In the second week of class TAs conducted an in-lab exercise on “looking” wherein students were asked to divide into four groups of five and review the following web-sites. The group web-sites were carefully curated so that students would experience various formats and purposes. For example, each group has one musician, artistic or design ePortfolio that dealt with a specific discipline. Each group had various levels of ePortfolio success. As well, the ePortfolio’s in each group vary from full scroll to different content and section separations. All groups but one had a ‘resume’ section.
“LOOKING” WORKSHOP
In your groups, please take the time to experience the assigned web-sites.
Please follow the prompts below and be ready to present on your group’s web-sites.
Group 1:
Allison Geesey (Music, Penn State) – http://www.alisongeesey.com/
Evan R. Goodman (Architecture, Oregan) – http://www.evanrgoodwin.com/home
Michael Filimowicz (Interactive Arts and Technology prof, SFU) – http://www.filimowicz.com/
Paul de Guzman (Visual Artist) – http://www.pauldeguzman.com/
Group 2:
Veronica Balestino (Music, Penn State) – https://sites.psu.edu/veeeportfolio/
Sisi Chen (Fine Arts, LaGuardia) – https://lagcc-cuny.digication.com/sisi_chen_finearts_capstone/Intro/
Joshua Kuey (Web Design)- http://www.joshuakuey.com/index.html
Ann Shelton (Visual Artist)- http://www.annshelton.com/
Group 3:
Rebekah Mackley (Music, Penn State) – http://rebekahmackley.weebly.com/
Danielle Juneau (Design, Waterloo) – http://daniellejuneau.wix.com/watcv
Maggie Canning (Veterinary Studies, Auburn) – http://maggiecanning.wixsite.com/eportfolio
Mustafa Hulusi (Visual Artist) – http://www.mustafahulusi.com/
Group 4:
Kate S. Zimmerman (Music, Penn State) – http://katezimmerman.weebly.com/
Dakota Sumpter (Fine Art, Auburn) – https://dakotasumpter.com/
Jess Auerbach (Anthrophology PhD student, Stanford) – http://jess-auerbach.strikingly.com/
Jeremy Shaw (Visual Artist) – http://jeremyshaw.net/
GOALS
In your group, review your four assigned ePortfolios, with the goals of:
(a) determining what the conventions or norms are of this type of website, and
(b) describing the effect of the choices made by each ePortfolio’s author.
ASPECTS & GUIDING QUESTIONS
In achieving these two goals, your group should engage with the all of following aspects:
Aesthetic/Formal
What aesthetic and/or formal choices has each person made? What do these choices say about each person? How wide-ranging is the spectrum of aesthetic or formal choices—that is, do all the sites look roughly the same, or are they vastly different?
Self-Representation
How does each person represent themselves, both in a biographic statement (sometimes called “About” or “Bio”) and through the site as a whole?
Headings
What is notable about the heading and subheadings that are used? How does the organization of the site and the categories it uses contribute to your understanding of each person? How wide-ranging is the spectrum of heading and subheading choices—that is, are all the sites organized in roughly the same way, or are they vastly different? Is there a pattern as to who choose what kind of heading?
Structure
How is the site structured? How does the navigation work? What does this structure say about the person who has made the site? How does it work in various displays?
Content
How does the content of the text and images contribute to your understanding of the author?
At the end of today’s workshop, each person in the group must choose one aspect of the ePortfolios (aesthetic/formal; self-representation; headings; structure; content) to focus present on for an ePortfolio Presentation due Week 4 (January 30 & 31st). No two group members can focus on the same aspect of the ePortfolios; that is, all five aspects must be covered by all five members of your group. Presentations are expected to be 10 minutes, 12 minute max (you will be cut off!).