Assignment 3
Title:
Web presence Creation
Name: Emma Wilkinson
Student Number: 16621073
Unit Name:
Web Communications 101
Email Address:
emma.r.wilkinson@gmail.c
om
Date Submitted: 19/11/2012
Word Count:
1093
URL (if applicable):
http://emdesignsnow.yolasite.com/
By submitting this assignment, I declare that I have retained a suitable copy of this
assignment, have not previously submitted this work for assessment and have ensured that it
complies with university and school regulations, especially concerning plagiarism and
copyright.
__________________19/11/2012 Emma Wilkinson _________
Digital is always on, the web is always available we need to use it to our advantage. People
need to not be afraid or uncomfortable online but rather be cautious and understand what
being online actually means and where they have made a digital footprint as it lasts forever.
(boyd, 2008)Offline, people are accustomed to having architecturally defined boundaries.
Physical features like walls and limited audio range help people have a sense of just how
public their actions are. The digital world has different properties and these can be easily
altered through the development of new technologies, radically altering the assumptions that
people have when they interact online.
We are now offered a smorgasbord of web 2.0 applications to create an online presence with
and just as it is important to have an online presence so is the importance of choosing the
most appropriate one.
As I work as a freelance web and graphic designer on the side of my fulltime role an intranet
coordinator my web presence is vital as most of the people I am creating networks with will
Google my name. For this reason I keep a private web presence that is locked down to the
public and public web presence and have created on area where the nodes are joined
http://emdesignsnow.yolasite.com/
(boyd, 2008) Human Cognition has a limitation to how much social information it can
handle. A web presence needs to be quick concise and straight to the point.
Using Yolasite.com to create my main node, a free website builder I first chose one of the
templates offered to make the main look and feel and header and using HTML and CSS I
coded the main body area. I created a basic clean template consisting of a Header, Sidebar,
Content Area and Footer and to get around a navigation area. I have used a number of colour
pallets sourced from kuler.adobe.com that match the header I have been using in all of my
public web presence.
"The word blog is irrelevant, what's important is that it is now common, and will soon be
expected, that every intelligent person (and quite a few unintelligent ones) will have a media
platform where they share what they care about with the world." Seth Godin cited in (2008)
Blogging is seen as a more personal web 2.0 application. It is a place where a person can
share their thoughts and it is intended to be read by the public. I use this node as a less formal
platform to share thoughts about everything digital. It would not be appropriate for Facebook
or Twitter as it is has too much writing and would be lost in the news feeds.
“Facebook me” has become a daily phrase. While it is not the first social networking site it is
the biggest. The two main changes in the sites evolution News Feeds and Timeline caused the
same protest, exposure of what people wanted to keep private and for both Facebook had
similar responses that even though it was displayed differently what was being displayed was
public already. Even though people protested about the changes at the end of the day they did
not log off and when privacy features were launched, many concerns were allayed. For this
node I have not linked to my personal page rather a subpage to be able to connect with
strangers without having to add them as a friend.
Digital snacking is the way of life; we crave social media and love everything small which is
why twitter, with its 140 character limit, works. Although I have only started using this
platform I can see the benefit of it as it brings news headlines to the table quickly and in realtime. I can tweet about events I am attending so that other designers can join or network with
me.
Having an online portfolio is becoming the norm for most designers. Through web 2.0
applications and sites like Flickr and The Loop people can display their work quickly and
easily and show them to future clients with ease.
Selling yourself online is a great tool but without information about your professional life it is
pointless and this is where Linked In thrives. It not only offers a place for you to upload you
resume and work history but it allows you to network globally based and a place where
people can endorse you or your skills meaning you may receive a job offer that you did not
know existed.
Web 3.0 will bring the ability for computers to be able to scan what we are searching for and
understand our problem and seek out a solution based on inputs of data. For now my website
does not include anything like this but in the future the development of semantic web will be
able to be used so that clients can source my help with more ease by the computer
understanding that they are looking for a designer, it interfering with the search, choosing an
action such as sending my contact details which means an answer to their search. (BernersLee, 2001)Properly designed, the Semantic Web can assist the evolution of human
knowledge as a whole.
These changes mean that privacy laws and general laws relating to content use need to catchup and people need to be aware of their digital footprint because the data that is on the web is
what big companies use to produce a result. If you upload text, a video or anything else it not
only is associated with your name but will be what the public see when they Google your
name. In a recently publication by Forbes magazine Micha Kaufman, Contributor said:
(Kaufman, 2012) “Everyone is waking up to the fact that who we are, how we are viewed and
more importantly how we are judged is no longer just about the clothes we might wear or the
car we choose to drive. Our ‘selves’ are now digital and are spread wide and far across the
Internet, living and breathing in the social spheres of Twitter and Facebook to our personal
websites and Tumblr blogs. Professionals know that when someone looks at their LinkedIn
profile, they are judged not only by their skills and experience, but by the story they tell of
their career and even by the picture they choose.”
It is up to the person to choose how their online self is seen and must not be scared of what is
out there but rather embrace what being online means and use it to their advantage.
Reference List
Anonymous. (May 12 2011) Online Images Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/docview/867911400
Eileen Brown (December 19, 2011) Facebook Timelin privacy concerns deepen as rollout
begins
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/feeds/facebook-timeline-privacy-concerns-deepen-as-rolloutbegins/4424
Solove, D., (2007). How the Free Flow of Information Liberates and Constrains Us, in The
Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor and Privacy on the Internet.
Available: http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/dsolove/Future-ofReputation/text/futureofreputation-ch2.pdf
Tama Leaver (2007) ‘It’s a Small World After All: From Wired’s Minifesto to the
Twitterati’, Tama Leaver dot Net, March 11.
Available:http://www.tamaleaver.net/2007/03/11/its-a-small-world-after-all-from-wiredsminifesto-to-the-twitterati/
Susannah Breslin (2012 13 November) Stop Reinventing Yourself And Start Selling Yourself
Retrieved from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/susannahbreslin/2012/11/13/stop-reinventing-yourself-and-startselling-yourself/