Online portfolios -- a few website reviews

Only four websites are investigated, but this was a helpful review of four portfolio websites. The matrix was especially useful.

This too, especially as it relates to Carbonmade.

Actually, that entire Design Droplets website is pretty cool. I just spent about an hour in a rabbit hole of design articles.

Do I HAVE to blog?

Don't get me wrong. I love blogs and blogging. I started a terrible MSN Communities site in 1999 because I thought people should hear what I had to say (which wasn't much). Later I moved to diary-x and posted faithfully for about 2-3 years, but I'd rather not talk much about the horror. Well, I guess it's pretty simple: I lost most of my posts to an irrevocably damaged website hard drive and corrupt back-up zip file. I moved to Blogger then Tumblr for a while but eventually the combination of Facebook and Twitter provided everything I needed and only required a sentence or two and a minute of my time. Pretty awesome.

I find myself looking longingly at my old Blogger site but tell myself that I just don't have the time. In the diary-x and Blogger days, I was a bored student working part-time with few hobbies. Now I'm working, in graduate school, married, a new puppy owner and finding a spare moment can be challenging. Microblogging is a better fit for my lifestyle. I'd rather participate in social media networks that don't require so much time and effort.

However, perhaps I'm ignoring an uncomfortable fact. Maybe I just don't have much to say anymore. This is particularly painful when I reflect on my enrollment in the New Media Studies program. I don't have anything to say about NMS? Really? Nothing has piqued my interest and inspired me to start generating and sharing content? The best I can do is a Facebook post about my puppy eating an eye shadow applicator?

I came across this post not long ago, which highlights 19 reasons why we should blog and not just tweet. I read #1 (Blogging demonstrates true commitment and passion to your industry that you really can’t fake long-term) and let out a huge sigh. Oh, I could have been one of those people with that long-term commitment to blogging. I had been doing it for over 10 years. So personally, this article was kind of a bummer.

Number five was equally interesting, but also from a professional standpoint. Most of Twitter is just linking to blogs and content on the open web...(be) the end product people are actually interested in. I couldn't agree more. In the workplace, we talk a lot about Twitter but measuring its results and translating it into business value is the highest priority. Who cares if we have 500 followers if they aren't doing anything with our content? Without a website or blog with interesting content to link to, tweets are mostly just noise. And with a website or blog, you can review visitor data to see how your campaigns on social media are increasing visitors or generating donations.

So I'm trying to get back in the saddle and I think this blog will be a good starting point. I hope to share some interesting stories from the workplace and the classroom, as well as links and news from other new media sources. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully I have more to say than I thought.

(I've decided to pick up where I left off with an NMS blog I started last year. There is some interesting content here that I think can help springboard my current blogging endeavors.)

Why a blog?

A blog is an appropriate technology for this project for many reasons. Visitors will return if they continue to see fresh content. Items you want to share don't always fit into 140 characters. It is important to have an informal place to share information, news and personal thoughts.

However, I think one particular aspect of a blog makes it a perfect fit for an online portfolio. A blog provides visitors an opportunity to connect with me on a personal level. My individual voice comes through much better in a less formal blog post than in the collection of professional and class projects I will list. There are likely hundreds of portfolio sites out there that list projects, resumes and ways to connect over email, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. However, what can really sell me to a potential employer is my unique voice and style that isn't necessarily translated by the banner ad I developed or email copy I produced. I think this voice too often gets watered down or even completely lost in the cacophony of projects and career summaries and bulleted lists of accomplishments. With a blog, I'm able to transmit my voice from the internet rooftops.