Personal Website + Blog Exercise
Assignment
Choose a few personal websites + blogs below, and examine them in relation to the questions below. Jot down your answers. Then, we'll discuss!
Your goal is get a sense of what the key elements of a personal website + blog are, why professionals are creating personal websites + blogs, and what you want to emulate in terms of style, content, format, etc. This will help you design your own website + blog and understand why we're doing so.
Personal Websites + Blogs
- Academic:
- Ryan Cordell (Info Science Prof.)
- Jonathan Reeve (DH + English Grad Student)
- Ben Schmidt (DH + History Prof.)
- Amanda Visconti (DH Lab Director)
- Chelcie Juliet Rowell (DS Librarian)
- Professional:
- Sarah Chang (Media Startups)
- Orestis Georgiou (Tech Research)
- Rhiannon Navin (Author)
- Gilbert Simon (Healthcare)
Questions
- Which websites / blogs do you like / not like? What parts appealed / did not appeal? Why?
- Ethos
- What impression do these websites / blogs give of their respective creators? How do they give that impression?
- Why create a personal website / blog? How is it helpful to the creator? Are there any drawbacks to having a personal website / blog?
- Genre
- What are the key characteristics of a personal website? How do we recognize a personal website when we see one?
- What info is in an "About" / "Bio" statement? Start thinking about what you will include in yours, the style / tone you will adopt, etc.
- Quickly skim a couple of blog posts. What are the defining characteristics of a blog post? Does blogging / writing for the web require a certain writing style, format, etc.?