Website Creations and Social Media Effects

In this week's installment of our reading assignment, we read Chapters 10 and 11 in LOL...OMG! by Matt Ivester. Like I have discussed in previous blog posts, your internet reputation and portfolio is all in your control, and that is exactly what was discussed in those chapters. Chapter 10 encompassed how everything that you do online is your responsibility, and how we can do mental tests on our own personal pages to make sure that we are always staying in check. For example, one of the "tests" is called the "Offline Test." In essence, it asks if your posts online mimic how you behave in the real world, making sure that you wouldn't post anything that you wouldn't do/say in real life. In Chapter 11, Matt Ivester makes sure that we know our future reputation has a lot to do with what we are posting now. Future employers, future employees, etc. will one day be viewing your online profile, so it is up to you to make sure you are proud of it. There is nothing wrong with voicing an opinion or showing that you like to go out, but it should always be mindful and respectful; you never know who is going to be watching.

On our Monday class last week, we had the pleasure to have a video lecture and chat with a member of the Memphis, Tennessee Police Force. He discussed all of the amazing and innovative ways that technology and social media are affecting the way crime is being handled, how investigations are being led, and even how tickets are given out. For example, all police reports are now digital and readily available from the policeman's smartphone! It saves a lot of time, a lot of paper, and is easily accessible. Another amazing feature is that almost every cop car is equipped with cameras in order to get live action footage of a crime taking place, so an eye witness is almost obsolete. It is really amazing how technology is being intertwined in our daily lives, especially considering how important police forces are!

Another lesson that we discussed this week was all about website design and the do's and don't's of doing so. Our final project in our class is to create and design a website that incorporates all of what we learned throughout this course, and to also add our own personal flare to it. We were given a few options, which include: Weebly, Wix, and Google Sites.

One of the options that particularly stood out to me was Weebly. I prefer the navigation of the application because it made creating my personalized website a lot easier. In the article "How to Create a Website With Weebly," there is a video tutorial in how to, well, create a website with Weebly! The step by step instruction make creating a website a breeze, from the simple layout to all of the inner workings of different "clickables" you can have on your page! It was a really informative article/video.

Another cool attribute from Weebly is that it just received a new update, all described in the article "Website Builder Weebly Gets A Revamp And Its First App Center." The website itself was updated, giving it a new sleeker and easier to navigate look, drawing potential customers in with ease. Also, its new app center is really a selling point in using this application because of all of the features that you can incorporate in your own personal website. With its own app store, customers are able to pick from a large variety of widgets and layouts, as opposed to just the generic ones. It is really helpful in creating a truly unique spin on your own website.

I might as well shed light on another option that was presented to us to use, so may I introduce another website generator, Wix. Very similar to Weebly, this website (obviously) allows one to create their own website using a selection of themes and widgets to add to each page. In the article "Wix Tutorials," there are a number of links in order to design a perfect website that is accustomed to your personal flare, as well as the message that you are trying to get across. A few of the links that can be clicked on to aid you in your website design are: "How to Select a Wix Template," "How to Edit Wix Elements," and "How to Save and Publish Wix Website."

Thank you all so much for reading!

-Liv