Digital Portfolio

Over the course of the next few weeks, I will be creating a website that I aim to use as my digital portfolio. While my law school applications are already in, I will use this for future internships in the area of media law. I hope to attend law school to study intellectual property law, specifically copyright law, and a digital portfolio will be a great asset when applying to jobs in the media field.

While my audience will primarily be legal professionals, my digital portfolio will provide a distinct “edge.” In addition, it will be very relevant to my future career goals that include developing clearer laws and policies for digital media and copyright. The jobs and internships that I hope to obtain will most likely be related to digital media, and it will be important to showcase my skills.

My three goals of my digital portfolio are:

            1. Showcase my resume, writing samples, and qualifications

            2. Highlight my ability to display information in a clear and concise manner

            3. Emphasize my ability to utilize technology in a an effective way

I plan to include the following:

            1. Resume

            2. Writing samples from my internship in Brussels, Belgium

            3. Photos from my New Zealand study away, Brussels study away, and my two summer internships for Congressman Steve Daines

           4. Photo slideshow, podcast, and video project from this class

           5. Video of my final speech for public speaking, if still available

           6. Prezi presentation for my Government and Business Economics research presentation

I found several designs that I liked and hope to mimic.

The first one, Create Pilates, is how I envision my home page. I like the simplicity with only a few words and an image.

 

On Paul Landon’s architecture portfolio, I liked how the menu button was visible on all the pages that you navigated through. By clicking it, the menu to the right would pop out with the exact same options that were seen from the home page.

The next digital portfolio by Michela Chiucini has a nice introduction before listing her works. As simplistic as I want my website design to be, I think it is important to have a brief “about me” section.

As awful as this next one looks, I am planning on using it for my overall layout. I like the simplicity of it, and with a new background picture and a brief welcome, I believe I can make it into a strong digital portfolio.

I like having miniature icons for social media. Although I doubt people will be tweeting or using Facebook to promote my digital portfolio, I want there to be links to other platforms that are small and tasteful.

  

 

Do You See What I See?

Digital Technology consumes our lives. From texting our friends constant updates to sending selfies throughout the day to updating our blogs, our Facebook pages, our Twitter accounts, and our Instagram profiles. Our lives consist of this constant “scrolling” as we scroll through website after website, social media platform after social media platform, trying to “connect” to those around us. Paul Virilio does very little to hide his disdain for what he perceives as the future of real human interaction.

When reading Part III of Open Sky, I could not help but think about how much technology has changed in recent years. I thought about Google Maps, which we discussed a little in class last week. Although you are certainly not experiencing culture through the 3 dimensional view of a street, you are able to see an entire city, without ever once leaving the comfort of your home. Virilio goes on to point out that technology is so advanced that it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between computer generated images and real ones.

One profound point that Virilio brought up was the difference between freedom of expression and freedom of perception. He asked, “are we free, truly free, to choose what we see? Clearly not. On the other hand, are we obliged, absolutely forced against our will to perceive what is first merely suggest then imposed on everyone’s gaze? Not at all!” (95). To what extent do we see what we want to see, and to what extent do we see what others want us to see? Especially with the increased use of technology, people give us the exact images that they want us to see. For example Instagram is filled with images that an individual selects to show off their life. They are giving their audience an image, but it is in a controlled setting that the audience is “obliged” to see. 

Less is More

In Part II of Virilio’s Open Sky, he discusses how technology and digital communications have evolved into this idea of “less is more.” We can think back to the original cell phones—the clunky boxes could barely fit into an average handbag. Today, it is all about sleek—the smaller, the thinner, the better. The same goes for any music device. I remember purchasing the iPod Nano when it first came out, and I remember thinking how small and fragile it looked. The Nano has gotten smaller since, and the iPod Mini, iPad, and iPad Mini have all emerged as top of the line products for Apple. Virilio asks the question, “less is more, but to what extent?” When does less become less, and when does more become more?

Beyond the physical size of the object, though, Virilio highlighted the decrease in time. We live in a remote control centered world, and we expect things to happen instantaneously. If my text does not send immediately or the Internet browser is not loading quickly, I get extremely frustrated. If I cannot reach the remote, then I do not change the channel. This concept of time and space has been completely altered by digital communication. Our patience has decreased, our expectations have increased, and all the while, our electronics get smaller and our television screens get bigger.

As our technology has changed, how have our expectations for the messages/content also changed? Do you think our attitudes towards technology are a result of the changes, or are the changes a result of our attitudes and expectations?