for a screen-name with my uncle, he dubbed me and it stuck.
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